King Kong

Colleen and I went to see King Kong last night. Although I typically despise big special effects-driven movies, I was thoroughly entertained by King Kong last night. The effects were dazzling, yet not over the top. Kong was believable, but even more so were the creepy crawly attacking bugs that plagued the explorers on Skull Island. Spiders the size of a human head, cave crickets the size of a torso, giant larvae-like suckoids about 20 feet long, not to mention the mosquitoes the size of pint of milk. Jack Black, Adrian Brody and Naomi Watts all put in solid performances, and I heard one reviewer say that this was both a film and a movie. He defined films as independent, character-driven features, while movies were big-budget special effects behemoths. I agree. Though the special effects are what hits you in the face, the story is well done too. I give it 3 out of 4 stars, or a solid letter grade of B.