Monsters belong in B movies.

No 450 - King Kong

Director - Peter Jackson

Right, sorry for the gap. I've been in the middle of nowhere for a little while and therefore far from my DVDs and LOVEFiLM.

This is, to my enfeebled memory, the only film on the list which appears as both the original and as a direct remake. Let me begin by saying the original is better. There are some good moments in Peter Jackson's version, but it suffers from being long and self indulgent. Whereas the original is a leaner and tauter creature feature.

Lets begin with my main negative gripe: The film doesn't seem to know when to reign it in, it seems that Jackson is so excited by the concept of remaking the film that he just throws everything he can afford and think of onto the screen. This is most evident on Skull Island when the film becomes nothing but a series of set pieces.

Now, I am usually quite fond of set pieces, but we have a seemingly unending series of events for about an hour (a third of the too-long film) which don't really move the story in any way. Because of everything happening in this middle hour, the special effects suffer too. A lot of the action (specifically the dinosaur stampede) shows how the green screen doesn't gel between the live action cast and the dinosaurs. If Jurassic Park could do it ten years prior, Jackson shouldn't have an excuse.

But, worse than the bad visual effects is the fact that after the third set piece you just stop caring. By the time the film had got to the massive bugs sequence I just wanted the sailors to capture Kong and move to America. Please. Even weird toothy monster penis worms couldn't save the sequence.

However, once Kong gets to America we're still prone to too many unnecessary sequences. This time, the film suffers when Jackson moves away from the action. I love seeing a giant gorilla attacking 1930's America. It is brilliant cinema. Whereas I really couldn't give a shit about seeing a gorilla sit on the ice. I nearly wrote ice skating - but I'd love to see a gorilla ice skating! Give Kong some skates, and that scene would have been a lot better.

The only real good thing to come out of the over egging of these set pieces (be it 'look at the sailors in peril' or 'look at the touching relationship between Ann and Kong') is that the film's final line "Was Beauty killed the Beast" is clearly signposted with all the irony and misunderstanding.

So, that was a bit of a negative start, let me talk about what I like in the film. Firstly, Jackson knows how to make some amazing visuals, and here whether it is the glamour and poverty of New York or the terrifying surroundings of Skull Island's tribal village we get a wonderful world to explore.

Secondly, I like the little nods to the original film. The inability to hire Faye Wray is a good touch. As is the fact that the stage show looks a lot like the 30's film. Including the frankly horrible racially awkward savages of the original film (I'm glad that the remake creates a much more realistic and much scarier remote isolated tribe).

However, like almost any film he is in, the film's real hero is Andy Serkis. The man is brilliant - and usually the best thing - in any film he is in. Whether the films are brilliant, flawed or just a bit rubbish.

Here, he plays two characters - and whilst Lumpy the cook is a brilliantly gruff and mysterious character who can shoot bugs with a machine gun and rustle up ship food - He isn't the star of the show.

That honour goes to Serkis' portrayal of the titular Kong. And it is with Kong that this film triumphs over the 1933 original. Motion capture and Serkis' remarkable character work means that Kong is fully rounded. Menacing and tough at times and childlike and ridiculous at others. He acts, like a proper ape.

The film's most amazing scene (in my opinion) is when he repeatedly knocks down Ann as she performs a slapstick routine. The sheer joy on his face is both wonderfully real, but also the foundation of his affection for Ann. That cements the bond in place far more than any ice pond skating sequence. The puppet Kong always seemed to either look angry or surprised, so the real triumph of this film is giving Kong a whole range of emotions. Seeing him begin the terrifying beast and end up this scared and pitiful giant fish out of water searching for the one thing that will make him feel safe.

That is this film's triumph. I just wish it didn't use such a meandering 3 hours to do so.

And I wish to end with this old video.... just in case anyone has any doubts about Andy Serkis' general brilliance.

It's money and adventure and fame. It's the thrill of a lifetime and a long sea voyage that starts at six o'clock tomorrow morning.

No 242 - King Kong: The Eighth Wonder of the World (1933)
Directors - Merian C Cooper and Ernest B Schoedsack

It was difficult to find out who directed King Kong... couldn't find it in the credits at all. For these are the 30s baby! Where producers manned the loudhailers and called the shots.

There are several films in this blog which have begun at BFI Southbank's Museum of the Moving Image. In the 'Golden Age of Cinema' section, we were graced with the King Kong animatronic. Or a replica of it. Either way, it was fascinating to watch the film and relate the beast on the screen to the mass of faded wires and fur I had seen at MOMI. It is even more impressive when you realise that the film is 75 years old!
Whilst King Kong isn't the first big monster film it is probably the most famous of the early ones, and may be the most famous of all time. What is really impressive is the level of scale and imagination within the film. You'd think that there would be set constraints about what wasn't achievable in 1933. Technology or budget would have hampered the film and yet the set pieces are amazing.

