Last Friday night Erica and I went on a date in NW — her job is up there and we met after work. After dinner at the Friendship Heights Chadwicks (not the best service, but a nice setting, though not as good as the Old Town one) we followed the advice of this Metroblogging DC post and saw King Kong at Cleveland Park’s historic Uptown Theatre.
Clocking in at over three hours, Kong is about 60 minutes too long. Some films get to have a director’s cut run in limited release or available on DVD, but in the case of King Kong, the wide-release is the director’s cut, where a “producer’s cut” would make much more sense. Due to the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson had free reign in this thing and it ultimately proves why studios don’t let that happen too often. The second act of the film, the time on Skull Island, is full of gratuitous scenes involving bugs and dinosaurs. Those scenes, like the rest of the film, are visually amazing (sorry Episode III you lost the special effects Oscar), but do little to advance the story.
As for the story, the suspension of disbelief needed is not too hard to muster, but even then some of it only comes off a silly. While Jack Black is amusing at times as filmmaker Carl Denham, the movie would have been better served by making him less goofy. Had he been going mad over the course of the film (which is sort of implied) it would have been more dramatic. In the end, the Denham role was miscast. Adrian Broody is believable as the playwrite who yearns for Naomi Watts, the blonde damsel. Watts proves to be a pretty good screamer which is all the movie really needs from her. The supporting cast, mostly sailors, including the sea-smart and ultimately noble captain; the stowaway kid; and the “magic negro” first mate, are solid but too willing to follow along with Denham’s quest, despite coming back from each journey with fewer shipmates.
The New York scenes are the best part of the movie, the cityscape effects are so impressive you forget you are watching CG and not real life. The camera work leaves something to be desired though; not every shot needs to be a sweeping panorama.
All in all, the movie was entertaining and enjoyable and worth seeing, particularly at Uptown.