EDITOR'S CUTComplications Ensue
Complications Ensue:
The Crafty Screenwriting, TV and Game Writing Blog




Archives

April 2004

May 2004

June 2004

July 2004

August 2004

September 2004

October 2004

November 2004

December 2004

January 2005

February 2005

March 2005

April 2005

May 2005

June 2005

July 2005

August 2005

September 2005

October 2005

November 2005

December 2005

January 2006

February 2006

March 2006

April 2006

May 2006

June 2006

July 2006

August 2006

September 2006

October 2006

November 2006

December 2006

January 2007

February 2007

March 2007

April 2007

May 2007

June 2007

July 2007

August 2007

September 2007

October 2007

November 2007

December 2007

January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

July 2008

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

December 2008

January 2009

February 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 2009

July 2009

August 2009

September 2009

October 2009

November 2009

December 2009

January 2010

February 2010

March 2010

April 2010

May 2010

June 2010

July 2010

August 2010

September 2010

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010

January 2011

February 2011

March 2011

April 2011

May 2011

June 2011

July 2011

August 2011

September 2011

October 2011

November 2011

December 2011

January 2012

February 2012

March 2012

April 2012

May 2012

June 2012

July 2012

August 2012

September 2012

October 2012

November 2012

December 2012

January 2013

February 2013

March 2013

April 2013

May 2013

June 2013

July 2013

August 2013

September 2013

October 2013

November 2013

December 2013

January 2014

February 2014

March 2014

April 2014

May 2014

June 2014

July 2014

August 2014

September 2014

October 2014

November 2014

December 2014

January 2015

February 2015

March 2015

April 2015

May 2015

June 2015

August 2015

September 2015

October 2015

November 2015

December 2015

January 2016

February 2016

March 2016

April 2016

May 2016

June 2016

July 2016

August 2016

September 2016

October 2016

November 2016

December 2016

January 2017

February 2017

March 2017

May 2017

June 2017

July 2017

August 2017

September 2017

October 2017

November 2017

December 2017

January 2018

March 2018

April 2018

June 2018

July 2018

October 2018

November 2018

December 2018

January 2019

February 2019

November 2019

February 2020

March 2020

April 2020

May 2020

August 2020

September 2020

October 2020

December 2020

January 2021

February 2021

March 2021

May 2021

June 2021

November 2021

December 2021

January 2022

February 2022

August 2022

September 2022

November 2022

February 2023

March 2023

April 2023

May 2023

July 2023

September 2023

November 2023

January 2024

February 2024

 

Monday, February 13, 2006

I agree with Stephen Gallagher's comment on the previous post. The action sequences in Peter Jackson's King Kong do go on too long, past the point where they're contributing to story. (Compare John Roger's dictum that an action sequence should really be a suspense sequence that can only be resolved by action.) The spider pit added nothing to the movie, and the five minutes of stampeding diplodoci seemed like they belonged to Jurassic Park IV: The Outtakes.

I continue to think that it is a disease of directors to go for the cool shot and the cool sequence over the story. Peter Jackson is an amazing director and comes by his "A Film By" semi-legitimately, I think. But he is not a consistent storyteller, as the endless endings of The Return of the King suggest.

I would really like to see DVDs sporting not only a director's cut, where the director sticks in all the cool sequences that don't really belong in the story, but an editor's cut, where the editor has free reign, and gets to show what he'd have done on his own. I bet you Jamie Selkirk could have turned in a 1 hour 59 minute King Kong that had all of the mystery and the love story without the need to get up in the middle to visit the powder room. How about Ralph Rosenblum's cut of the original Producers -- or any Mel Brooks movie for that matter? How about Ben Burtt's Phantom Menace? (There is apparently a rogue Phantom Menace floating around, with a lot less Jar-Jar.)

Sometimes, less is more.

6 Comments:

Hi Alex!

I just started reading your blog recently and I'm eating it up! Great stuff!

I think you're too kind to Peter Jackson. I too admire his obvious skill at creating big-budget glossy pictures, but if we both agree that the role of a director is to tell a story first and foremost, then sorry Mr. Jackson, but I'm not a fan.

King Kong was way too long and you know it's only going to get longer when the DVD is released! The neverending action sequences lent very little to the storytelling and took me out of the story.

