KING KONG - HD DVD review

Peter Jackson's "King Kong" is a film that I have desperately tried to love, but ultimately find myself conflicted as to how much I truly enjoy the film. There are times when I consider the film a tremendous achievement in entertainment and other times when I believe it to be a shining example of modern excess. There are elements of the picture that excite me and things that I wish could have been trimmed to allow the film a far shorter running length. It is a monumental picture that shows that Jackson is one of the finest big budget directors on the planet, but for a man that began with films such as "Bad Taste" and "Dead Alive," has he gone too far?

There is no denying that Peter Jackson's re-imaging of the legendary film is one of most visually exhilarating films ever brought to audiences. This is a fact further driven home with the HD-DVD release. The lush tropics of Skull Island and the detailed fur and scars of Kong exhibit a level of detail to filmmaking that is seldom attempted or achieved, even with today's filmmaking technology. The recreation of 1940s New York City is breathtaking and wonderful example of how a capable director can use digital effects effectively to bring their visions to life.

The story is about a hapless filmmaker, Carl Denham (Jack Black) and his desires to create a film on the mysterious Skull Island. He tricks his writer/friend Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) to join him on the trip and finish the screenplay. When his first choice of actress backs out, Denham enrolls the help of a young actress named Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) to become the film's leading lady. They ship out on a freighter helmed by Captain Englehorn (Thomas Kretschmann). The ship becomes damaged as it approaches Skull Island and Ann Darrow is kidnapped and offered as a sacrifice to King Kong (Andy Serkis). Carl is out to make his picture and Jack is out to rescue Ann. Eventually, Ann is rescued and Carl captures Kong to make him the biggest show on Earth.

I still question the casting of Jack Black in the role of Carl Denham. I can imagine many others who would have better suited the part. Jack Black is a funny man and it is hard to believe him as a scruple-less filmmaker. After watching "Mission: Impossible: III," Philip Seymour Hoffman stands out as a better choice, though I could sit here all day and drop names. Adrien Brody was great as Jack and Namoi Watts was stunning as Ann. Andy Serkis needs to earn more respect as a character actor. He did the motion capture work for Kong and was also the ship's cook, Lumpy. He is an incredible talent that is unknown to most. Colin Hanks provides a supporting role and I believe will one day be a big star. As far as casting goes, with the exception of Black, "King Kong" is wonderfully cast.

Where "King Kong" is all about wonderment and adventure, the film runs for an overly long 188 minutes. This is nearly double the length of the original feature. The added length of the film is to provide further adventure on Skull Island, an entertaining chase scene in the Big Apple and to flesh out the relationship between the gigantic ape and petite blonde that was never established in the original production. Jackson spends a considerable amount of time explaining to the audience the reasons that Kong did not kill Ann Darrow and why she was saddened when the big ape made his final plunge from the top spire of the Empire State Building.

"King Kong" is an experience. The original stop motion picture is heavily expanded to add depth to the characters and bring about a modern revitalization of the wonderment delivered by the original film. The stop motion and effects were considered cutting edge at the time and "King Kong" served to surprise and shock audiences with these effects. The story was minimal, but served the purpose nicely. That was 1933. In 2005, the first "King Kong" is viewed as incredibly primitive and today's audiences demand more story. Jackson helped solidify this higher set of standards with his brilliant "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The latest "King Kong" pushes the envelope of digital effects and Jackson attempts to make this telling of the story as epic as his Hobbit trilogy.

The end result is an incredibly entertaining film that is a sight to behold. The stampeding herbivores and carnivorous bugs are two scenes that scream of excess. They are entertaining, but drag on forever. Once you've seen them, you simply want to move further along and witness the incredible battle between Kong and the Tyrannosaurs. You want to see the amazing chase through the streets of New York and the eventual fight at the top of the world. The film presents a budding romance between Ann Darrow and Jack Driscoll and of course, between Ann Darrow and Kong. The film consistently tries to surprise you with incredibly detailed action scenes and it succeeds.

However, by adding in the character arc sequences and the romantic underpinnings of the film, it feels every bit as long as its 188 minutes suggest. With some further editing, "King Kong" could have been one of the greatest action films ever created. It could have been everything that the 1998 telling of "Godzilla" was not. With a two hour running time, Peter Jackson could have created a roller-coaster ride of a film that would not have been as strong in a storytelling sense, but an exciting tour de force that never allowed its audience to take a long breath. I'm sure many would have argued that by removing some of the subplots of the film, it would have not been the picture Jackson wanted, but with the way extended DVD editions sell, the 'epic' telling of "King Kong" could have been a profitable double-dipping at retail outlets.

I enjoy "King Kong" and consider it to be a very good picture, but it is a film I cannot find myself falling in love with. The long running time separates it from the typical "popcorn" film and it moves more into the "epic" category. However, there is not quite enough story to be epic. People land on the island. They find monsters. They die and fight the monsters. A big ape takes the girl. The girl is rescued and the ape becomes a freak show on Broadway. The story is good, but ultimately, it just drags on and leaves the audience waiting longer for the great climax.

Video:
As I said in the main portion of this review, Peter Jackson's "King Kong" is truly a sight to behold. The attention to detail and the incredible visual effects by WETA are stunning and easily make for one of the best HD-DVD releases yet. Only a certain number of films produced each year have the visual aesthetics to deliver a "Wow!" from audiences on visual strength alone. "King Kong" is one of these films and was remarkable looking on DVD. Now that it has been re-incarnated on HD-DVD, a completely different "Wow!" can be heard from those viewing the film. This disc was the packed-in title for the Microsoft Xbox 360 HD-DVD Add-on and it does not take long to realize why Microsoft had chosen this particular package to give purchases of the Add-on unit instant gratification in their purchase.

