It’s late, and I’ve had a long day, but I wanted to scribble down some thoughts on Peter Jackson’s King Kong before dropping off. I’d read a couple of rave reviews of it, notably here and here, but had to judge for myself.

Amazing, in a word. Jackson set a high filmmaking bar with Return of the King, particularly in the Battle of Pelennor Fields sequences. He soars over that bar for King Kong. I actually wanted to cry when Kong plummetted off the Empire State Building. No spoiling here; like Titanic, you know how it ends. Yet, Naomi Watts and Andy Serkis (with CGI magic) make retracing the steps to the foregone conclusion of the 1933 version a delight. And the delight remains throughout this 800-pound gorilla of a film.

Fay Wray would be proud.

Pay special attention to the recreation of Depression-era Times Square and jungle brawl scenes.