Taking place during the Great Depression in America when circus and theater acts are dying, we follow a rebellious filmmaker's quest to make a film like never before, where Carl Denham (Jack Black) sets off against the tides for his travel to Skull Island; the uncharted territory on Earth that houses the mightiest creature mankind has ever seen - King Kong!
Before anything else, King Kong is made for the purpose of serving an epic blockbuster visual feast. Production design for the time period and Skull Island are simply great, along with the setting, makeup and special effects. Visual effects for King Kong certainly look astounding! Coupled with the performance of Andy Serkis, he looks magnificent and alive in every single shot he's in. Years after the movie's release, the CGI Brachiosaurus herd sure looks outdated, but the idea for the chase sequence with one dinosaur toppling over another is amazing! Giant insects, bats, worms, lobsters, spiders and more can certainly make your skin crawl!
Action sequences that include King Kong flipping a tree trunk, monster alligator hunt, Kong battling the three T-Rexes with Ann (Naomi Watts) dangling in vines as she pendulums back and forth from the T-Rex's jaw and the ship struggling in the midst of violent sea are choreographed with thoughts. Kong charging the ship crew to get Ann back before being captured plus the entire climax of chaos and destruction in New York City which starts from the theater show are superbly transliterated from paper to screen! Sound design and editing are of top-tier quality! The blurry-drag slow motion technique appearing in most parts of the picture is lousy and cheap-looking though.
The plot however, doesn't require 3 hours to tell what it wants to tell. While the adventure and mysterious feel are successfully instilled for the most parts, many of the missions' events are made up of repetitions. The subplot wanting us to care for the crew characters and most of the comedy did not work either. As far as the human element of the story goes, Carl Denham's arc stands out the most. His selfishness that progressively leads to the biggest inhuman act he pulls off is fantastically written. Every time his camera gets stuck in the action, the tension mounts! Carl Denham's character distinguished the every other characters present, thus bringing the theme to life. Other than that, Ann's relationship with King Kong, from captive to love, is also well-developed! The escape attempts and miming acts that grow into trust and companionship is something hard to explain by words but told well visually. It's haunting and heartbreaking as we see Kong being shot by fighter planes on top of the Empire States building and falls down from it after letting his last breath go with Ann.