Jackson's King Kong

This isn't supposed to be yet another Peter Jackson's King Kong review. Though, I can't pass without saying something about the movie, or about Peter Jackson. I watched the LotR trilogy, and not being much of a Tolkien fan, I've enjoyed all the three movies. I wasn't there to criticize the movie for missing some relevant book parts, or for some inconsistencies. Just stepped into the theater, for 3 times, to watch a good fantasy movie and appreciate Jackson's excellent work. Again, with King Kong, Jackson left me glued to the screen. I don't care if the movie is too long, LotR was long too, I don't care if miss Darrow defied the laws of physics not breaking her spine or not bleeding from her ears. In my opinion, it's a very good remake, taking good advantage of current technologies, and keeping a good magic around a classic love story. Be warned of some spoilers ahead.

What left me completely astonished during those 3 hours of movie, was the importance given to the movie as an whole. There's no hurry to get to the King Kong part, the viewer is carefully guided through all the relevant characters, there's no concentration of special effects in part A or B because they're more important than parts C and D. And he does a good work when it comes to deal with fear. Unlike horror, it's quite complicated to transmit fear in a movie, and few are the movies that can do it effectively. On another post, I wrote some notes about Flightplan, and how I've enjoyed it from a social point of view. Flightplan would be a much better movie if fear had been explored and dealt with correctly. I love Spielberg for that, he knows how to catch fear on camera. Poltergeist, as an horror movie, had much to gain with that; fear was the key.

Getting back to King Kong, fear was a good experience in Jackson's hands. All that part where the boat gets into the fog, up to the collision with the rocks is the best example, the giant insects another one. Unfortunately, that same fear wasn't present when everyone was trying to escape from the theater, while Kong broke free from the chains; they all had "I must be careful not to stomp anyone" glued to their faces in a large yellow post-it note.

It's a commercial movie, nonetheless.