by jellydonut25 » Fri Mar 10, 2017 12:03 am
King Kong 1933 - Perfect. 5/5.
Son of Kong - If the original was the granddaddy of the entire action/scifi/kaiju genre (and it is) then this is the granddaddy of the rushed, sloppy, lame cash-in sequel. So much here is wrong, which is unfortunate because it actually starts off RIGHT with Denham facing the consequences of his actions. But then it gets boring, and then silly, and then it just ends. Blah. 2/5.
King Kong vs. Godzilla - I love it. My second favorite Kong movie to date. 4/5.
King Kong Escapes - Unfrotuantely, this was probably not one of my more favorite viewings of this movie. I felt a little lull in the middle and it pulled me out a little bit. 3.5/5
King Kong 1976 - So much is WRONG with this movie, that it's probably better to list what's RIGHT: the natives and the sacrifice, the train sequence, the bloodiness of Kong as he's being blasted, and the character of Jack Prescott who's bar-none the best male lead in any Kong film. That's it though. The movie is BORING, and Dwan is the absolute worst. 1/5
King Kong Lives - It's bad...but it's kinda the right kind of bad. I think it could actually have been a lot more fun with a director who was more interested in the material. John Guillermin's son died in between 76 and 86 and he was in a deep depression and basically didn't even want to make this. A lot of fun and camp that could have been punched up more got left by the wayside. -3/5 (negative. So bad, it's kinda good).
King Kong 2005 - This was probably my most enjoyable viewing of this film since theaters, but the length still tugged at me HARD and it was more obvious to spot the parts that could have EASILY been cut to make a 2-hour movie that would have been GREAT...except for Jack Black. I don't know if it's him, or the way the character has been turned into SUCH a sleaze, but something is just entirely off. It'd be more forgiveable if the film weren't rife with so very many other problems, including some unnecessary bits of dialogue that just add a cheesy feel that doesn't work in with the rest of the film (the guys in the army truck talking about how this is a human city for humans and not meant to be taken over by some mutant monkey is just....AWFUL). The chief problem, in a word though, can be stated simply as EXCESS. Jackson never knows when to cut, never knows when enough is enough, and scenes that start great end exhaustingly or poorly or go on a detour through exhausting/poor before ending decently. This is one of the biggest examples of "there's a good movie IN THERE...but the movie we got isn't this" that I can think of. How did NOBODY reign in Jackson and tell him that a 3+ hour long KING KONG film was a BAD idea? 3/5....could have edited its way to an easy 4.