King Kong – Reaction

This movie surprised me. The special effects are cringe-worthy, the acting is overboard, and the general atmosphere was pretty comical. I was still captivated, though. Once you get past the black and white, the quintessential 30’s dramatic acting, and the horrible special effects the movie actually becomes quite watchable. The first scene with Kong made me laugh, but when I wasn’t focused on how much the special effects sucked I actually began to believe the action I was seeing on screen and felt just like anyone would, seeing this for the first time back in the day. I must give the directors credit for the patience they had as well. 24 pictures per second, moving Kong over and over again. That would be so monotonous it’s not even funny. It also makes me think of how far we’ve come in film. The stark contrast between the old and new King Kong films are a definite reminder of the progress we’ve made. I can only imagine taking someone from that era and sitting them down to watch the new King Kong. So in essence, I enjoyed the picture to a certain extent. It’s definitely not a movie I would buy (or rent for that matter) but definitely something I can appreciate for what it’s worth. I can see how this movie would have amazed – or terrified – audiences in the 1930’s. The environments, excluding the beasts, were rather believable. It was obvious when they were in front of a green screen but when mucking through the treacherous terrain I got a real sense of a lush and thriving jungle that existed beyond the camera’s focal point. I was expecting the acting to be sub-par. These days, 90% of the time action movies have a paper thin plot and acting to match. The actors all played their roles well, and I could definitely pick up any emotion they were trying to convey. My favorite scene was when they were putting Anne on the pedestal to be sacrificed to Kong. You can see fear in the eyes of the villagers. You can tell something evil – something primal – is coming through the jungle, and the suspense is surprisingly encompassing. Anne’s reaction of fear and desperation add to the tenseness of the situation. The shot angles are used to give the audience a sense of hugeness to everything that is going on. All of these things come together to make, in my opinion, the best scene in the movie. Of course all the suspense is lost when Kong shows up and looks like a toy you’d buy for a kid at Walmart, but it was good while it lasted.