King Kong Blu-ray Review & Comments

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Reviewed by Chris McEneany, 19th January 2009
King Kong on BD remains an epic fantasy classic, and a prime-time cinematic over-indulgence – however it is also seriously malnourished in terms of added value, especially when you consider the wealth of material that has already been made available. Its AV quality is superlative, blending cutting-edge CG with elaborate sets and huge, enveloping vistas with sterling, retina-seducing aplomb and boasting a sound-design that can't fail to take the breath away. From the money-shot big moments to the tiny little, homage-rife details in the background, King Kong's BD delivers the goods in spades. The audio delivery is second to none and truly brings the movie to life, feeding every channel with either bombast or subtlety throughout.

The performances, bar the two from Andy Serkis and that from Watts, are either badly judged or just plain perfunctory. Jackson and Boyens bog their adaptation down with needless subplots and usher in a few too many characters, but their heart is certainly in the right place and the sheer sense of evocation and cinematic might that they conjure is more than enough to smooth over such rough edges. This is grand-scale yarn-spinning and even if many people refuse to be smitten by its sensory overload, there is a lot to admire in such a lavish and comprehensively wrought production. Personally, I love the movie. For all its faults, King Kong 2005-style provides exhilaration, action, mystery and the type of rip-roaring, big screen exuberance that doesn't come along all that often.

Whatever your opinions about the film may be, there is no denying the quality of this transfer. Whether you become overwhelmed by the romance and tragedy of the story, or just simply want to kick back and revel in hi-def glory, King Kong still reigns supreme as a home cinema show-piece that packs in pure AV-junkie nirvana each and every time you spin the disc.


Read the full review...
 
A 10 for sound,it must be good.Yeah,course it's good,the HD-DVD was good and i'm guessing this will outclass it.

Oh well,another double dip.:D

Fine review Chris. :thumbsup:
 
Obviously the world would be a boring place if we all agreed .... but I have to follow suit with some other reveiws of this film and say that it had to have been the most out stretched long and boring, poorly casted and poorly acted film I have ever watched.

It may look and sounds fabulous but its still a really really bad film ... IMO of course ;)
 
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Obviously the world would be a boring place if we all agreed .... but I have to follow suit with some other reveiws of this film and say that it had to have been the most out stretched long and boring, poorly casted and poorly acted film I have ever watched.

It may look and sounds fabulous but its still a really really bad film ... IMO of course ;)

I sit somewhere between you and Chris on this.

It's a film with many flaws, and yes it's too long, with ropey acting in parts, and of course the abysmal Jack Black.

But it's still entertaining, it doesn't feel quite as long as it actually is, and my heart was in my mouth for the end sequence at the top if the Empire State (I get acrophobia).

Steve W
 
I remember when this film came out at the cinema and there was much discussion on this forum about it.
It came to a head when one of the participants actually wrote "'twas beauty that killed the beast - what a load of ****"...he had obviously NEVER seen the original and was just jumping on the band wagon...that seems to have happened a lot with reviewers. One reviewer gave it a bad review and the rest jumped aboard.

Fortunatly, these days, we're a much more grown up bunch here at AVF and can have civil discussions about films like this - personally, I'm on the love train for this - but didn't like the directors cut. I therefore won't be upgrading my HD DVD just yet...
 
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I really liked this king king as it was a remake form the original black and white from when is was a toddler:) and i loved the T-rex fight also they just improved on the film indeed:smashin: this however added 3 T-rex's dam class that...:thumbsup: worth it just for that...

Never seen the extended version:( , but would be hard for me to swap the hd version ,i was not happy when i got the dvd release then a month later the extended come out:mad:, but i like the better sound format of this.. i will keep a look out ..

Also when king kong breaths (the close up) so does the sub:D i am sure kong is in there:rotfl:

good review:thumbsup:
 
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Films was far tooo long, there where some good scenes and the monkeys (i know) animation is very good, but i was so bored at the end and so wanted it to end i was praying for the monkeys death. Which means the film failed for me as i lost all affinity with Kong. Desperately needs to be cut to 2 hours max.
 
Films was far tooo long, there where some good scenes and the monkeys (i know) animation is very good, but i was so bored at the end and so wanted it to end i was praying for the monkeys death. Which means the film failed for me as i lost all affinity with Kong. Desperately needs to be cut to 2 hours max.

so staying with the SD version would be better over the extended?
 
so staying with the SD version would be better over the extended?

I cant face watching the extended version, i cant face watching the standard version which i have on hd dvd..

Cut to a reasonable length of time this film would have been legendary for me but as it stands its a snooze fest :boring:
 
I concur it is over long even with just the theatrical cut, But i must say this is by far in some parts of the film one of the best blu ray's i have seen thus far.
 
Good review, but I thought the movie was abysmal. Terrible, terrible acting, overly long and painfully self-indulgent. I couldn't wait for the thing to end.

As a 3D and Visual Effects artist, I was appalled by the CGI too. I was actually cringing during the stampede.
 

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