Official
Australian release date: 9/3/17. Viewed: 9/3/17.
Director:
Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Actors:
Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John C. Reilly
Genre: Action
/ Fantasy
Rating:
M
With almost no plot – island is hidden
by a “perpetual storm”!?! – not sure why this version of King Kong is set in
1973? At least it’s not a direct re-make, but rather a sort of re-imagining. It
has a good soundtrack – Stooges, Sabbath, Creedence, Bowie – and a few pretty
good action/fight scenes. It’s spends 30min introducing most of the characters
and seeding a plot, but it seems pointless, since you hardly learn anyone’s
name. And as for the plot – not sure how it took three people to write this
screenplay!
There seem to be a lot of shots that
were made just for the trailer – zooming into Kong’s eyes; Kong in front of
giant sun/moon (how can you see either setting, if there’s a perpetual storm?);
12 helicopters flying into the storm/sun; Kong slow-mo chest thumping. Kong’s
obviously not the bad guy, but he’s not the star either – probably with less
than 30min screen time, as he fights giant lizards. I’m not sure if Packard (Jackson)
or Conrad (Hiddleston) is either, since no-one’s the hero or has that much to
do. Larson is OK, Goodman’s wasted, but Marlow (Reilly) saves the day with some
almost-humour. At least some of it was filmed in Queensland, although you can
tell the bits that were filmed in Hawaii, as it looks like ‘Jurassic Park’!
Of the three King Kong films I’ve seen (1933,
2005, 2017), this is probably my least favourite – they seem to be on a slowly-deteriorating
scale. Also, what’s up with Jackson’s right eye near the end? It seems about
75% bigger than his left eye in a few shots! Anyway, predictable ending, nothing
ventured, nothing gained. Hard to get too attached to Kong when we have such
well-developed CGI characters in the current ‘Planet of the Apes’ series.
Overall: Not horrible, but adds nothing
to the King Kong mythology.
Gav's Rating: 2.5 stars.
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