First I will not be comparing this to either the 1933 or 2005 versions, but on it's own merits.
First and foremost it's what was then present day 1976.
One of the first things we see is a "drunk" guy dropping a huge wad of cash by a gate guard and he's allowed in. Basically a bribe. We also see that he was never drunk. Soon this same guy sneaks aboard an oil exploration ship and becomes a stowaway. Soon he interrupts a meeting where we learn he is from Princeton's Department of Primate Paleontology and he offers to pay for his passage.
So some points from that. If he's from Princeton and had enough money to bribe the gate guard and then offer to pay for his passage then why stowaway first? I'm sure that back in 1976 it was illegal to be a stowaway, so even though he offers to pay later it's still wrong.So what do we know by his actions, he offers bribes and stowaways aboard a ship. So he's not a honest law-abiding person at all.
At the meeting it's learned that they are en route to an island where they believe they will find oil. They show an old 1943 photo taken by the Navy that shows a fog bank. Then another photo taken two weeks ago that shows the same fog bank. So we have a fog bank that doesn't move a wisp in 35 years. Then we are told that a NASA spy satellite went off course and photographed the area by mistake. This same satellite was supposed to analyze exhaust gases from a missile test so it was loaded with 2 special kinds of film. We see am infrared image of the island that's hidden by a "perpetual fog bank". Then a spectrograph image too that shows that the chemical composition of the fog bank is thought to be from "vapors from petroleum deposits." Oh but Jack Prescott interrupts and says that the fog bank is from "animal respiration", "animal breathing". We also learn from Jack that people have indeed been on the island before telling stories of a "huge, slouchy humanoid thing."
So some more points from this:
In 1976 we are supposed to believe that nobody has been on this island even though by that time much more of the worlds oceans have been explored. That two world wars have been fought on the oceans and that no navy has even seen this island. Oh yeah because some fog bank hides it. So I guess the worlds navys are just too scared to travel through some fog bank. Not only that but what about all the planes? I guess not a single plane ever bothered to fly up and over the fog bank either and see what's beyond it. And then we also supposed to believe that until this date that no satellite in orbit ever even noticed this fog bank and island. Or that not weather man ever noticed a fog bank that hasn't moved in 35 years. Being that the first weather satellite was launched in 1960 it's seems highly unlikely that nobody would have never noticed a fog bank that hasn't moved in 16 years.
Then we have Jack Prescott, a primate paleontologist who actually believes that a constant fog bank is created from an animal breathing? What??
Next we see the introduction of the other main character in the story, Dwan. How is she introduced? Well she's lying in a small raft, all wet in a skimpy black dress and for some reason in a sexy pose. She comes to and it seems that she's really out of it, perhaps on something. She's a wannabe actress. She's the lone survivor of a boat explosion. Even though she learns that she shows little to no emotion that those from that boat died. Her name is from 'Dawn' but she switched the 2 letters to make it more memorable. And then she says "Did you ever meet anyone before whose life was saved by Deep Throat?" in the most ditzy, air-headed ways I've ever heard.
So 24 minutes in and we see our first glimpse of the fog bank. Jack, who has now become their official photographer, takes about a dozen quick photos of the fog bank. Um, why? One or two is enough, but 12 of the same thing from the same point of view, rather pointless and a waste of film. They lay anchor right outside of the fog bank and use their radar and find the island. Why hasn't any other ship ever done that before? Not even the Navy? Jack takes another 9 or so quick shots of Fred at the radar, again why? One or two is enough, not 9 or so. It's rather clear that Jack loves to waste film and isn't much of a photographer. He also take lots of photos on the beach.
They recon on the island and come across a giant wall. Jack fiddles around with the camera. Even though he loved to take dozens of photos of a fog bank and of the beach he doesn't even take a single photo of something as mysterious as a giant wall. They come across the natives ceremony where he does take just a few photos. I guess Jack just loves to take photos of a fog bank the most.
They are discovered watching and Fred asks Jack to talk for them. Why? He's a primate Paleontologist, what would he knows about natives dialect?
Soon they are back on the boat. Jack is stealing supplies to go on some sort of "camera hunt" by himself. So we learn that Jack not only bribes and stowaways, but also steals. Not to subtly Jack hints at a sexual rendezvous with Dwan. She's easily kidnapped by the natives. So Dwan wakes up and finds herself in the middle of the native ceremony. She doesn't put up a fight at all and just goes along with it.
