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I watched it on 2006–04–14, Friday night.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0360717/

My rating: 7/10

This is a 3 hours (!) long movie that tells exactly the same story that the original King Kong did.

The first hour – when the only primates on screen are humans –, delivers one very solid character: Carl Denham, played by Jack Black. The other characters, including Ann Darrow – the girl that the gorilla will love – are not as accomplished, maybe because they don’t get as much screen time or because their actors and actresses lack the energy that Black always puts in and that fits perfectly to Carl, a film director hunting for one mysterious, uncharted island.

The second hour is set on the mysterious island, inhabited by strange people, who seem to spend their days making sacrifices to a “Kong” beast, that lives in the forest. This second hour is prolific on special effects: viewers won’t forget a dinosaurs’ panic attack, that ends with a huge pile-up of Brontosaurus, very much like a highway sequential car crash. At that spot, I got convinced I was watching a comedy.

It is more or less at half point that the viewer gets to know Kong: a big gorilla, apparently the last remaining survivor of his species. Kong eats girls as some eat M&M but, for some reason, he decides to spare and protect Ann Darrow. This is when things get repetitive: because Kong doesn’t talk, he is always grunting, hitting his chest, and fighting menaces like giant bats, T-Rexes, etc. However, the special effects are very effective and the viewer gets thrilled.

It is hard to feel or believe the love (?) emotion that Kong has for Ann, but how to face such challenge?

The third hour is just too much. After being captured, Kong goes to New York, escapes, climbs the Empire State Building, fights some airplanes, but gets killed. End of story.

Buy it at: amazon.co.uk ; amazon.com ;

Above, poster.