Available at Amazon.com
Directed by
Peter Jackson
Cast:
Naomi Watts …. Ann Darrow
Jack Black …. Carl Denham
Adrien Brody …. Jack Driscoll
Thomas Kretschmann …. Captain Englehorn
Colin Hanks …. Preston
Andy Serkis …. Kong/Lumpy
Evan Parke …. Hayes
Jamie Bell …. Jimmy
Lobo Chan …. Choy
John Sumner …. Herb
Craig Hall …. Mike
Kyle Chandler …. Bruce Baxter
Bill Johnson …. Manny
Nearly a year on after its release in theaters, King Kong is still a divisive movie among fans. Many see the picture as a bloated, obsessive act of hubris from Peter Jackson, trying too hard to realize his own vision of Kong without giving enough thought to the entertainment of his audience. Others commend his vision, giving the director praise for trying to make his dream come true of paying loving tribute to the film that inspired him to become a film maker in the first place. Now with this new King Kong: Deluxe Extended Edition, the fight will probably continue on.
Adding in thirteen new minutes of footage, this new cut of Kong will have the faithful frothing at the mouth while leaving the film’s detractors in complete apathy. This isn’t like the Kingdom of Heaven: Directo’s Cut which added in a lot sequences that featured major character development and illuminated motivations and plot points that ran throughout the story. While this longer version of Jackson’s dream picture does add in small character moments, and even finally gives a little more resolution to the character of Jimmy (Jamie Bell), this version has got one major thing on its mind; action. Not altering the movie’s basic structure at all, this version simply supplements the tons of brutal action that was already featured in this Fantasy Epic and adds some major sequences that both pay further homage to the original 1933 classic and give audiences more thrilling images to take with them.
While the early New York sequences are peppered with additional material, the first major addition is upon Skull Island. Just starting their search for Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) after she is taken by Kong, the crew of the SS Venture encounters a type of evolved Triceratops. With more horns and a broader crown, the creature fits in with the rest of the monsters of Skull Island, squarely on the line between reality and fantasy. There’s no time to admire the beast’s majesty though, as it rampages through the sailors, taking on their first major casualties.
The sequence itself is an example of homage to a similar action sequence from the original King Kong in which the crew encountered and fought to the death with a Stegosaurus. Here, many shots are lovingly similar, such as the creature’s tail wagging after the battle. The scene also helps to make the crew’s apprehension toward the island’s creatures more natural. Later, when Lumpy (Andy Serkis), goes a little trigger happy, we can see that it’s the result of the tension that begun with the Triceratops battle, and not just a case of him being irrational.
The original film also featured a carnivorous Brontosaurus that attacked the crew while crossing a river, and when Jackson’s Kong was released in late 2005 it seemed that something major was missing by not having the directo’s own take on the sequence. In this new version, Jackson replaces that feeling with overwhelming sense of dread. This extended Kong’s longest addition is a tour de force scene featuring a gigantic eel-like creature that devours more members of the SS Venture crew.
There’s something primal about an underwater creature. The fear of not even being able to see what’s about to slay you is something that Steven Spielberg was able to tap into with Jaws and Jackson does the same in a much more truncated fashion here in Kong. When the creature is finally revealed, it is truly a gruesome sight, slithering its way through a swamp while Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) swims for his life.
The rest of the material included into the piece simply adds on to scenes already in the original version of the picture. The movie’s three biggest set pieces, the T-Rex fight, the spider pit, and the final assault in New York City, all have new scenes added and fit right in with the theatrical edit. Getting even more visceral thrills from each of the scenes is a true bonus, as they each stand as some of the best choreographed cinematic feats of the decade. Also, these scenes help with some of the pacing of the film, as the added footage seems to give the film a better flow than before. Nothing added seems forced or out of place and only enhances what was already a film made with great love for its subject.
Performances are also aided by the new footage, most notably Carl Denham (Jack Black). Denham’s obsession with getting his movie done is highly intensified by the inserted material, as he’s often seen using his camera as people and creatures die around him. One such moment after the aquatic battle is one of the film’s most haunting beats. Other moments adding to the experience includes the aforementioned small moment with Jimmy that gives him a bit of closure, and also more time with Lumpy and Ann are quite welcome. The funniest moment of the extended sequences has a troop of National Guardsmen getting a pep talk as they’re about to go into battle, which ends up with a great punchline of dark humor.
