"Saw King Kong."

Film I've seen some rave reviews of Mr. Kong, and I can understand really. Between the King and Naomi Watts there are some excellent performances in there and the special effects are spectacular. And the realisation of both Skull Island and 30s New York are extraordinary. But for some reason I was unmoved. It could have been the audience I was with -- mostly parents and kids who failed to react to everything but liked asking lots of questions (I mean when did 12A suddenly become PG?) but I think it's the length. I love long films. I think the Special Editions of The Lord of the Rings are just right. But somewhere in the middle of the film, in the Skull Island sequences when Adrian Brody and Jack Black have yet more stuff thrown at them I became a bit numbed to the action. I kept wanting the narrative to move forward, to be spending more time with Watts and the big ape and whatever they were doing. The dinosaurs are an important part of the original film and the battle with the T-Rex is spectacular, but there is only so many times that you can watch someone hanging off a cliff/tree/giant reptile before your eyes begin to glaze over. I like that the film is concerned as much with characterisation as monster animal things. The trouble is it has difficulty balancing the elements, so that when the film returns to New York it's a relief because you know that it's going to be ending soon. A shame because some of the best sequences are towards the climax. It just feels like its taken so long to get there...