Lets begin by talking about the spectacular special effects, which means we have to talk about Kong. Kong is an incredible triumph, testament to Willis O'Brien's genius (this is, after all, the man who inspired Harryhausen to go into stop motion) created from a wire frame scale model, a giant (full size) head (for emotion shots and biting shots), hand and foot for close ups. The full size replicas are a bit naff, especially the goon like grin of Kong's face, but he moves and acts like a Gorilla. As dim as his face may be, his characterisation is wonderful. What is also impressive is the degree to which Kong interacts with his environment. It is obvious (to our modern eyes) that the human cast are super imposed over the stop motion, however... the film uses this trick in so many ways and so many times that it is frequently impossible to figure out what is real and what is animated.
I imagine it would have pretty much exploded the minds of 1930's cinemaphiles! The film would have been terrifying at times. Even today I found it shockingly violent. At one point a bunch of sailors are shaken off a log and they plummet into a ravine where they crunch savagely to the ground. I presume they were using rack dolls to film the falls, but with the added sound effects it is quite shocking seeing people bend and snap and crash into the ground.

But more impressive than the techniques used to animate Kong, is the scale of a film. I know I have already said this point, but it blows my mind. This was made 75 years ago and yet we get:

• Giant apes
• Sea monsters attacking ships
• Dinosaurs
• A giant Ape FIGHTING A T-REX!
• Apes scaling the empire state building and fighting biplanes
• People plummeting to death down massive ravines.
• Kong's rampage in New York including derailing a train.
• A hundred foot wall.... that must have been an actual physical set.

There appears to have been no compromise, no backing down. In an era where CGI makes everything possible, then we expect this level of set pieces. But in the 30's it is an impressive feat. A breathless rollercoaster of action and adventure. Far more action appears on screen than I ever anticipated, and that I ever thought would have been even possible. The train derailment was a particularly brilliant added treat - it didn't add anything to the plot but my goodness it was cool!!!

I want to focus initially on the T-Rex fight. It is a lengthy piece of cinema with long lingering shots of the action. It seems strange that as CGI gets more realistic, cinematography becomes more frantic - making it more difficult to take it all in. Here we get to see the full fight between dino and beast and it is a fantastic piece of stop motion.
What I love particularly is that it would have been far easier to cut away for an exciting 3 minute stop motion section. However, throughout the entire fight we have Faye Wray at the front. Screaming. This gives us a human anchor in what would be a completely bonkers set piece (Kong punches the T-Rex on the nose!!!) but is also a fabulous showcase of their special effects.

Ironically, the film is more dated outside of the special effects rather than during the action pieces. The film has a very poor mentality as there is racism (oh Charlie you velly velly funny comedy chinaman) and sexism and animal cruelty all over the shop. Also Fay Wray doesn't get much to do besides scream and look pretty. She screams fantastically (and a lot) and does manage to instill a beautiful fragility into her character with moments of pure gutsyness. However, any chance of giving her character any characterisation is crow barred in at best. Her love story is a joke.... in about 30 seconds the ship mate goes from hating her, and all women... to being engaged. Ridiculous. She also has the occasional moment of overacting that lingers on from the days of silent movies.

The biggest surprise though was the emotion I felt towards Kong... he is a tragic anti hero. Only an enormous furry one. It is best described in the speech Denham gives at the theatre after capturing Kong and bringing him to New York.
He was a king and a god in the world he knew, but now he comes to civilization merely a captive - a show to gratify your curiosity. Ladies and gentlemen, look at Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World.

How unbelievably cruel... He is ripped from his home and treated as a curio manacled to a crucifix (essentially) and the people of New York are shocked when he gets angry and goes on a rampage. This is as much a horror monster film as it is a warning to people to leave nature alone. The poor ape only wants to be left alone but is dragged from his world and forced to perform for fatcat Americans. When he escapes he is shot down by Bi Planes and Denham comes up with his most annoying sentence in the whole film.
Oh no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.

No Denham. It was you! You and your greed. You who went to his remote island where he lived in isolation. You who destroyed the island in order to capture him. You who brought him to New York. You who allowed the press to dazzle him with flash photography and you who arranged for him to be shot.

What is most annoying is that throughout the film Denham has no learning curve. He is an arrogant money grabbing bastard at the start and he is an arrogant money grabbing bastard at the end.