So the big question is, will non-King Kong fans be bowled over by this new footage enough to like the movie? The answer is probably not. The biggest complaint about the movie was its length and this edition goes out of its way to add to it. On the other hand, for the true believers out there, it’s hard to deny the power of Jackson’s movie. Kong is at times a visionary epic, just as it was in 1933 with Merion C. Coope’s original. The film’s middle section on Skull Island is absolutely amazing, with the work of Andy Serkis as the film’s title character being just as good as it was for Gollum in the Lord of the Rings films. Naomi Watts also gives an Oscar worthy performance, especially considering most of her screen time is shared with a character that wasn’t even there in front of her.
The debate over King Kong will continue, but this DVD was not for the non-Kong fans anyway. For the rest of us, this remains one of the great examples of escapist cinema of the new century. What made the original such a powerful experience is carried over as Peter Jackson’s passion for the material is evident in every frame of the movie, and despite the film’s minute problems, that passion overrides those miniscule flaws with an energy that makes Kong just as new for this generation as it was for audiences in 1933.
The Video
There are great looking discs, and then there is this version of King Kong. Spread out over two discs, the movie looks amazing, as the print here is as good as anything I’ve ever seen on the format. The colors pop as the power of Skull Island and 1933 New York is on full display here. Bravo to Universal for putting together this tremendous disc and finally making a special edition worth getting as opposed to their usual promotional fluff. The film is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1
The Audio
Just as good is the DVD’s audio, from the film’s epic battles to the quiet moments on the Venture and in New York, everything is made crystal clear. The movie is technical masterpiece and no doubt the sound is an important cornerstone in that.
SPECIAL FEATURES: This is the Kong disc you’ve been waiting for as you get hours upon hours of extras including Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Documentaries, Featurettes, Galleries, Trailers, Bloopers, and an Easter Egg.
Discs 1 and 2
Commentary with Director Peter Jackson & Producer Phillipa Boyens – This is an amazing commentary by Jackson and Boyens, who don’t stop with the tidbits about the production until the movie’s closing credits stop rolling. Spread out over the first two discs, it’s amazing that these two can just keep things interesting after three and a half hours. My favorite part is actually towards the end of the movie, as Peter actually explains why they didn’t include a sequence of Kong on the boat back to New York, saying that it probably would have added another hour to an already long movie, but that the hold of SS Venture was indeed big enough to carry the giant ape.
Deleted Scenes – You get almost forty minutes of deleted scenes here including an intro to the section by Peter Jackson as well as introductions to each individual scene. Now these are each scenes that weren’t included in this Extended Edition, so there’s virtually no over lap. There are some scenes which were the original versions of some sequences that were either moved or streamlined in the film to help with the pacing. One such sequence was in the original trailer for the film where Denham films Ann Darrow when they first get to the island. This sequence was then re-imagined and combined with the sequence involving the island natives.
The Eighth Blunder of the World – Coming in at over 18 minutes this is one of the best gag reels ever put on a DVD. These are both film flubs as well as elaborate CGI jokes, my favorite being Jack Black fighting off the bugs in the spider pit sequence using Darth Maul’s light saber from Star Wars. Other bits, including other classic Jack Black ad-libs are absolutely hilarious.
Easter Egg: The Missing Web Documentary – This web doc wasn’t actually included during the period when KongisKing.net was running them, nor was it available on the movie’s previous two-disc release. This is an awesome 8 minutes, as it concerns how vain the actors are, watching themselves on the playback after virtually every shot. Everyone is completely hamming it up, as they seem obsessed with the playback, which gets worse and worse. Really funny stuff.
A Night in Vaudeville – This Featurette looks over the Vaudeville sequences in the movie and many of the screen tests that were sent in to get these special people in the movie.
King Kong Homage – This covers the different moments of homage that take place during the movie. The best ones are the moments that aren’t particularly obvious, such as the orchestra at King Kong’s Broadway debut playing the score music from the original movie. Other little instances have Denham displaying shields and other props from the original movie as well as the natives in the musical looking just like the natives from King Kong 1933.
The Present – During the filming of Kong Peter Jackson had a huge birthday party and the cast presented him with this short film that was made during the production, unbeknownst to the director. The film is a scream, as this brightly wrapped package becomes the obsession of the whole cast and each person keeps killing the last in more elaborate ways to get the package. My favorite moment occurs when Kyle Chandler pulls out the gun from Hellboy and uses it to blow away Jack Black.
Weta Collectables – This Featurette covers the many statuettes and other things developed for the movie by Weta.
