Hey folks, Harry here -- I find it amazing everytime we see a big budget film's teaser trailer is released and based on televised resolution or even worse - a 420 resolution Quicktime file... the decree of... THE CG IS SHIT - is heard throughout the kingdom. I got a pair of high res images here of Kong and the T-Rex - if you click on either image - you'll see the high res file - which btw - is only half the size as I originally got it - but one must be careful with bandwidth issues. At the theater last night - when they screened the KING KONG trailer - the audience reacted positively throughout. The creatures on the big screen were breathtaking. Personally - I wish I had a great high resolution image of Kong catching Ann as the T-Rex is trying to bite her out of his hand... because on the big screen - this image was one of the most thrilling that I've seen.
Of course - I'm biased. I'm a KING KONG super-freak. Now - the real question is... Do the images just blow away the original film? Absolutely not. To me - the black & white of the original gives the film a lurid nightmarish quality that simply could not possibly be touched in color. In addition - the trailer was addressing familiar character and story beats as opposed to the dialogue and scenes that are a departure between this and the original film. As for you monkeys that are bitching about this being King Kong meets Jurassic Park... Ok - fine - go get the latest DVD for JURASSIC PARK - sit down and watch the documentary on the making of the film - and watch as Spielberg repeatedly references KING KONG as being his primary influence on Jurassic Park. Now - as for the debate about the dinosaurs not looking as good as the ones in Jurassic Park... Again - watch the documentary on Jurassic Park and you'll see that Winston built a full size robotic T-Rex and that they spent weeks with the Robot in the Rain for that sequence with the Jeeps. And it does look amazing... At night, in the rain - where you could hide a lot of detail. HOWEVER - if you take a look at the scenes in full stark daylight - you'll see just how cg that Rex was... and that first Brontosaurus - while glorious and revelatory in its time... looking at it today - it's the framing of the shots that are most impressive - while the actual texturing... well pretty poor by what you'll see in the trailer attached to WAR OF THE WORLDS beginning tomorrow.
With the trailer - at this point we're not given a look at the character of just about any of the actors. As this teaser was to set up the story and introduce Kong and Naomi's Ann. But I get the idea that Black's Denham is being played in the loose cannon style that Robert Armstrong nailed to a "t". I know that Fran, Phillipa and Peter are going for a Welles / Frank Buck style of adventurous stop at nothing director. The one thing that is absolutely unquestionable is that this version is going to wipe the floor with Dino's KING WRONG - which for the record - I am fond of. Mainly the music, Lange and Bridges. Baker's make-up just wasn't there yet, and that giant snake was ass... and Charles Grodin was a criminal offense... and the fucking Gigantic Gas Pump Cage... words cannot describe the fetid ass that sucked.
The original KING KONG is my favorite film, no film is likely to ever replace that - nor is that Peter's intention. He's making PETER JACKSON'S KING KONG and it is that film that I can not wait to see. The scenes I'm really looking forward to are the quiet scenes with Kong and Ann. Not the Empire State Building... Not Kong vs multiple T-Rexes... but the still moments where she talks to Kong, and he tenderly plays with her. It's a child with a living action figure. A creature with an unspoken longing. It is those scenes that will make or break Peter's KING KONG for me. Not the pixel quality.
