Kong: You Saw It Here First

[Steve White <steve_d_white@hotmail.com>]

Hi Everybody,

At 10.00 this morning, I had the distinct pleasure of watching a press
screening of King Kong. And a pleasure it was!

Possible problems with duration and a few bits of clunky dialogue aside,
it's safe say that in my personal opinion this is a fantastic movie. Getting
to the important stuff, the dinosaur appearances falls more or less into two
incredible set peices: the sauropod stampede and the Tyrannosaur battle.
Hang on to your seats - they are genius! I'm not going to spoiler anything
but thought I'd mention of few of my own impressions.

The saurpod battle actually owes quite a lot to the oliphant battle in
Return of the King. Species-wise, they're fairly generic - I kind of had in
mind dicraeosaurus, something like that. The stampede is caused by what
could be some sort of allosaur/stuarikosaur hybrid. The whole sequence
raises some very interesting questions about sauropod mobility.


The tyrannosaur battle. They struck me (as Hannibal Lecter would say) as a
little roomy in the hips. Also a few strange things going on with the lips
and gums. Loved the armour. And again, Jackson makes them very athletic.
However, if you're prepared to accept this is not a work of serious
anatomical science, this is Top 10 favourite movie scenes ever stuff.

Other appearances of note include a pair of strange reptiles of no fixed
abode, classification-wise. They struck me as giant
pelycosaur/raurosuchian/ground iguana mix'n'matches. They also put me in
mind of old restorations of scolosaurus (as was).

Sadly, the ceratopsain I had such high hopes for gets a single cameo. Sad.

On a slighly more 'willing suspension of disbelief' note are the insects,
arthopods, crustaceans, archnids and other creepy crawlies that also put in
a serious appearance. One scene in particular, involving Naomi Watts, had
the audience quite litterally squirming and 'ewwwing' in its seats. The
insect size limitations are not on the statutes of Skull Island, but again
the creepyness factor makes you forgive any physiological doubts you may
have.

As for Kong himself, he moves brilliantly and, like Gollum before him, is a
real, believable and sympathetic character.By the end, there was much
sobbing to be heard.

And be warned - this is not a kids movie. Jackson really pushes, stretches
and almost snaps the ratings system envelope. And three hours? Really? At no
point was I looking at my watch, shifting in my seat or wanting a drink. I
can't wait to see it again!

Steve