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Re-makes are a very common thing in Hollywood today, why? I have no idea but I do know two things, they never really seem to work and in general I am not a fan of them. But when I heard King Kong was going to receive a fresh update via Lord Of The Rings helmer Peter Jackson, I must admit I got a little excited. My excitement only grew after discovering Jack Black had been given the lead role. I thought it was such a bold and interesting choice; I just couldn't wait to see the result.

As far as re-makes go, King Kong is good; in fact it's very good. Jackson has successfully re-told this classic story for a whole new audience as well as staying true to the original film. I believe avid fans of 1933's King Kong shouldn't be disappointed with what Peter has done with the picture.

I am sure you know the story by now. Ambitious filmmaker Carl Denham (Jack Black)
Persuades a hired ship crew to take him and his cast and crew to a mysterious island known as Skull Island where upon arrival they discover Kong, a giant ape who captures leading actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts). The crew then set out to find and capture the beast.

As I said before I was excited about Jack Black playing the lead role and I am extremely glad to say that he hasn't disappointed me. Black is brilliant as the ambitious movie producer. Not once does his performance remind you of any of his previous comedic roles, which is exactly what I was hoping. But it's Naomi Watts who steals the film with a heart wrenching performance as Ann Darrow. Acting mostly against green screen because of King Kong itself being a CGI creation. Naomi deserves a lot of credit for the emotion she brings to the character in her scenes with the giant ape.
Also a lot of credit must go to Andy Serkis who helped bring Kong to life just like he did so brilliantly well as Gollum in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

The special effects team at WETA have done another splendid job creating some jaw dropping sequences. But there biggest achievement here is the re-creation of 1930's New York; it looks absolutely stunning and feels so real.

The action scenes are handled very well apart from one where the crew are caught in a stampede of Dinosaurs, I felt the scene was completely over the top and unnecessary. A huge fight scene between Kong and a couple of T-Rex's is quite spectacular though as is the films finale atop of the empire state building.

Overall Peter Jackson's King Kong is a very good film and only one thing stops it from being a brilliant one, the 187min running time is just too damn long. It's quite common these days for a film's only major flaw to be the length of it and it's a great shame that's the case here. All though it's extremely hard to deny Jackson's raw passion in making movies and with The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and now King Kong that passion shines through.

Learn more about this author, Daniel Cummings.
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