When I saw James Cameron's Avatar in theaters back in 2008, I saw an incredible special-effects forest dream crafted by a great observer of nature, in a thrilling action movie.
So when I recently saw Peter Jackson's King Kong, and saw Lumpy be devoured by an honest-to-God giant Priapulid worm, the cinemaphile and naturalist in me was geeking out.
How many people in theaters knew that that thing is real, in our oceans to this day, and that it was scaled up almost exactly to the same perportions as the giant centipedes in the same scene?
Here we see it, big as life!
Peter Jackson's Skull Island, in all its savage glory!
Experienced over the course of a thrill-a-second hard action adventure, in special effects worthy of James Cameron's Avatar!
With a glorious forest ecosystem built on assidious observations of real-life nature, nothing made up, only scaled up or brought forward in time, with two rules: the dinosaurs are life-size, everything else is scaled up massively.
In the case of the arthropods and Priapulid worms, scaled up by almost exactly the same perportion!
And not that unbelievably different a perportion from that of King Kong himself!
Here we see Naomi Watts's glorious Ann Darrow interacting with King Kong in scenes worthy of a character scene in a George Lucas masterpiece!
Here we see glorious hard action and thrills, and a classic story!
And we see Peter Jackson have justified faith in the original King Kong story.
Peter Jackson does not try to update the classic King Kong story to make it more politically correct.
For Peter Jackson knows that the original King Kong is politically correct enough as it is.
For the original King Kong is a classic anticolonialist narrative.
There are two sides in the classic King Kong story: Kong's and that of the colonialists.
And we all know that the original story takes King Kong's side.
The original King Kong story does not need up be updated, for it is already a fine anticolonialist narrative.
And Peter Jackson knows to trust the original classic narrative of King Kong, recreated with the finest special effects and all the skill of one of the finest filmmakers of all time.
One of Peter Jackson's greatest strengths is his faithfulness to his classic source material, and it shows just as much in King Kong as in Lord of the Rings.
And so, here it is- my recommendation of Peter Jackson's King Kong!
One of cinema's all-time classics, re-created with the finest modern special effects for a modern audience!
For you all to enjoy!
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson