Korean Job Discussion Forums

[matthews_world]

Also, anyone noticing the shift towards remaking films in Hollywood these days. Is there a lack of creative screenplays and/or ideas out there? Are the movie execs pockets being affected by the increase in movies offered by download over the internet?

I'm also looking forward to the Kong vs. Godzilla remake!

[jacl]

That's the deal with this thing. They already did a remake of this with Jessica Lang and William Hurt. That one said it all. Why do it again?

Best "monster" movie I've ever seen is "Jaws".

[Merlyn]

I saw this movie last night and wasn't all that impressed either. Like some have already said the dinosaur scenes didn't come off all that well because the cgi wasn't that great, especially when they all got running through the canyon and on the cliff ledge. The people looked like video game characters and looked too much like they were running on a blue screen and not touching the ground. But even if they took this scene out and a few others I really couldn't feel much for the characters. I mean, who am I going to cheer for, the monster ape who really acted like an ajosshi in a ape suit, temper tantrums and all, or the monster humans who were mostly greedy and showed little redeeming qualities, and finally the dumb girl who managed to fall in love with the monster ape. I don't see how people can really cry at the end of this movie with all you've seen about Kong. Sure, he showed on the smallest level that he has feelings, but mad dogs do too. When he died I got up and left the theater. That was that.

[mindmetoo]

It was okay but it really didn't add anything to the whole King Kong oeuvre. The FX, especially the Skull Island village, looked a lot like Lord of the Rings. It looked like he just reused some texturing and rendering software from the Osgiliath scene and made a stone village out of that. Dinosaurs, well, we've seen those in the Jurassic Park series.

I wasn't much taken with the acting. Even Jack Black who can steal every scene no matter who he's working with was kind of dull and restrained.

What Jackson should have done was explore origin of the island, pump up that mystery. The only interesting thing he did was suggest during the vampire bat scene that King Kong was the last of a breeding population of giant apes. This is the problem with monster movies and legends about creatures like the Loch Ness Monster. There just can't be one. You have to have a population. One Nessie, for example, might be able to hide but Nessie would imply there has to be a couple hundred such sea monsters in the loch and, well, I doubt such a population could go undetected...

[Zyzyfer]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I have to agree completely with the OP. Good way to waste a cold Christmas afternoon, though.

[kermo]

I watched it with low expectations, and came out happy. Initially, I thought "Who cares about a giant ape? Dinosaurs? Who needs 'em? Naomi Watts? Yawn."

Anyway, the ape was so well acted that I found room in my stony cinematic heart for him. The dinosaurs made me laugh and laugh and laugh (even though the CGI didn't quite have them occupying the same physical space as the humans). Naomi Watts turned out to be quite watchable even if she can't actually juggle (I noticed that too.)

There was one scene that I enjoyed so much I immediately wanted to watch it again-- Adrian Brody and Naomi Watts catch sight of each other as she films a scene, and their wordless exchange is priceless.

I have two beefs with the film, however. They're just minor plot holes but they bug me. If anyone can answer these questions, I will certainly buy them a beer or the rough equivalent:

*spoilers!*
1) Our lovebirds have finally found the courage to kiss. They embrace... the camera cuts away... and next thing we know, Adrian Brody is wandering around the deck. Why isn't he below canoodling? How does he excuse himself-- "Pardon me honey, I've got some meandering to do?" "Thanks, sweetie, that was great, but your dental decay is really bumming me out?" I'm stumped.

2) Enormous Kong has been felled by the chloroform. He lies on the beach, and the next thing we know, he's in shackles in New York. How do they get him there from the remote island? Do they drag him behind the boat? Do they have slumped over the steamer? That would be an interesting cargo to come to port with.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

Yes-- I noticed a few people did actually cry when Kong died. This might be the largest change from the earlier movies; the ape is much more sympathetic and you feel sorrier for him, drugged and dragged to an alien world and made a prisoner.

Overall, there are things I liked very much and things I wasn't so crazy about. No, I'm not a professional filmmaker (although I am an amateur one), but I think I still have as much right as anybody to put in 2c.

The King Kong meets Jurassic Park bit was overdone. After the umpteenth shot of running from giant lizards or giant worms or giant roaches or giant bats or giant Tammy Faye Bakkers or whatever, it gets tired and becomes just showing off. The second part of the movie needs editing and the movie in general is a bit long. And then, after putting up with all that, they don't even show Kong hitting the ground when he dies!

Sometimes the original material is a little too slight to sustain such a long movie. Some of the last lines are verbatim the same as the first version, and it indicates more Jackson and team's laziness in writing than respect for the original. And why isn't Ann freezing cold if it's winter and she's on top of the Empire State Building wearing a thin dress?

I don't think there's some philosophical statement to the film as the review above suggests-- it's still basically a monster pic, with the change that people wonder more who's the monster, the innocent ape or the amoral, greedy producer.

But the photography and the special effects in New York were excellent and very vivid. Wonderful job there. The characters seem more real and rounded.

Zero marks go to the morons running the #&@*# movie theatre I saw the film in, in downtown Cheongju. It was so ridiculously hot in the movie theatre I nearly blacked out, and I had to take a shower when I went home. Are there only two choices-- heat from hell or air conditioning from hell? I'm not sure I'll go to another movie in winter in Korea again.

Ken:>

[Grimalkin]

Great review Rteacher!

Also agree with the points made byJoe_Doufu and Tiger Beer

[mindmetoo]

An interesting bit of trivia. The bit where kong shakes the people off the log was a scene in the original Kong. In the original, the people fell into the crevasse and then the movie showed them being eaten by giant spiders. Before the movie was released to the general public, they ran it by a test audience. The spider scene was judged so horrifying that the producers cut the scene from the movie. Aside from some stills, this cut footage was lost to history and is probably one of the most sought after bits of scrap film.

Peter Jackson, of course, went the full monty.

[Merlyn]

[joe_doufu]

[Merlyn]

Not sure if this would be true either in real life, but didn't the dinosaurs seem a too bit blubbery also, I mean the big ones. When they were all piling up, it seemed like the humans were almost running away from the blob. I would have liked a bit tougher, thicker look.

[Wrench]

The movie was a bit long. I would have removed some scenes overall it was very enjoyable. Regarding the CG I thought it was pretty good with minor flaws here and there. I am CG hobbyist and it takes an insurmountable amount of time to create anything in 3D especially if your integrating the artwork with live action. I think you guys should take it easy on the 3D crits.

I also felt that the movie was not just one movie but a conglomeration of 2. It really reminds me of some of the B movies that were based on prehistoric adventures.

Overall it was worth the 6k won to see.

[mindmetoo]

I wonder too why Jackson fell back on the cliche of the action hero actor being a wimp in real life.