King Kong - movie of the year?

Note: This is a spoiler-free movie review

One word: Astounding.

Yes, the story is pretty simple. Yes, there are more screams (from man and beast alike) than eloquent, thought-provoking dialogue.

Basically, director Peter Jackson could've screwed up in so many ways. It could have degenerated into a mindless action flick. It could've felt rushed. It could've dragged too long. It could've been all about the special effects (*cough!* *cough!* *Star Wa-COUGH!*)

But in the true spirit of one so passionate about filmmaking, he has made a film that's both highly entertaining (yes, even in the 'haha!' sort of way) with excellent pacing and many moments with either a wonderful sense of irony or the 'Oh-My-God-I-can't-believe-it' sort of feeling about it.

This is the sort of action-adventure film that we've not seen in a long time. Kinda like the first time I ever saw an Indiana Jones movie - I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.

It's one of the few movies where I genuinely felt like rallying behind the main characters during the fight scenes and action sequences.

What's even more remarkable is that Peter Jackson's resisted all temptation to insert dialogue at pivotal moments - relying instead on silence and emotion (from the actors' and ape's facial expressions).

He makes the audience care. Well, at least I did.

All credit to Peter's amazing direction, the incredible cast of actors and one of the best special effects teams in the business (hell, it all seemed so natural that I just stopped bothering to spot what was computer generated and what wasn't).

This, my friends, is movie-making at its best. And for God's sake, try to catch it in the cinemas while it's still showing. Unless you've got a gigantic plasma TV and are waiting to buy the high-definition disc versions of the film (either HD DVD or Blue-Ray, of course), you really have to catch this on the big screen.

Yes, I like this film. A lot.