Top 10 of 2005: #8

King Kong dir. Peter Jackson

After the extremely successful Lord of the Rings trilogy, everyone was waiting for a follow up movie from Peter Jackson. When it was announced that he would be directing the remake of King Kong, everyone was ecstatic, including me. He did not let us down one bit. King Kong is amazing! An absolutely breathtaking motion picture and even though it is about 3 hours long, it goes by quickly. The special effects in this movie are spectacular and some of them sent chills up my spine. Every actor in this movie deserves credit for being so committed and making this a big, fantastical, popcorn munching movie. Naomi Watts is brilliant as Ann Darrow and delivers a deeply heartfelt performance. The scenes with her and Kong are breathtaking. Adrien Brody proves himself again to be a worthy leading man and who knew that Jack Black could bring out such a performance in him. This is one of the best of his career. The performance however that stands out for me the most is of Andy Serkis as Kong himself. You think he did a lot in Lord of the Rings, nothing compares to King Kong. It's a great feat of a performance even though you don't see him. Kong comes to life before our eyes and it is all thanks to Andy Serkis and the special effects team. Peter Jackson has created an amazing special effects galore film and no wonder it is on a lot of critics top 10 lists.