It is like the flowering of all the possibilities in the original classic film.
"King Kong" is a magnificent entertainment.
The movie makes the same kind of shift involving a giant gorilla that Spielberg's " Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) did when he replaced 1950s attacks on alien visitors with a very 1970s attempt to communicate with them (by 2005, Spielberg was back to attacking them, in " War of the Worlds"). Kong was always misunderstood, but in the 2005 film, there is someone who knows it.Īs Kong ascends the skyscraper, Ann screams not because of the gorilla but because of the attacks on the gorilla by a society that assumes he must be destroyed. Yes, Kong in 1933 cares for his captive, but she doesn't care so much for him. The movie more or less faithfully follows the outlines of the original film, but this fundamental adjustment in the relationship between the beauty and the beast gives it heart, a quality the earlier film was lacking. But Ann will be as safe as Kong can make her, and he will protect her even from her own species. Ann and Kong in this movie will be threatened by dinosaurs, man-eating worms, giant bats, loathsome insects, spiders, machineguns and the Army Air Corps, and could fall to their death into chasms on Skull Island or from the Empire State Building. When Jack Driscoll climbs the mountain to rescue her, he finds her comfortably nestled in Kong's big palm. The scene is crucial because it removes the element of creepiness in the gorilla/girl relationship in the two earlier "Kongs" (19), creating a wordless bond that allows her to trust him. She is like a tiny beautiful toy that he has been given for his very own, and before long, they are regarding the sunset together, both of them silenced by its majesty. From then on, he thinks of himself as the girl's possessor and protector. Kong's eyes widen in curiosity, wonder and finally what may pass for delight.
Her instincts and empathy serve her well.