What a movie! I'm not discrediting its merit as a classic, but I have to say that I am shocked that a movie this incredibly sexist is so beloved in the hearts of film buffs. It was dripping with misogyny within the first ten minutes, the male characters insulted women as often as they could, yet were so arrogantly entitled to them?? It was bizarre. The men are rude and ignorant of common decency, and the one female character is oblivious, with her head in the clouds the whole time. The men are so transparent but she never catches on. The grossest exchange was when a man said, "I love you" to a woman, and she replies, flattered and giddy, "but you hate women!!" to which he so eloquently says, "well you're not women." ? That made me angry. It was like this nasty romanticism of misogyny. "I hate women but I love you, a woman" is not cute, or sweet, or romantic.
I could go on but I don't want to get worked up. I just can't get over how unlikeable everyone was. The one female was just a stupid, damsel in distress, plot device, and all the men were pushy white guys who think they can do whatever they want. They were so unbelievably arrogant, like they were all right all the time, knew everything about everything. Deceitful, exploitative, greedy egomaniacs. And there was no character development whatsoever. No one was accountable for their actions, no one learned anything, no one improved and no one became more evil. No change. The character is the same from their first scene to their last. With one enormous exception.
There were things that I did enjoy, don't worry. The story is still exciting despite the pieces of garbage humans in it. Absolutely legendary special effects. The first time we see Kong on screen gave me goosebumps! It was awesome. Try to imagine yourself in the theater in 1933 seeing this stuff, utterly amazed (in between giggles). The special effects blew them away back then but they are wildly adorable now. The special effects aren't perfect obviously, but they're still very impressive for their time and the way that they did it no doubt took so, so, so much work and planning to become the final product. Awesome, awesome creative shots. The planning, the animating, getting these actors to act with something that wasn't there, a tremendous endeavor. The screaming is hilarious, man, it had me cackling. Kong was cute as hell and I love him. The sets are colossal! Awesome hair and make-up. The final scene is legendary and worth the viewing for sure. It is truly a masterpiece on its own- the editing, the sound, the POV shots of the airplanes, so incredible.
Overall, it was just too frustrating to enjoy. Awful characters doing awful things? Not fun. Greed and misogyny? Not fun. Exploitation of women and wildlife for financial gain? Not fun. It was fascinating and exciting, but its cons outweighed its pros, in my opinion. I doubt I'll watch again.
6/10
Bye love you
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