"He's always been king of his world, but we'll teach him fear" -Carl Denham.
What can you say about this film? Everyone knows it's a classic, and it inspired so many monster films and several remakes and crossovers featuring the titular giant ape. But there is such charm to the 1933 original King Kong, that there is plenty to talk about, and plenty to praise. Though I eagerly anticipated the developing prequel, no other film featuring this iconic character have ever come close to matching this film's pacing, characters, and memorable moments.
Struggling filmmaker Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) is determined to make "the greatest picture in the world". To accomplish this, he travels to the mysterious Skull Island with his film crew, and newly hired actress Ann Darrow (Fay Wray). However, things take a horrific turn as Ann is offered as a sacrifice by the island's natives to their god, a giant ape named Kong. Its now up to Carl and tough-guy sailor Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot) to rescue Ann and capture Kong alive, so he can be paraded as the "Eight Wonder of the World". Of course, things continue to go wrong after Kong's arrival to New York, as he appears to have a soft spot for Ann, and will destroy anything in his path to get to her. Despite a simple plot, King Kong leaves an impact on the viewer through the portrayal and twits on the classic "beauty and the beast" tale. Kong isn't a mindless beast, he's an intelligent animal. His aggressiveness towards the rescue team is down to them invading his territory, and wanting to protect Ann. However, what makes Kong a great tragic character is that he lets his protectiveness of Ann get the better of him, which ultimately leads to his death. Carl Denham notes this on two occasions in the film: "Kong could've stayed safe where he was but he couldn't stay away from beauty". Finally, there is the classic closing line, where Denham responds to a statement claiming that the aeroplanes that shot Kong are what killed him: "It wasn't the aeroplanes, it was beauty killed the beast". The portrayal of Kong is one of the film's greatest strengths, as we don't want anything bad to happen to Ann, but we equally don't want anything bad to happen to Kong. But through man's arrogance and determination to rescue Ann, there can't be one without the other. Ann is in danger if she is with Kong, and Kong is in danger from the other human characters because of it.
Though King Kong is known for its (at the time) innovative special effects, there is thankfully a lot of time devoted to the human characters. Protagonist Ann Darrow of course gets a lot of screen-time, alongside Kong himself. Unfortunately, her character development stops after she is captured by Kong, with her merely being the damsel-in-distress and not really doing much else besides scream. Before the crew's arrival on the island, Ann was shown being able to look out for herself, especially against Jack Driscoll, whose misogynist attitude wasn't enough to spoil her enjoyment of going on an adventure. Jack, despite his initial flaws, does eventually grow into a more mature person, with him even falling in love with Ann and going to any lengths to rescue her. His chemistry with Ann is good for the most part, the only weak moment sadly being the moment where he admits his feelings. The scene is so sporadic, that it still makes me laugh, even with the well done scenes featuring the two of them before-hand. Carl Denham, however, is a character with no weak moments in the film what so ever. Sure, he has his flaws, like wanting to bring Kong to New York, but he remains strong throughout the film, and the mistakes he makes aren't out of arrogance or selfishness, just merely trying his best to succeed in a world that has looked down on him for so long. I like how involved he is with the rescue mission, even though his job was a film director, none of that seems to matter when attempting to be there for the team. By far my favourite character in the film.
One final thing to discuss are the special effects, which I just love. Okay, it's obviously not very realistic looking, but I don't think it's fair to judge effects from the 1930's when it's the best they could have done. However, in the case of King Kong, these effects where beyond anything anyone at that time had ever seen. The effects where groudbreaking, and I have great admiration to what the filmmakers achieved with them. What makes the effects so endearing to me is how creative they are. Not only was Kong and the other monsters created with stop-motion, but there were also practical effects such as a life-size Kong arm and head. King Kong's effects are also a great testament to not allowing somewhat crude methods to effect the story. The filmmkaers could've quite easily lessened Kong's screen-time due to the amount of time it took to animate the stop-motion puppets. Thankfully, Kong is involved with the majority of the film's action sequences and has plenty of quieter, emotional moments, meaning that the effects in the film play a large part in aiding the story.
If you haven't seen King Kong, I can't recommend it enough. Contemporary audiences may be put off by the effects. If you can't get into seeing stop motion monsters and obvious green-screen effects, I still think there is plenty of suspense and well written and acted characters to keep you invested in the well paced story. A classic film for its time, and for all time, and perhaps the greatest monster movie ever made.
Pros:
+ Suspenseful and well paced story.
+ Creative special effects.
+ Likeable characters, with strong performances to match.
+ Plenty of action sequences.
Cons:
- Sporadic love story between Ann and Jack is more amusing at first than endearing.
Though King Kong is known for its (at the time) innovative special effects, there is thankfully a lot of time devoted to the human characters. Protagonist Ann Darrow of course gets a lot of screen-time, alongside Kong himself. Unfortunately, her character development stops after she is captured by Kong, with her merely being the damsel-in-distress and not really doing much else besides scream. Before the crew's arrival on the island, Ann was shown being able to look out for herself, especially against Jack Driscoll, whose misogynist attitude wasn't enough to spoil her enjoyment of going on an adventure. Jack, despite his initial flaws, does eventually grow into a more mature person, with him even falling in love with Ann and going to any lengths to rescue her. His chemistry with Ann is good for the most part, the only weak moment sadly being the moment where he admits his feelings. The scene is so sporadic, that it still makes me laugh, even with the well done scenes featuring the two of them before-hand. Carl Denham, however, is a character with no weak moments in the film what so ever. Sure, he has his flaws, like wanting to bring Kong to New York, but he remains strong throughout the film, and the mistakes he makes aren't out of arrogance or selfishness, just merely trying his best to succeed in a world that has looked down on him for so long. I like how involved he is with the rescue mission, even though his job was a film director, none of that seems to matter when attempting to be there for the team. By far my favourite character in the film.One final thing to discuss are the special effects, which I just love. Okay, it's obviously not very realistic looking, but I don't think it's fair to judge effects from the 1930's when it's the best they could have done. However, in the case of King Kong, these effects where beyond anything anyone at that time had ever seen. The effects where groudbreaking, and I have great admiration to what the filmmakers achieved with them. What makes the effects so endearing to me is how creative they are. Not only was Kong and the other monsters created with stop-motion, but there were also practical effects such as a life-size Kong arm and head. King Kong's effects are also a great testament to not allowing somewhat crude methods to effect the story. The filmmkaers could've quite easily lessened Kong's screen-time due to the amount of time it took to animate the stop-motion puppets. Thankfully, Kong is involved with the majority of the film's action sequences and has plenty of quieter, emotional moments, meaning that the effects in the film play a large part in aiding the story.
If you haven't seen King Kong, I can't recommend it enough. Contemporary audiences may be put off by the effects. If you can't get into seeing stop motion monsters and obvious green-screen effects, I still think there is plenty of suspense and well written and acted characters to keep you invested in the well paced story. A classic film for its time, and for all time, and perhaps the greatest monster movie ever made.
Pros:
+ Suspenseful and well paced story.
+ Creative special effects.
+ Likeable characters, with strong performances to match.
+ Plenty of action sequences.
Cons:
- Sporadic love story between Ann and Jack is more amusing at first than endearing.
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