After about 53 minutes we finally see our first glimpse of Kong as a set of eyes moves through the trees.When we first see a full size shot of Kong , what do we see? An upright standing ape-like creature. Kong takes her.
They come to her rescue but it's too late. To Fred's statement that "Someone's taken her." Jack responds to him by saying "Who the hell do you think went through there, some guy in an ape suit?" I don't know if that was supposed to be a joke or not, but once I heard that it would affect how I would see the character of Kong from that point on.
So we next see Kong waking up and Dwan is close by just waking up as well. So I guess that throughout the entire night she never once tried to escape. She wakes up to see Kong watching her. Only now does she even try to escape by crawling around. She finally gets the sense to stand up and run. But since she runs in a straight line she's easily caught. She calls him a "goddamn chauvinist pig-ape!" How in the world is Kong a chauvinist? He is just an animal or as she calls him a "pig-ape". She hits him and then she says she is sorry and says "What a nice ape. Such a nice, sweet, nice, sweet monkey." After her annoying apology Kong puts her down and she again tries to escape by running in a straight line, but she trips and falls. Boy isn't that a cliche, a woman trips while being chased. Kong captures her once again.
Next we see Jack and company on the island searching for Dwan. Fred radios them and Jack says that "there is a girl out there who might be running for her life from some gigantic, turned-on ape!" How does Jack know that Kong maybe "turned-on"? He says to some of the men "radar has the ape heading in our direction".
This leads to what I find is the most vile, disgusting scene in the entire movie. The infamous waterfall bathing scene. So at first Dwan looks like she has no clue as to why she's at the waterfall and that Kong is holding her in it. But that changes as soon as Kong starts to blow on her to dry her off. She writhes around in ecstasy as if she's having the best sex in her entire life. The look of Kong is just hilarious. He has this perverted, sexual look on his face that I find sickening.
Fred soon gets the bad news that the oil he was hoping for won't be for another 10,000 years. That's when he gets the idea to capture Kong instead.
The log scene is next and is fairly good but is ends in only a few moments. Only Jack and Bone survive. Jack continues on by himself to rescue Dwan.
A plane drops supplies to the ship. A question is why didn't they use the airplane to make a quick recon of the island? From what I've seen of the island it would be fairly easy to spot something as large as Kong from the air.
It's nighttime again and yet again Kong is looking at Dwan in that perverted way. This time he uses his finger to rub Dwan's chest. But Kong's happy time will have to wait because this little interlude is interrupted by a giant snake. Jack rescues Dwan and Kong kills the snake.
So throughout the entire movie the only animals I saw was Kong and the giant snake. Nothing else. Shouldn't there be other animals on the island, what about other giant animals?
We learn that Kong is traveling at 22MPH and yet Jack and Dwan can escape without much problem. Oh sure Jack and Dwan jump off a small cliff into some water, but why can't Kong? As we learn later in the film he's not scared to go through water, but on the island he just finds another way down instead of just jumping in after them. Why?
Kong breaks through the gate and falls into a pit of chloroform. Right after he falls in all the natives comes out. Where were they all this time?
The very next thing we see is a huge oil tanker. Where did this come from? The ship they arrived at the island was small and the only thing they requested was an air drop. It would have taken days or weeks for the oil tanker to arrive at the island, by that time the chloroform would have lost it's affect. Did they just abandon that other boat?
Looking at the boat I wonder how they brought Kong on board. It can't be by plane. I didn't see any helicopters. The boat doesn't appear to have any cranes on deck.The grate that I assume he was lowered through looks too small. So how did they bring Kong on board?
Dwan says that "he risked his life to save me", so the first hint that she feels something for Kong. Then Jack says that because they took Kong that the natives will become drunks by next year. What?? Why would they become drunks? Where would they get the booze from? Did they leave an endless supply of booze on the island or something? That doesn't make much sense.
If Jack is so full of morals then why doesn't he say "Yes tear up my contract!" when Fred offers to do just that during their argument on board the oil tanker? Because he doesn't stand behind his own convictions.
Jack later says to Dwan "The ape had the right idea." Is that supposed to mean that he agrees with Fred when Fred said to Dwan that Kong tried to rape her. If so that's sick.
