Reviews etc here - the word is good.
Trailers and ads look great, too (although the lines that Naomi Watts has in the TV ads running now are laughable), but I still can’t help thinking this is sort of a Van Sant Psycho thing. I mean, what point is there really to copying the original and adding CGI and way-cool monsters to Skull Island?
I dunno. I look forward to finding out, though!
Updating the original so that modern generations can stand to watch it? I know it’s film school sacrilege to say so, but the 1933 film has not aged well, both in terms of performance and in terms of special effects. Which is to be expected. It’s a 72 year old film, of course it’s seen better days. Brilliant and groundbreaking for its time, just kinda silly-looking now. Maybe it’s because I was raised on Godzilla and 1950s giant atomic monster movies (where the hell is the remake of THEM!, anyway?), but I never liked King Kong all that much, even as a kid, although I did like the dinosaur fights. The old T-Rex jawbreak finishing move? Classic. Better be in the new one.
Of course, nowadays the dinos look silly because of how much more we know about how they moved and behaved (and Jurassic Park), but that’s more forgivable to me than how ridiculous Kong looks. The dinosaurs I can give a pass to, what with them being extinct. But gorillas still exist, and I don’t see why Kong wasn’t animated more like one rather than a very furry person. One of the biggest draws for me in Jackson’s version is that Kong, y’know, looks like an actual fucking gorilla. Those shots in the trailer of Kong facing off with the V-Rex are just amazing in scope to me. I have no love for Jack Black or giant primates, but after seeing those shots on the big screen, I was completely sold. Naomi Watts never hurts, either.
Hope they change the final lines a bit, too.
“No, it wasn’t the planes…it was beauty killed the beast.”
“Uh, sir, I’m pretty sure it was the planes. The planes’ bullets, specifically.”
I’m at the exact opposite–I have no desire whatsoever to see this film. I’ve seen a million giant ape/monster movies. Been there. Done that.
Maybe it’s because I was raised on Godzilla and 1950s giant atomic monster movies (where the hell is the remake of THEM!, anyway?)
Godzilla didnt turn out so well. :(
Who knows when they will try another remake of that.
The probelm with the Godzilla film is that they abandoned almost everything about Godzilla. Half way through the film they even forget their own motto of ‘size does matter’ and start focusing on raptor sized Godzillas. The Kong movie at least looks to try and stay faithfull to Kong.
I would agree if I’d ever seen one that looked this good. The next giant monster film after Kong will no doubt leave me with an “eh” impression.
Next up: Giant robots.