The same goes for the first Lord of the Rings, but I can't comment on the remaining two because I decided to save myself the half-day and do something else instead! ;)

I know that a lot of people would disagree with me, though, so maybe it's just a style preference. I tend to favour subtlety and nuance more, I guess.

By Blogger T, at 10:25 AM  

King Kong: The Good, The Bad and The Self-Indulgent.

The Good: King Kong, the creature, was an amazing bit of CGI magic. Worth seeing just for that.

The Bad: Is there a word limit for comments? The only thing that kept me in the theatre was the CGI work that had gone into creating Kong. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, else was a disappointment - especially that ridiculous CGI island. However, the most ludicrous thing about the movie was the "love thing" going on between Kong and Naomi Watts. There was just no way I could suspend my disblief. I couldn't understand (emotionally) how any human being could feel anything but horror and fear in the face of a 30 ft. monster like Kong. And I really tried. I really wanted to be entertained and taken away by this film but that ruined it for me. Other disappointments: the Broadway premiere with the beast. What an anti-climax! I'll take the 1933 version over this waste of film anyday. Where did all the magic from the old Kong go?

As for Jackson's self-indulgence, it's inexcusable. Whatever he had accomplished in LOTR was unraveled by Kong for me. And that last line from Black just made me cringe. It didn't work and I'm pretty sure I know why. By the time we get back to Jack Black saying it - and, granted, he is supposed to be in character - we're in a completely different state of mind after the Empire State Building death scene. It comes out of left field and just grinds all the emotion that had been built up to a painful halt.

As you can tell, I'm angry at Jackson for this insult to the original movie and to his audience. And better than an editor's cut on DVD, I would much prefer seeing a Producer's cut by a mile!

By Blogger Script Demon, at 1:41 PM  

And better than an editor's cut on DVD, I would much prefer seeing a Producer's cut by a mile!

Isn't every movie a producer's cut?

By Blogger Orlando C. Harn, at 6:32 PM  

This one certainly wasn't.

By Blogger Script Demon, at 8:44 PM  

I've seen the quite-good Phantom Menace cut. What's so odd is how very small adjustments made the movie, if not great, certainly pretty enjoyable. Less of young anakin and his mom, a different Jar Jar.

My favorite bit was the voice-blurring on the aliens. By forcing them into gibberish and then doing some tight subtitle work, characters are completely different. ... best example. You know the horrible Amidala/Jar Jar scene? "Peoples gonna die-yyy?" The subtitled version turns Jar Jar into a thoughtful warrior counseling Amidala on the price of leadership. No, seriously. And it works.

By Blogger Unknown, at 10:26 PM  

Hi Alex,

I like your book, glad to find your blog. King Kong. Here is where it suffered for me. Too many non-story subplots and action sequences, yes. I liked the romance, though, the jewel of the film.

My big problem? Turning Denham into a villain, then cutting to Watts in a chorus line. We don't get a conflic scene between Watts and Black? First, she loves the big ape. Wouldn't she do anything to stay with him, protect him? Original Kong writers knew what they were doing when they crafted Mighty Joe Young. Jackson wanted a meld of Kong and Joe Young and failed to knit the two ideas together.

She would have stayed to protect the ape, not go work in a chorus line, so that whole thing failed for me, which wrecked the finale.

Here's what would have worked. She HATES the big ape, he's fixated on her, that's the tragedy, we can sympathize, poor brute is fixated on a female who doesn't care, it's his downfall. Any other choice, ie., they LOVE each other, then she would do ANYTHING to care for him, just like in Might Joe Young (the 1949 version please).

Too bad, I loved big parts of Jackson's Kong, but by the time we get our seventh longing look on top of the building I was tired of the emotions, and Black uttering that stupendous line, without the logic behind it, and without much conviction, just ruined it. At least we believe the sentiment in the original, which is where the dramatic power comes from. In the original, beauty really did kill the beast. In Jackson's it was a misguided affection for the idea of love between them that wrecked it.

Logically it should have been a happy ending the way Jackson's was written...

Thanks for letting me blab...

Tom Bauer

By Blogger Tom Bauer, at 5:38 PM  

Post a Comment

Back to Complications Ensue main blog page.



This page is powered by Blogger.