01 January 2006

King Kong (2005)

With every frame suffused with detail and the action largely maintaining interest over its running time, this should be an adventure of superior proportions. But the requirements for suspending disbelief have increased somewhat since 1933 (the release date of the original and the setting for this lush remake) and the goings-on on Skull Island quickly lose credibility. Really, what good is a wall against things that scuttle? The cast (Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody) is competent within the limits of their characters. Notwithstanding the use to which it is put, the animation is spirited and believable. The scenes of the final confrontation with Kong at the top of the Empire State Building combine geography and architecture and a dawn’s light marvelously. The omission of any action between subduing Kong on the island and his first exhibition on a Broadway stage is most apparent and symptomatic.

188 minutes.