King Kong (updated)

Update: Oooh look who else reviewed King Kong!

WARNING: THOUGH KING KONG IS NOT A SUSPENSE FILM, READING THIS POST WILL EXPOSE YOU TO SOME POTENTIAL SPOILERS

So I saw King Kong last night. I had been resisting seeing it for a while because I don't like stupid mindless action movies with monsters in them. But after numerous girls raved to me about the exquisite love story including Stylestation, who goes on about the ice-skating scene, I decided to grab the opportunity and watch it with Sam (who I convinced saying it was action-oriented which would satisfy his masculine tendencies, while conveniently neglecting to mention its length) and my darling cousin Namu who I love because of her cuteness, inexhaustible vigor and enthusiasm, and cheerful argumentativeness.

Honestly, I'm glad I went with a guy, even though I didn't really get to clutch at his arm or anything too much. I'm pretty self-sufficient about dealing with loud/scary movies: I just shut my eyes or cover my ears with my hands or both!

What excited me about it was that it was a period film. I don't know anything about the background of the story, but I was expecting it to be set in ugly contemporary times where the ancient cumbersome monstrosity of King Kong would stand in stark contrast to the edginess, skinniness and indulgent glamour of today's pop culture. I'm glad it was set in an era where art deco reminisces an ancient, pagan past, and styles and manners are gentler. The setting thus made me feel even sorrier for King Kong as an incongruous relic, even a vestigial memory, if you will.

Of course, its loaded with an ambitious covertly greedy and evil director whose true colours emerge as the movie progresses, ably and appropriately enacted by Jack Black, whose enflamed eyebrows and slightly cockeyed gaze, matching the set of his thin lips, do most of the talking. A beautiful and subdued Adrien Brody who Namu and I LOVE (sigh - OK, I like successful GENTLEmen who also look intellectual and soulful and can be understanding as well as gently sarcastic and who have the confidence in themselves to give confidence to others). Naomi Watts is pretty and delicate and toned albeit skinny. I like the hair on her. Too much pouting and gazing though. The other characters are also quite cool - the black guy and the Chinese and the captain who is sexy in a rebel/dirty way.

What makes up for the provocative, Orientalised portrayal of unknown tribes and the numerous references to the Heart of Darkness and the 'desire to know', the typical imperialist jingoism you will find in Western adventure stories like Prester John, and Rider Haggard novels and movies of the Indiana Jones ilk, the arrogance of the white colonialist in believing he can tame the 'other', the 'wild', and the assumed superiority of judgement of a man, which shows ample evidence of having failed towards the climax, and which demonstrates the faulty reasons behind which wars start and cultures are colonised and reduced to simplistic explanations in social study textbooks by self-and-culturally-hegemonic historians with their evidently vested interests - is the cinematography. Each frame lovingly captured by Peter Jackson, every look, every movement, every scene, every disgusting creature. Which reminds me, (how could I forget?) there is a PROFUSION of disgusting creepy crawly loud nasty toothy creatures of gargantuan proportions belonging to every phyllum imaginable and extinct in this film. They could EASILY have cut out a half hour of grossness, and I would have been spared the hands-not-knowing-what-part-of-my-skull-to-cover dilemma and would not have shrieked and wriggled when Sam attempted to ruffle my hair and pat me comfortingly. Absolutely gross. That was totally a penis moment for our director, when he felt he had to be several steps ahead of every director before him in terms of goryness, ghoulishness and overall giganticness and grossness in exhibiting the creatures he decided to include for no apparent reason other than to increase shock value. I'm sure that's what brought all the 10-year old boys in!

King Kong was a little too robotic and those frames of him bashing about could have been cut by a few seconds. Naomi Watts COULD have realisically looked a LOT more bruised and battered by the end of the exhausting day on that island. But the tired, harrowed look of a man in love in King Kong's eyes was just... heartbreaking when he sat with her in peace. His defeated posture on stage at the theatre, his rage when he saw the blond girl wasn't Ann Darrow, his blind raging quest for her throughout the city.... lovely. Makes you hate the white man who thinks he can conquer everything and exhibit it 'for the price of an admission ticket'. Had a very Hottentot Venus feel in the atmosphere of the scene.

Why King Kong climbed to the top of the Empire State Building beats me, though it was a lovely scene. 'Pride comes before a fall'. Too literal, though he chose to fall. Though my conservative, melodramatic Bollywood-raised sensibilities were offended that Ann had to hug Jack immediately after King Kong fell. She could have mourned for some time at least, eve though she didnt love him.

All in all, worth seeing once, if not more. Guys, you may find it slow though!

Busy day today!!!

Update: I'm also fascinated by HOW THE HELL the director/writer came up with the tribe who lives on skull island. Everything about it seems so evolutionarily WRONG to my layman archaeologist mind. Evidently it's an island that's been officially undiscovered, so it's possibly an isolated tribe... fair enough. But a tribe whose skin tone is grey in colour? (unless they smear their skin with ash from their voodoo-esque possession rituals. If its a natural skin tone, thats bullshit because there was enough sun on that island to keep them simply, brown in colour. What was the need for their nostrils to be almost as big as King Kong's? How could they possibly coexist with so many dangerous animals? But it was really cool the way they jumped at kidnapped Ann, I agree Kush! :D