Her scarf or something falls into Kongs hold. But instead of being small, it looks like a small tablecloth when Kong catches it. Kong goes on a temper tantrum and they threaten to flood the tank and drown Kong. Dwan tries to calm Kong but falls into the hold. He catches her, let's her go and then she climbs out.
Next we are in NYC. Jack quits and calls it a tragedy and donated his advance to a fund to send Kong home. Dwan turns down Jacks advice to quit as well. But the show must go on.
At an outside arena we learn that this is being broadcast live around the world. Would the world really care? The wall opens up and we see a cheap looking giant gas pump. Fred keeps saying "Hail to the power" as if he's at some religious festival. The gas pump is lifted away and we see Kong in a metal cage with a cheap looking crown on his head. How did they get Kong in the cage? If he was sedated, how did they get him to stand up? Why didn't Kong even try to shake that stupid looking crown off of his head?
Well he breaks loose and everyone runs away. Several shots include the full size robot, which are so obvious. Fred gets stepped on and Jack & Dwan escape.
The police and military have the Queensborough Bridge blocked off as well as the Brooklyn.
Jack & Dwan board an elevated train. Kong sniffs the air. I suppose we are supposed to believe that Kong can smell Dwan from quite a distance among millions of other people. Kong stops the train which just so happens to be the same train the Jack & Dwan are on. They escape the train and Kong picks up a woman who looks like Dwan and throws her away. If Kong can smell Dwan from a distance then he should have known that the woman wasn't Dwan just by her scent.
Next Jack & Dwan cross a bridge where we learn that all the roads are mined. How did they mine the roads so quickly in only a few minutes?
Next Jack & Dwan are running down a road and Dwan insists that they stop for a drink. But Jack wants to go 10 more blocks to an apartment. Why does Jack want to go to an apartment so bad? Doesn't he trust anyone? Someone that could protect them? Is it the don't trust anyone over 30 message from the early 1970's? Don't trust the military or any authority figure?
Dwan says that Jack's book says that apes don't swim. And yet the next scene has Kong wading across the river. He next steps out of the water and contacts power lines, he roars with pain and lights up the sky and yet not a single person notices.
Jack soon discovers where Kong is headed and calls to tell them. While on the phone Kong happens to come across the very bar that they are at and Kong yet again takes her away. Even though she could have yelled for help, she doesn't until Kong is walking away with her.
Kong climbs up the WTC and Jack arrives as well. Both soon make it to the top.Some G.I.'s with flamethrowers are making their way to the top via what appears to be a window washing scaffolding thing. This doesn't make much sense as I'm fairly sure that the window washing device is automated and doesn't look anything like what they are standing on. I don't think the washing device even has an area for men to stand on. They reach the top and use the flamethrowers on Kong. He jumps to the other tower to escape. Kong then throws something at them and an explosion takes place. I assume the G.I.'s were killed. Jack yells "Yeah!!" and then calls the G.I.'s "Dirty Rotten bastards!"
I feel that it's wrong for Jack to seemingly take delight in the demise of those G.I.'s
The military helicopters arrive. Kong puts down Dwan, but she pleads with Kong to not do so. They open fire. Jack calls them "Assholes". Kong takes out at least one helicopter before falling to the ground. Dwan reaches out and Kong rolls over and falls to the ground below.
Kong is lying on the ground and his heart is beating slower and slower. Dwan soon arrives to see him die. She cries. The lights in his eyes dim as his heart stops.
Jack arrives below and tries to reach Dwan but can't. He just stops and she continues to cry.
There are so many things wrong with the film.
First and foremost is Kong himself. Throughout the film they can't quite make out what he is. At first he's called a humanoid thing, then Dwan calls him both an ape and a monkey. Even Jack, while on board the oil tanker, calls Kong an ape. Remember that Jack is a Primate paleontologist so he should know what an ape is.
So what is wrong with Kong?
He looks exactly like what it really was on set. A man in an ape suit. Rick Baker himself is reported to have wanted Kong to knuckle walk, but the filmmakers shot down his suggestion. There is nothing at all ape like about Kong. He doesn't move like an ape or even an ape like creature at all. He walks around like a man. Being that he walks upright like a human I almost expected Kong to actually talk.
