Sunday, February 20, 2022

The 8th Wonder of the World



"King Kong" is a film from 2005 directed by Peter Jackson, and it shows! Jackson simply can´t stop rehashing his magnum opus, and this is no exception. Yes, that would be the "Lord of the Rings" (LOTR) film trilogy. "King Kong" comes across as a cross between LOTR, "Jurassic Park" and (perhaps) the original "King Kong" flick from 1933. 

The Natives on Skull Island are depicted in an incredibly racist way, and actually look like a Black African-Orch hybrid. The women and children are particularly evil. Naturally, they offer the White heroine as sacrifice to the island´s murderous "god", the super-sized gorilla King Kong. Meanwhile, the rescue team have to fight off the inevitable Deinonychi and Tyrannosaurs, not to mention flying orchs (vampire bats?) and assorted evolutionary cousins to Shelob. Kong himself also takes on the T-Rexes in this far too long production (three hours - think LOTR again). Despite the extensive running time, Jackson never explains what happens to the Skull Islanders after their (de facto botched) human sacrifice. They are nowhere to be seen for the rest of the film. 

White Woman naturally falls in love with her gorillid captor, and their later reunion during Christmas season in New York City is something to behold. As always, the story ends with "The 8th Wonder of the World" being killed by a surprisingly primitive US military ontop the Empire State Building. The entire film feels ultimately pointless, but I suppose it could appeal to people who like some kind of early 1930´s retro-nostalgia. 

Can´t say this version of the gorilla scare moved me, although I did get vertigo during the last part of the flick! Now, we would all like to see Peter Jackson making a film based on..."Beowulf". LOL. 

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