May 14, 2006
We rented Peter Jackson's "King Kong" last night. I mention Peter Jackson in there so you know I'm not talking about the original or the remake starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange.

I liked it. It runs 3 hours and 8 minutes and probably should have run about 2 hours and 15 minutes. They don't even get to the damned island for an hour and there isn't that much going on in that first hour worth sitting through.

I'm not a huge fan of King Kong, the story. It's never really worked for me, and I have to honestly say, when we got to the end and Kong was dead, I really, REALLY did not want to hear someone say, "It was beauty that killed the beast."

But, no, Jackson apparently felt it was just too vital a line to leave out, and it comes from the mouth of Jack Black's character, Carl Denton, the filmmaker who gets the whole ball rolling.

Which, honestly, is problematic. It didn't strike me at the time--at the time, my brain was saying, "Oh no, no, it's that idiotic sappy line! Aaaahhhhhh!"

But this morning, while taking Frodo (yeah, weird bit of synchronicity there) for a walk, I thought: "What's the point of that line?"

And here's why I ask that question. Jack Black says it. He got everybody going on this, flim-flammed the actress, the actors, the scriptwriter, his film crew, his producers, the ship's captain and crew, into going to this island in the middle of nowhere. Once there, when everything goes to hell, and one of the first dead is one of his crew, he keeps on going, saying, "This movie will be made! For him! And we'll give the profits to his wife and children!" A line he repeats when another of his crew dies.

And when they fight off the dinosaurs (yeah, an island with dinosaurs and you take home the ape! Good call, Mr. Show Biz!"), rescue the girl, escape from Kong, HE'S the one that convinces them to take Kong with them rather than beat feet and call it a day. HE'S the one that drugs Kong and chains him up and puts on a show. HE'S the one that fucks up every step of the way and drives everybody and everything, including Kong, to death and destruction.

So when his character looks down at Kong and says, "It was beauty that killed the beast," I can't help but think that rather than this being a philosophical insight, it's a distinct rationalization by the dipshit who caused the whole mess and manages to distance himself from any responsibility!

Okay, there's your undergrad Lit 201 essay on film. Knock yourself out.

Best,
Mark Terry