When the songbird sings

Rome and I went to the preview screening of Peter Jackson’s King Kong last Tuesday at Eastwood Cinema. It is great. It is awesome. It’s jaw-dropping. It is exciting. Here are five bananas for Mr. Jackson and writer Philippa Boyens.

Due to heavy traffic, we missed the first 45 minutes of the film so I still have to understand why some critics say it’s too long. Three hours is pretty butt-numbing, but as far as I am concerned, none of the remaining 2 hours and 15 minutes ever bored me. It’s action packed while at the same time funny, frightening and heart-wrenching on many parts. I’d love to see it again just to watch the movie in full.

Kong is having a bad day…everyday

Naomi Watts as Anne Darrow and Adrien Brody as playwright Jack Driscoll

Again, Jackson played the “show, don’t tell” card that he used in LOTR pretty well by focusing on characterization and setting it in a context that explained why Kong cherished Anne and vice versa. I love the t-rex fight, the “beautiful” scene and the car chase in NY with Adrien Brody who played the part of leading man rather nicely. Give this guy more projects, please. Jack Black is not his usual funny self and is in fact part-villain in this film. Hats off to Andy Serkis (of Gollum fame) who gave life to King Kong and who also played the tragic Slumpy, the cook. And Naomi Watts? She was perfect as Anne Darrow.

Andy Serkis as Slumpy. He is also the motion actor and the growl behind the great ape.
See post-production video (QT 6mb)

Jack Black as morally ambiguous, adventurous film director

My only contention is with Jamie Bell’s sub-plot. What was that about and why was he cut off from the rest of the story when the group returned to New York? Still, this is a watchable movie. Go and see it before the Awful Movie Season starts (read: yucky Metro Manila Film Fest) on Christmas day.

Kong fights with a T-rex over the blond bombshell…

Sidetrip: Nakita namin si Troy Montero kasama si Aubrey Miles. Chingkeee!