I think Lileks would have liked King Kong better if he had seen it on the big screen. I took my Dad to see it at the dollar cinema over the weekend. It was the second time for me.
I agree with most of the criticisms Lileks raises. Yes, there is no reason for a t-rex to abandon a huge haunch of meat in favor of a tiny morsel. And I noticed how quickly the night passed in Manhattan. Although, for that business about how long it takes to get from Times Square to the Empire State Building — come on. Kong wandered the back alleys for a while, there. Maybe he even crossed over into Jersey — like he did in the truly bad remake back in the 70′s, only in reverse. Then he came back. You know, killed some time.
I would add some criticisms of my own. The first mate of the Venture is kind of tiresome and condescending whenever he lectures the kid from the streets.
“No, Jimmy, it’s not an adventure story.”
Er, right.
And not only do the dinosaur fights go on too long, but everybody would have died in that initial brontosaurus stampede. My Dad pointed that out while it was going on.
Even so, this isn’t really about willing suspension of disbelief. It’s about getting with the spirit of the thing. Sometimes that requires being in a big, crowded room with lots of people around (especially kids) and watching the spectacle unfold the way it was meant to. Anyhow, I liked it in spite of all those objections.
On the other hand, there’s also the fact that Kong reminds me a lot of someone I love:
UPDATE: Rand Simberg is with Lileks on this one.