Talk:King Kong Lives/@comment-343942-20140309062234

Definantly not the high point of old Kong's career.

Let's start with the acting. This is some of the most phoned in, least inspired acting I've ever seen. Not one character in this movie left an impact on me beyond generic-ness: You got the generic, "passionate" scientist; the generic adventurer/love interest, and the generic military commander who thinks every problem can be solved by throwing bullets at it.

As is often the case in movies like this, the monster scenes are the highlights, but even those have problems. The effects are an obvious step down from the suite and miniatures seen in the '76 film. Kong's facial expressions seem limited to angry-face and sourpuss-face, and the shoulders are too wide. Plus, the proportions are often thrown out of whack within a few frames: In one scene Kong is fighting against tanks. In one frame, his hand is in proper proportion compared to a human, and in the next, when he's picking up the tank, he looks roughly Godzilla-sized.

Granted some scenes are entertaining: the way Kong carried Lady Kong out of the facility like a knight rescuing a maiden had me in stitches, and the scene of Kong hunting in the swamp was kinda interesting.

As far as pointless sequels go, King Kong Lives isn't the worst, but it's still the low point of the King Kong "series". Say what you will about Toho's Kong movies, but at the very least they have sheer entertainment value going for them. This flick, despite a few humorous scenes here and there, was just an uninspired mess.