So let's say that Kong is a bipedal ape. Fine. There are still things wrong with how Kong moves. Again it's too human like. The special effects ruins the overall effect in most scenes. Is it the speed of the film? The scale of both Kong and his surroundings? The bad sets, especially the island sets? Or is it all of those things?
The emotions of Kong. It seems to me that Kong only emotes two emotions throughout most of the film. Rage or being a "turned-on ape". I didn't see any signs of love, sadness, joy or other feelings/emotions. Just those two basic emotions.
The sounds of Kong. Again fairly limited. Basically just roaring with rage. No sounds of sadness, remorse or joy. Some of his roars sound like like sounds from the old 1950's dinosaur films, especially when he's on the WTC.
The direction: I don't know what the problem is, but I never felt like I was connecting with the movie. I was merely watching what was happening. The direction was off putting and distant. I felt little connection between any of the characters. I didn't like any of the characters.
The characters:
Jack is a bribing stowaway. He doesn't trust authority figures, the military or anyone over 30. Is willing to break laws for his own personal benefit. He leaves Dwan standing alone at the end of the film. Nothing likable at all about the character.
Dwan is a an air-headed ditz who seems to be on something for most ot the film. For most of the film it seems that all she cares about is her career. Yet we are supposed to believe at the end that she cares for Kong.
Fred Wilson is a self centered man who's only focus is oil and himself. He'll use anyone or anything for his own benefit.
So right off the bat we have three people who share something in common, They are self centered people who's only main concern is themselves.
Kong is, well whatever he is. A humanoid thing or an ape as both Dwan and Jack call him. He comes across as nothing more than an animal with anger management issues as well as being a sexual pervert.
The story:
As I pointed out above there are many problems with the basic premise of the story. Some may feel that the update works, but I don't. Setting it in 1976 raises too many questions,
1. How can an island remain undiscovered even though the Navy photographed the fog bank in 1943? Are we supposed to believe that even though the Navy was within yards of the fog that they never even dared to travel through it?
2. Surely an airplane at some point would have flown above the fog bank and discovered the island the lies behind it.
3. Satellites surely would have seen the island. How come nobody ever noticed that a fog bank hasn't moved in years and years on satellite photos/data?
So it's just unbelievable that the island would have remained undiscovered by civilized people until 1976.
We are supposed to take seriously a primate paleontologist who actually thinks that a constant fog bank is created by a single ape. Sure apes don't swim, but it never crosses his mind that they could wade through water.
A film that villafies the military and actually has a character who cheers when they are killed and calls them names.
The island itself looks like any ordinary tropical island. There is nothing interesting or unique about it. It's not a character at all.
Life on the island. There seems to be no animal life at all on the island except for Kong and a giant snake. On a tropical island it should be full of life and yet if seems devoid of life. This lack of life makes the island very dull and unrealistic.
The sets. The island sets are rather cheap. Poorly done. Regardless of the angle the island sets look like island sets which ruins the illusion. The NYC sets fair slightly better, but again are obvious sets.
The effects. I already mentioned how Kong's movements ruin the overall effects, so let's look at the other aspects.
The giant hand is very well done, but the hand looks too leathery. The Kong face is done very well and allows the limited emotions to come through. The Kong full size suit is good.
All of the Kong things are good it's just the way that Kong moves that ruins the effect.
Compositing is fairly bad especially in the helicopter finale. The copters move behind in a jerky hap-hazzard way.
Are there things I like. Well it's few and far between.
I do like that the journey takes place fairly early. I do like Grodins acting. I do like aspects of Kongs suit and hand/arm. I do like that the scene where Kong jumps from one tower to the other. I did like when the lights in Kongs eyes dim as he dies.
I don't like the 1976 setting. The way Kong moves even though he's called an ape. I don't like Kong's limited emotions and vocalizations. I don't like the characters. I don't like some of the acting which seems stilted and unconvincing. I don't like the direction. I don't like the way the military is portrayed. The musical score is lackluster is isn't memorable, it simply doesn't evoke emotion.
Overall a highly flawed film that can't stand on it's own merits. Overall I found it boring and not thrilling or dramatic at all.I felt nothing for Kong at the end which clearly shows that the film simply didn't work for me.
On a scale of 1-10, I would rate it a 3.
I have not even mentioned the other two Kong films, but when compared to those this one doesn't even come close.
