King Kong Photo

King Kong

Starring: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Colin Hanks

Directed by: Peter Jackson

RS: 3of 4 Stars

2006

The role he was born to play -- he's perhaps the only actor alive who could sincerely act out the chest-beating and plane-batting demands of the part. Unfortunately, the madman of Saving Silverman is stuck here in a muted Orson Welles role, while the giant computerized monkey makes us wait more than two hours before he goes on his big New York rampage. For better and for worse, this is a serious movie, not at all like the crazily tack-o-rama 1976 version, which featured Jessica Lange trying to calm Kong down by asking him his zodiac sign. (Kong didn't answer, but he acted like a classic Scorpio.) Naomi Watts is excellent as the glistening blonde who brings out the beast in Kong, definitely topping Charlize Theron's performance in Mighty Joe Young.

But as a laboriously faithful adaptation of an already perfect thriller, it does get tedious, between the big-budget effects and the stately "Shhh, this is a classic" pace. After a while, you get tired of waiting to see Kong rip shit up in that special Kong way. The 1976 version at least flirted with the wild side by being so cheesy. But this is like a Masterpiece Theatre production of Mothra.

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