Peter Jackson's take on the "King Kong" tale is arguably the most epic that's ever been put to screen. Unlike most remakes; this is the rare example where I'd say it's on par with (and arguably surpasses) the original. Jackson achieves this through not only paying loving homage to the source material, but expanding upon the characters and storyline to make the stakes higher and make the plot more compelling.
The visual effects are genuinely stunning. Apart from a single scene (dinosaur chase scene), the effects have aged extremely well, and look better and more realistic than most modern day CGI work. The character of Kong is brought to life in such a unique way, with his personality developed beyond simply a big brute destroying everything he touches. This is a sympathetic Kong, which only makes the final scenes harder to watch.
Like Kong, the human characters also get a significant upgrade from the original version. Jack Black is a particular stand-out, who gives a career best performance in my opinion. Naomi Watts is perfect as Ann, while Adrian Brody and Kyle Chandler are brilliant as always. That's not even mentioning Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis. My god this movie has it all.
Essentially, Peter Jackson's "King Kong" is more of everything. More characters. More action. More content. While more is not necessarily better, and the run time is astonishing at over 3 hours (for a monster movie no less!), Jackson produced a true blockbuster epic that I can't help but love.
The visual effects are genuinely stunning. Apart from a single scene (dinosaur chase scene), the effects have aged extremely well, and look better and more realistic than most modern day CGI work. The character of Kong is brought to life in such a unique way, with his personality developed beyond simply a big brute destroying everything he touches. This is a sympathetic Kong, which only makes the final scenes harder to watch.
Like Kong, the human characters also get a significant upgrade from the original version. Jack Black is a particular stand-out, who gives a career best performance in my opinion. Naomi Watts is perfect as Ann, while Adrian Brody and Kyle Chandler are brilliant as always. That's not even mentioning Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis. My god this movie has it all.
Essentially, Peter Jackson's "King Kong" is more of everything. More characters. More action. More content. While more is not necessarily better, and the run time is astonishing at over 3 hours (for a monster movie no less!), Jackson produced a true blockbuster epic that I can't help but love.