Trailers
Disc 3
Re-Creating the Eighth Wonder: The Making of KING KONG – Where most DVD’s would stop, the King Kong: 3 Disc Deluxe Edition keeps going. If you’re looking for an awesome documentary on the making of this movie, look no further. Re-Creating the Eighth Wonder is a documentary running over three hours in length and covering nearly every facet of this production possible. We start with An Introduction by Director Peter Jackson where the director explains what will come on the disc as well as covering what has gone on, on the first and second discs as well.
We then move to the documentary’s next section, The Origins of King Kong which discusses Peter Jackson’s deep love for the original movie after seeing it at a young age. We also get to see some of the models used by the young Jackson when he was trying to make his own version of Kong when he was in grade school. I also didn’t know that Jackson and company were originally commissioned to do a version of King Kong in 1996 after they had finished The Frighteners for Universal. This version was going to be very different, probably closer in tone to The Mummy than the movie that was finished. After Godzilla hit cinemas, Universal decided instead to pull the plug on the project, which of course was picked up again after the success of Lord of the Rings.
Pre-Production Part 1: The Return of Kong covers much of the Pre-Visualization and Concept work done on the picture before any principle photography took place. Jackson is very keen on stressing the importance of pre-production and talks vehemently on how it is vital to being able keep up the schedule of a picture after filming has begun. A lot of time is spent on how intricate the Pre-Visualizations were on this picture and how much of the CGI work was able to get done because of the preparation that went on in Pre-Viz. Pre-Production Part 2: Countdown to Filming looks over the rest of the Pre-Production stage as well as getting the cast together and getting them prepared for such a mammoth film experience. This also covers much of the difficult work that went into getting the script together for this film as constant re-writes disgruntled the cast a bit.
Covering the film’s production begins with The Venture Journey in which the crew searched for the best version of The S.S. Venture they could find. Production member Dan Hennah is featured quite prominently, telling a story about his time as a fisherman in the earlier part of his life. Because of his experience, he was charged with the task of finding a boat to stand in for the Venture, which he did. The boat then had to be modified to look like a turn of the century steamer. This part of the documentary also features a section where Hennah took the cast out to sea for a few days on his private boat to give them the experience of being a crew together, which was apparently amazing.
The documentary’s next section Return to Skull Island covers the massive amount of work that went into bringing the Skull Island of Peter Jackson’s imagination to life. Surprisingly, many of the CGI techniques used in the movie are simply extensions of the original mat and foreground paintings used in the original Kong. I love that the Island, as conceived by the film’s crew, is a place with its own history, a land that is sinking into the sea, with only the very tip now showing. This would explain the various examples of architecture in the movie, as these are the ruins of an ancient city that now is ruled by the beasts of Skull Island. The documentary also covers the work done to bring the natives to life, as Kong’s film makers assembled a vast cast from various nations to portray many different cultures of the ancient past.
Maybe even more interesting is New York, New Zealand, in which we’re shown how 1930’s New York City was recreated on a New Zealand site by reconstructing many of the buildings of the era. Also hugely impressive is the CGI work done, as the team created a program that could virtually recreate 1930’s New York City building by building. This is staggeringly complex work done to perfection by the Weta Digital team, proving why they completely deserved the Visual Effects Oscar bar none.
Bringing Kong to Life Part 1: Design and Research and Bringing Kong to Life Part 2: Performance and Animation runs over the last hour of the documentary. So much work went into bringing this screen icon back to life and Jackson and his crew should be very proud of what they did accomplish. Teams and teams of people worked night and day for months to get this character right, from the Pre-Viz department, to the conceptual designers, to the visual effects team, to finally Andy Serkis. Serkis even spent time with gorillas to try and learn some of their mannerisms which helped to bring that much more realism to this part. He then was able to become Kong on the set, scaring the Dickens out of several cast members and becoming an important key to Naomi Watts’ performance.
40 minutes of Conceptual Designs and Pre-Visualization Galleries including: The 1996 King Kong Video Gallery, The Venture Video Gallery, Skull Island Video Gallery, New York Video Gallery, Kong Video Gallery, Arrival at Skull Island Pre-Viz Animatic, Bronto Stampede Pre-Viz Animatic, T-Rex Fight Pre-Viz Animatic, Kong’s Capture Pre-Viz Animatic, Empire State Building Battle Pre-Viz Animatic, Ann Disarms Kong Motion-Capture/Animation Comparison, Kong’s Capture Motion-Capture/Animation Comparison, and Kong in New York Motion-Capture/Animation Comparison.
The Inside Pulse
King Kong: Deluxe Extended Edition is aboslutely one of the best DVD’s of the year. With hour upon hour of extras, you’ll need to put aside a couple of nights to take the whole thing in. Not to mention you get a superior version of King Kong with more action and more laughs than its original version.