A few scenes in the film are reference quality moments for HD-DVD. The scene where Ann entertains Kong at the top of a lush and gorgeous cliff is one scene. The fight between Kong and the three Tyrannosaur Rex dinosaurs is another. The street chase through New York City and the finale at the top of the Empire State Building are other scenes that simply need shown to let people know what is so special about the HD-DVD format. Given the bright and colorful content of the film, awesome visual effects and stunning level of detail, this is easily one of the best discs to show off the latest in home theater technology.

I had watched this film in its entirety through my Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive. I had then compared a number of scenes on my Toshiba HD-A1 unit and both times I was blown away by the visuals. The level of detail of this disc is absolutely amazing. Looking at Kong and his green surroundings is by far the best I've seen on my television through any media. There is hardly a scene when something on the screen isn't highly detailed and worth fixating on. Colors are also top-notch. The highly lit daytime scenes on Skull Island and anything in New York City are among the most colorful sequences I've yet to see. There are a number of dark sequences that show off the strong black levels and color detail. As of this review the 2.35:1 aspect ratio picture is the best I have yet to see on the format.

Sound:
"King Kong" is not just a pretty picture. It sounds pretty good too. Unfortunately, only a standard Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 multi-channel surround mix is provided. No Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. "End of Days" has one from Universal, but not this magnificent sounding film. Had the mighty Kong been given the gift of TrueHD, there would be no question that this is the absolute must-have reference title currently on the market. Fortunately, even though "King Kong" is not blessed with the best possible soundtrack, it is a highly aggressive and well defined aural experience that delivers not stop sound from every direction. "King Kong" is all about being a cinematic experience and if you crank up the volume just a bit, it will not take too long to lose any sadness that the soundtrack is simply Dolby Digital Plus.

There are numerous sequences where every speaker is pushed hard. From the rainy nighttime sequence when the ship carrying our ill-fated passengers is swept against the rocks to the final scene where Kong is being sprayed by gunfire, "King Kong" is impressive to the ears. Everything from the sound effects to James Newton Howard's score is nicely replicated and comes across crystal clear. The .1 LFE channel just bumps powerfully and perfectly accentuates the action without ever coming across as too heavy. The scene with the herbivore stampede is a prime example of nicely utilized bass. Small sounds such as breaking twigs and the metallic clank of spent ammo cartridges are brought to life and easily heard. There is as much detail to the soundtrack as there is to the image. Dialogue is clear and intelligible, even through the most dynamic sequences. Rear surrounds are very lively and imaging across all channels is exceptional. Though you may clamor for higher tech in your "King Kong" soundtrack, I hardly feel you will be disappointed with this soundtrack.

Extras:
Universal has done a wonderful job of providing the best supplements available with their films as they have been ported to HD-DVD. Unfortunately, that comes to an end with "King Kong." The supplements found on the 2-Disc edition of "King Kong" are nowhere to be found. The two small promotional bits found on the base edition of the film are also missing. In fact, there are no readily available supplements behind the U-Control functionality of the disc. I feel fairly confident that the reasoning for the omissions of value-added content is the rather long 188 minute length of the film. After all, there is only so much content you can jam onto a 30GB disc. I would much rather have the best picture and sound available with a film like this and feel that Universal will simply release an amazing package with the Extended Cut of the film when it makes its High Definition debut.

The "U-Control" feature contained in the HD-DVD release of "King Kong" is an HD-DVD only supplement. By pressing the "A Button" on the remote control, a logo pops on the screen (via a rather nice animation) and allows for one-touch access to bonus content. In the case of "King Kong," this content is either Picture-in-Picture behind-the-scenes information or Art Gallery Stills. I would prefer to see an option for these items to automatically come to the screen, as Warner Bros. did with "Batman Begins" or Universal did with "The Bourne Supremacy," but this is not the enhanced commentary as those discs contained. I found that you have roughly about five seconds after the PiP icon appears on screen to press the button to see the full pop-up vignette. This does force you to keep your full attention on the film, but ultimately, feels like a twisted version of "Whack-A-Mole!" The picture-in-picture moments were taken from Peter Jackson's video production diary. They are nice inclusions, but you will have already seen them if you purchased the Production Diary on DVD. The still frames for the art gallery are incredibly small and like little visual thumb-nails that pop up on screen. I can see where the "U-Control" functionality can do some really cool things, but with "King Kong," it feels like it needs more refinement.

Closing Thoughts:
I like "King Kong." I really do. I just don't think I love it. I'm not sure if it is the length, the romantic subplots or the over-excess of two of the film's action sequences. But, something about this film keeps it hovering at a level just below pure greatness. Maybe it is the casting of Jack Black in a role that does not fit him. Peter Jackson has created a wonderfully entertaining film that is as good as any movie visually. With the release of "King Kong" on HD-DVD, the film has surpassed pretty much everything in picture quality. I'd be hard pressed to argue that another film is as visually stunning at this point. The soundtrack is another hard-to-make argument and this is even considering the fact that Dolby TrueHD was not provided for the film. Unfortunately, "King Kong" is an HD-DVD release that is solely enjoyable just for the film and its assault on the senses. Supplements are nearly non-existent and only a tech-demo feeling exhibition of Universal's "U-Control" is tossed in to add some value added content to the film. I feel another, multi-disc release is in the works for "King Kong," but for now at least you can take comfort in this HD-DVD being perhaps the best looking and sounding title available.