Something Different

If I may be allowed a little hyperbole, Peter Jackson is a god. He creates worlds, characters, and situations that are real. Watch one of his films and you will suddenly find yourself in another place where the extraordinary and epic are commonplace. If you experience his work and do not come away inspired, I would take my muses in for a check-up if I were you.

So, what's with all the Jackson praise? Well, we just got back from seeing King Kong, and let me just say...wow. I know, I know, it's not like he actually wrote the original story. Nor did he for Lord of the Rings, but Peter Jackson's gift transcends such trifling details. He has a way of capturing the very essence of what makes a story special to us, distilling it, and adding a dash of his own personal flair, which culminates in a synergistic explosion of images that weaves pure artistry and emotion into our very souls.

All that said, would I go so far as to say Kong was perfect? Well, no, of course not, but the things that made it imperfect were the kinds of things that moviegoers can and will easily overlook. We can nitpick all we like, but if we were only to accept entertainment based upon its realism, our lives would be pretty boring.

The CG was amazing, but there were a few places where, like in LOTR, you could easily tell the difference between the real elements and the CG, especially when they were in frame together. It doesn't happen often, but I noticed a couple of times. Overall, I am still astounded by how far the envelope gets pushed every time with these special effects. Kong was truly majestic, and a very humble tip of the hat goes to Andy Serkis once again for his amazing physical acting. Without him, we would not be so convinced by characters like Kong and Gollum.

Aside from some of the inherent problems of a heavily CG film, the only other thing was that there were several times where I think many characters should have definitely died. I mean, it made for some really breathless action sequences, but these have to be the luckiest damn people ever. A lot of people did die, but not nearly the amount you would have thought based upon what happened on the screen.

But really, all in all, it doesn't matter what the body count was, the not-quite-seamless level of CG we're capable of, or how strangely sad the story of Kong is. What matters is that you're there, believing every second of it from the first frame to the last, until the house lights come up and remind you that you don't live in a world where 25 foot gorillas fall in love with beautiful blondes and tear up New York looking for them. Welcome back to reality. Enjoy your stay.