King Kong

Roger Ebert, on his syndicated television program, called King Kong this year's greatest entertainment. It's so not. I've sat on the fence about this film since I saw it several weeks ago, but now I'm taking a stand. This is not a good film. Peter Jackson, much like George Lucas before him, has so many neat toys at his disposal that he feels he must use every one. The original King Kong was 80 minutes long; Jackson's version is 187 minutes of bloated unnecessary action set pieces amongst a handful of truly touching scenes between Naomi Watts and the remarkable Kong. Those were the longest three hours I've spent in a theater since Titanic (and this coming from a guy who did the Lord of the Rings marathon).

Special FX are great, but for every film that uses them correctly, there are many others that fall in love with their digital creations and let them rule the roost. Special FX mean nothing if they're not in the service of a story. Titanic is still a turd that won't sink fast enough. Shock and Awe couldn't save Star Wars from becoming a shame for kids nurtured by its original fantasy. And King Kong suffers the same fate.

The fact that these enormous action scenes take place between scenes of transcendent filmmaking only makes their superfluousness more glaring. Naomi Watts is amazing in this film. Every scene she shares with the great big ape are captivating to watch, both for the technical achievement of Kong and the Watts's performance. But these scenes are too few, and they're too often spoiled by giant bugs or stampeding brontosauri or Jack Black.

Jackson pummels us with action. Pummels. So much so that when the one action scene with emotional resonance arrives, the ascension of the Empire State Building, I was so burnt out that I just wanted it all to end. I didn't weep for Kong when he fell, as apparently many critics did. This is a flawed film. Deeply flawed. Which is a shame, because like I said, Naomi Watts is amazing and deserves some accolades for her work here. But I can't recommend this film.

If you want the year's greatest entertainment, I have two words for you: Batman Begins.