Watching out for the people

Vol. I No. 8 Friday, January 6, 2006 Love My Monkey! Kong is Modern Film Noir The Rumpled Critic By David Giarrizzo The movie begins in Circa 1930s New York City, where vaudevillian Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) is playing to meager audiences as one theater aftern another is closed down. Enter shyster filmmaker Carl Denham (Jack Black) who presents Ann the chance to be in his next project, a perpetually developing production that he plans to shoot in a isolated, foreign locale (Bali, so he says). Seems Carl has procured a map to a mystifying South Seas island, a place cloaked in mist and mystery, known as Skull Island. Sometimes when places have portentous names there’s a basis as the expedition soon discovers. Skull Island is home to an indigenous sacrificial tribe of dark , mud covered people, and a variety of gigantic, deadly creatures. The natives kidnap Ann to appease their Ape-God Kong . One would think that this is where the movie really gets going, but that’s not entirely accurate. We are fully into an hour of the movie before Kong appears, which might hold the “core“ Peter Jackson fans, but the average attention span might be a bit shorter. The set-up builds Ann’s character with a suspense that keeps your focus on the world around her. It also allows us to get to know the crew as sympathetic characters before some of them get squished, including Jamie Bell as a young stowaway, Evan Dexter Parke as the paternal first mate who looks out for him, and Andy Serkis as the briny, grubby ship’s cook. After the long build up, things begin moving more with Ann’s abduction, leading to some of the most thrilling scenes I’ve ever seen, like the tumultuous Kong-cam that lets us feel how wobbly it would be in the hands of a colossal, sprinting ape. Ann’s rescue party encounters their fair share of beasts, including some man-eating worms and pony-sized scorpions, but the best is saved for Ann and Kong, who chance upon a pack of ravenous tyrannosaurs. Jackson and crew spare no expense for this sequence, coming up with measureless and inventive ways to get Ann in and out of danger. It’s a ride I would pay to get back on again. In contrast to previous Kong leading ladies, this Ann is more of a Super Girl than a Lois Lane.. She keeps her wits about her and manages to instill trust and affection from the giant ape, who obviously has never dealt with a human that wouldn’t stop screaming, which is why, I think, that was the reason he killed all the other sacrifices whose remains were scattered at his throne. She was more like a pet to him, obvious by the way he ape-handles her while she does a soft shoe for his favor. Adrien Brody never stands a chance. Playing Ann’s human love-interest and reluctant action hero, he does as good a job as can be expected but their relationship never goes the way Ann and Kong’s does. (Love the monkey!) Although, who gets the girl in the end? Brody’s character is more like a supportive, sensitive New Age guy, who picks up the pieces after the monkey poop hits the fan. Kong definitely wins her heart, but in a PETA kind of way. I don’t think this film implies a cross-species romantic attraction; it’s more like the affection between a person and her pet. (Like, if my cat were 25 feet tall I’m sure he’d protect me from a T-Rex. Really.) His film destroyed, Denham decides to recover his losses by capturing Kong and bringing him back to New York billed as the 8th Wonder of the World. Kong unavoidably escapes, leading to a non-stop string of exhausting chase scenes and the traditional climax atop the Empire State Building. This sequence is meant to showcase the devotion between Ann and Kong. And it does. Okay, okay! Love the monkey! Touch him! Let’s talk about the visuals. The showiest among them, of course, are Kong and his fellow island creatures, all convincingly brought to life. You can tell. Kong and the other critters may be C.G.I., but he was created in the same way as Gollum from the Lord of the Rings movies, with Andy Serkis again providing the ape’s actions, which were captured digitally and animated over by the special effects crew. The result is a remarkably lifelike character with unmistakable traces of humanity in his expressive eyes. I wouldn’t doubt it if Andy receives another Oscar for his aping. But it’s the images of Depression-era New York that really stick with me. They have a stylized, sepia tone look that’s absolutely gorgeous and really serves to place the movie in a nostalgia-drenched context that heightens its romance. The amount of detail in historical references on the Broadway scenes and earlier in the streets give a credibility to this fantasy world. I get that warm fuzzy feeling you get when watching the Wizard of Oz or Gone with the Wind swelling up in your throat and bringing tears of joy to one’s eyes. Even with the over abundance of battle scenes, which seems to be a M.O. for Jackson, I found this film to be a modern classic. I truly believe that this film will go down in history as a remarkable piece of cinematography. This year of 2006, we are discovering new technology and exploring the world of Computer Generated Imagery. I believe that the technology shown in these over-indulgent animated sequences throughout the film are merely a reflection of the true experimental stage we are in with the tools available. When Tron came out, that blue screening technique was cutting edge. I believe we will experience more and more of this flexing the techno-muscle, but eventually, it will lose its charm and good writing shall prevail. With this film. I see great dialogue with nice camera angles and, yes, lots of animation. The story is strong and almost epic in nature at this juncture of cinematography. This is the future of films. Grade: A+

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