King Kong Konundrum
So here we are with a rare events, a third version of a
film classic that has been a hit generation after generation. Beginning with the original Merian C.
Cooper/Ernest B. Schoedsack King Kong with RKO back in 1933, the idea of
the big budget special effects film as megahit took hold. Back then, such films were special events,
but have become the norm since the late 1970s.
Even before George Lucas’ first Star Wars in mid-1977, the Kong
remake by John Guillermin and released by Paramount for the 1976 holiday season
was a large hit than many remember.
Both had sequels that did not pan out but have followings. Schoedsack’s Son Of Kong came out
late in 1933, but had a cutesy son who was more like a teddy bear, though the
animation was amazing, while Guillermin’s belated King Kong Lives (1986,
reviewed elsewhere on this site) was a bizarre revival. Of course, the original Mighty Joe Young,
the many great Ray Harryhausen films and the Spielberg Jurassic Park
films in the digital era all are part of this legacy.
There are even Kong cartoons, the two Toho Studios Kong
films and the memorabilia and following the character has built in nearly three
quarters of a century. So now, here is
fan Peter Jackson finally getting to make his version that is set back in the
1930s of the original film, coming out nearly three decades of holiday’s from
the last one. I am writing this in
advance of seeing the film on purpose to consider what he faces, no matter how
much he loves the material.
The story has been told so many times, why tell it
again? As if to temp fate, the big
budget (skipping the price tag) redo has the advantage of new technology and
digital if done well. It has a name
cast of likable actors who deserve more success than they have had so far. By setting it back in the past, it can dodge
some of the shadows of the World Trade Center Twin Towers; the buildings Kong
climbed in the 1976 version. That
leaves The Empire State Building again.
So are Jackson and Universal Pictures this time out tempting fate by
allowing the film to run at three-hours?
We do not know yet, but outside of the protective walls of
the Lord Of the Rings franchise and how those films differed from the
earlier Jackson works in their distinction and so many directors lose that in
big budget works, has he pulled this off?
That leaves three possibilities: a mixed and unnecessary remake, a
surprisingly good epic or The Hulk in a gorilla outfit. Soon, we will know which.
This piece by Nicholas Sheffo was written for the December
2005 home page.
