When Carl first complains to Jack that, with script in hand, he has only a beginning but needs a middle and end, he had a half proper premonition of Jackson's King Kong. The film starts off with a comedic and compelling bang, and finishes off in high fashion. The "middle," left a little bit much to be desired, and the "triba;" encounter scene should have been sentenced to the guillotine before King Kong hit theatres.

I really loved when Kong came to Manhattan, especially when he randomly starts grabbing every blonde woman in the streets. I thought the tone and timing where perfect, and the visuals stunning. Kong on home turf? Meh.

I thought all acting was excellent by the way, and wonder why people found Black's turn as Carl to be weak. I found him the perfect man for the job, second in casting only to Watts.

Great movie, but with some glaring faux-pas.

You're comments here are a great disappointment to me, and will forever make me question all of your future reviews and previous writings...

Well, the Manhattan scenes compensated for some of Skull Island. It was a good movie. I give it around a B.

Sometimes I worry for you...that you didn't like Munich.

A

Is it the best film of the year? No, not quite. But it comes damn close. Some moments were the best that I've ever seen in recent memory, but at times it was also a wee bit slow and a bit too serious for it's own good. It could've used some workaholic time in the editing room.

But still, most of it is fantastic. Great visuals obviously, and the acting by Black(who I loved unlike most of you here), Brody, and Watts of course was fantastic. I actually liked the long dramatic 1 hour at the start, it was more decent than I was led to believe.

Overall, some parts in the movie like Kong and Anne on the ice had me thinking "This is why movies are made," but the film doesn't have the excitement factor that would make it past around #5 on my yearly list.

The movie is great, and that goes without saying. Even though it ODs with squirmy CGI creatures during the Scull Island part, the 3 hour lenght goes by relatively quickly. The New York scenes are beautiful and the ending is really well done. One of the best films of '05.

A

It was a great film to experience in theaters, but I think it works somewhat better on DVD. For me, the three hours just flew right by. I think in some cases, the CGI effects get in the way and you start to think if they filmed anywhere for real on location, but the story and acting more than make up for some of the CGI effects.

A+

After watching Stay and this, I think I love Naomi Watts now.

I really wanted to watch the whole movie on DVD but I was so incredible bored by that first half that I skipped a few chapters. The movie is only interesting for me when Kong is on the screen. Worst thing is that I didn't cared for any of the characters. Jack Black was the most annoying one. But the action is absolutely fantastic.

I watched this the other day and wow, how overrated. I think overall it would get a C or C- (and that was because it lent itself nicely to some mocking).

It was quite overlong. It's not that i don't like long movies, but there should be a reason for them to be long. King Kong had no reason to be over 3 hours, except that Jackson wanted it to be. A ton of things are running through my mind that i want to get to, but it's so hard to pick where to start. I'll start with the crew on the ship. What was the point of all that "characterization" and whatnot? None of them were main characters and that was plainly clear, but instead we're subjected to scene after scene of "development" with pointless people. On the same useless people note, what was with the never-ending crew members? It would seem like they all died, and then a bunch more would appear out of nowhere so there would be someone else to kill. That captain of the ship was also used a couple of times to save the day all the sudden. He saved the mains from the savages (just in time!) and then he saved more mains from the bugs (just in time!). Also, what was with the brontosaurs? Those were the most moronic dinosaurs ever on film. They were just running and slamming into eachother, then they would fall off a cliff to their death. The cliff thing was interesting also, as it seemed no matter how far they fell there was another cliff to fall from.
Whoever was in charge of casting did not do the best job. Brody is no action star, and his character seemed pretty useless most of the time. There was also absolutely zero chemistry between Brody and Watts. None. On to Jack Black, what the hell? Most of the time i was either laughing at Denham's idiocy or being perplexed as to how Black was cast. I could go on like this, but i have one major issue to deal with.
I like Peter Jackson, i think he is good director. As for writing though, he is pretty bad. With LOTR he pretty much had everything done for him, and he just had to assemble movies out of book parts. He himself didn't really need to think of a story and plot points etc. King Kong had quite a number of plot holes or poorly "resolved" storylines. What happened to the natives after they offered Ann up? How the hell did they get an unconscious Kong from Skull Island to NY, as that boat was a piece of crap and there was no room for him on the boat. Not to mention that it's not like the surviving sub-dozen people could just lift Kong and put him on the boat. I guess it's possible that Billy Elliot used his powers to dance Kong all the way to NY, then at least his character would have had some purpose. The Frightners (which i like) was an "original" work of Jackson + co's, and could that movie have more plot holes and things that just don't make any sense. I was okay with it in that movie, as Frightners is a fun-good-time movie. I have seen parts of Heavenly Creatures, and that movie isn't really for me, but that was based on a true story (somewhat). King Kong, while already 2 movies, was basically a new movie that required a bit of plotting and thought, though it clearly didn't get it. I guess it's good that Jackson will be doing the Lovely Bones next, as he seems best suited for things that don't require him to think of story, plot, and things of that nature.

Ahh, finally! Some post hype reviews are starting to roll in...

Umm it was one bad review and two A reviews.

Better practice your countin' skills...

Let's see we got Cotton with the A, Jmart with the A+, Riggs with the B-looking review, and Malcolm with the bad review. Don't see how it's getting bad post hype reviews from our posters.

Ahh, finally! The anti-Kong loonies are back...

You call this a "B-looking review"?

Riggs27 didn't give it a grade (yet -- do you have a letter for us Riggs?) - but if you describe that review as a "B", then I'll just have to keep that in mind when I read your reviews... (eg: Backtothe Future rates The Spongebob Squarepants Movie as an A...)

Give your head a shake - the hype will clear...

Riggs' grade is a B+.

Assuming you'll ask for a proof: http://www.worldofkj.com/forum/viewtopi ... 253#584253

He also posted it in the GCT.

reason why i'll wait till it's in the under $10 bin to buy it.

revolutions wrote:

saw it tonight and luved it. i would give it an A if it wasn't for the sucky first hour.
once they got to the island it got better.

KK get's a B

Kong get's an A for acting. he was the best part of the film.

Thanx, Doc - then it's Riggs grading I need to be questioning -
I'm only on BacktotheFuture's case because he never seems to write anything sensible here at WOKJ...

Well, lemme put it this way, even if I found the first hour boring like Riggs did, I would still give it at least a B considering the middle part has the best action of any movie released in 2005.

lol unusal the action saved the movie.

You do write some sensible things here Dr. Lecter, so your assessment of this as the "best action" of 2005 is all the more puzzling...

It had better action than Aeon Flux, at the very least.

It's 2006, right now - come back in 2031 and you'll be whistling a different tune...

Look! A B+ review!!!

I love deleting words to make my argument sound better