King Kong (Blu-ray)
The big ape goes for his Blu-ray debut, but watch out because a monster sized double-dip is being planned
Tags: King Kong Categories: DVD/TV Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Jan 28th, 2009
If you are familiar with movies at all, you know King Kong in one form or another. Originally released in 1933 there was a remake in 1976 and this, the 2005 version. The idea is simple, an expedition of one sort or another travels to a far flung island, discovers an abnormally sized ape, brings it to New York City, and mayhem ensues.
The 2005 version is Peter Jackson’s homage to the original as well as modern filmmaking techniques – in equal parts. This is what makes the film both so good and so overstuffed that it gets to be ridiculous. At 3 hours, this version of King Kong is simply too long for its own good, and for the general viewing public. That’s not to say that an extended version isn’t worth watching, but that somehow the film needed to come in under 2 hours at some point and still be cohesive in order for it to truly be as good as it could have been.
I say this because far too much time is spent on Skull Island traipsing around avoiding a whole host of prehistoric creatures. This is all done at the expense of the main story. Just because you can, that doesn’t mean you should. Computer graphics and special effects have evolved to the point to where a complex sequence involving a stampede of dinosaurs and a swarm of prehistoric bugs all looks realistic – but these sequences detract from the story that we are all there to see, a big ape fall in love with a hot blonde and swat airplanes out of the sky.
As a film, King Kong may be longer than necessary, but you can see the love that went into creating it. Jack Black may not have been the obvious choice as director Carl Denham, but he plays it completely straight and turns in one of his best performances to date. The rest of the cast (such as Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody and a digitized Andy Serkis) do their jobs well and the period era is recreated lovingly.
For its Blu-ray debut, we get both the theatrical and extended versions of the film. This is a good first step, but simply the most basic of inclusions. Unfortunately Universal didn’t go “all out” with the Blu-ray release of the film, making it an absolute must own for those looking to upgrade. Don’t get me wrong – the visuals are amazing, and with a good setup the audio is phenomenal. This could easily have become a reference for what the Blu-ray format is capable of. Well, in many ways it is, showcasing both technical prowess and a lack of special features that you can find on the DVD because the studio is looking to milk more money out of consumers.
Sure, we get a director’s commentary track, but it is geared towards the film nerd, leaning more towards the technical in topics covered. Some of the previously released supplemental material on DVD was shoehorned into the picture in picture feature on the Blu-ray. Not only do we get a portion of what was previously released, but we also get no option to see it on its own or in a full picture.
Really, Universal should be ashamed. Fans of King Kong have already purchased the film twice, and now with the jump to Blu-ray we get an incomplete package. This is a great disc to showcase what the format is capable of on a technical level, but for content, it lacks quite a bit.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Damn, this looks and sounds good! + Good story well executed |
6.8 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Overly long - Not all of the special features are brought over |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| If you like King Kong enough to own two copies, you need to have the Blu-ray. | |
[ Post the first comment | View related posts ]
Tags: King Kong
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Jan 28th, 2009 and is filed under DVD/TV Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
