King Kong 4K 2005 Ultra HD 2160p REMUX

Flamboyant, foolhardy documentary filmmaker, Carl Denham, sails off to remote Skull Island to film his latest epic with leading lady, Ann Darrow. Native warriors kidnap Ann to use as a sacrifice as they summon "Kong" with the local witch doctor. But instead of devouring Ann, Kong saves her. Kong is eventually taken back to New York where he searches high and low for Ann, eventually winding up at the top of the Empire State Building, facing off against a fleet of World War I fighter planes.

King Kong 4K 2005 Ultra HD 2160p REMUX Review
King Kong's UHD release offers a substantial upgrade over the previously released VC-1 encoded Blu-ray, even as the UHD is not perfect and has likely been sourced from a 2K digital intermediate. The movie occasionally struggles to maintain an organic, filmic, natural look, partly due, it seems, to various visual effects shots and inserts that show their inherent weakness on the format. There's a certain artificiality to parts of the movie, particularly around those digital backgrounds. Closer, real textures sometimes suffer, too, but to a much lesser degree, with a sense of flatness and smoothness that often gives way to a much sharper presentation. The increase in sharpness and clarity over the Blu-ray is remarkable. There's a richness to complexity that's never apparent on the Blu-ray. Every element -- skin, period clothes, physical props -- reveal a high level of enhanced clarity beyond the 1080p image. It's a remarkable boost, for the most part, particularly once one gets beyond that artificiality that hangs over various scenes. The level of increase in clarity is often breathtaking. HDR color improvements are obvious as well. Greater color distinction and vividness are obvious from the get-go. Shading and saturation are much more fluid, highlights are more precise, and transitional nuance is greatly improved, particularly in many of the first act's more amber-influenced scenes. Jungle greens are not quite so brilliant but they are more lively and more richly saturated. Backs -- Kong fur or shadow detail on some of the darker terrain in the movie -- are much more firm and stable. Flesh tones are fuller and much better defined. this is a substantial improvement over the Blu-ray. Note that the review score for the Blu-ray dates back many years and is from a different reviewer. A lower numerical score for the UHD is not an error but rather an unavoidable limitation of the scoring system.

The film's previous DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack was well-received at the time it was reviewed and holds up very well today. The DTS:X Master Audio track isn't a revelation over it but the improvements and refinements are evident and the increased spacing is a major boost. Certainly the film's many thunderous effects, those bass-heavy, furniture-rumbling moments are maintained here with an added benefit of improved spacing along three axes. What was thunderous then remains thunderous now, but with an increased sense of fullness and natural vitality. But it's perhaps the jungle atmospherics where the track finds its calling. The sense of wide-open place is greatly expanded here with all of the minor, but mood-critical, little insect, flowing water, blowing foliage, and scampering creature details creating a more believably rich and expansive atmosphere. Listeners are pulled into the world alongside the party, immersed in the world in a way that is perhaps even more crucial to the film than the improved clarity the UHD video offers. Indeed, both action and environmental elements feature greatly improved coverage and saturation, more seamless movement and more precise location specific placement. With dialogue remaining firm and well prioritized, this is nothing short of an outstanding track from Universal.

I was one of the lucky winners of the Kong is King.net World Premiere Ticket contest, so my husband and I had the pleasure of seeing KING KONG in Times Square's Loews E-Walk Theatre. I knew I'd like it the minute I saw the Art Deco opening credits, very reminiscent of RKO's style. The movie only got better from there, carrying us moviegoers on a roller-coaster ride of adventure, romance, and eye-popping special effects. What raises Jackson's take on KING KONG above other rock'em-sock'em action blockbusters is that it's so clearly a labor of love in every sense of the term, a spectacle with soul and spunk. It's not every rollicking adventure film that begins with scenes of life in 1933 New York City, when the Great Depression was at its worst. No wonder plucky but vulnerable actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts is at her most beautiful and winsome as a more proactive version of Fay Wray's star-making role) is willing to take a chance with fast-talking movie producer/director Carl Denham (Jack Black, a rascally delight) on his latest project, involving leaving for the South Seas that very night.

The characters are no mere genre archetypes; before their adventure begins, Jackson and his talented cast let us get to know and care about every one of them. When crewmen from the S.S. Venture get injured or killed by Skull Island's various fearsome natives and beasts, we mourn them. When Ann and playwright Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody combines strength and sensitivity wonderfully as this unlikely hero. He gets my vote for Movie Mensch of the Year!) connect on screen, we're moved and rooting for them to get together, especially after they share one of this year's best screen kisses. Even the calculating Denham wins us over with his sheer force of will. A real Orson Welles type, the guy just loves making movies -- and money -- so much he'll go to insane lengths to make his project a reality, whether it involves outrunning his creditors, shanghaiing Driscoll on the Venture, or tricking his cast and crew onto uncharted Skull Island.

Most importantly, King Kong himself captivates us, thanks to a combination of WETA's amazing special effects and the range of emotion provided by a motion-captured Andy Serkis. If only one cast member gets an Oscar nomination, I say give it to Serkis for his wonderful performances as both Kong and Lumpy the cook! :-) Kong has never been just another scary big ape in any of the previous film versions of his story, but Jackson and Serkis make him particularly engaging, not just because he looks so convincingly weatherbeaten, but he moves like an ape (on all fours, thank you) and has the facial expressions of a human. As a result, we can see how Kong's terrifying side is influenced by his tender side. Yes, I said "tender." How else can you describe his protectiveness towards Ann on Skull Island after she wins him over by performing her lively vaudeville act? When Kong does go nutzoid, it's because either he or Ann are being threatened, whether by people, planes, or Skull Island's jaw-dropping, scream-inducing array of monsters and aborigine tribespeople. Jackson & Company give the big guy plenty of dizzying set pieces to show his stuff, involving everything from dinosaurs, toothy insects as long as your arm, and speeding taxicabs in New York City traffic (the scene where Brody did his own stunt driving; all those years of drag-racing on the streets of Woodhaven, Queens really paid off! :-), to say nothing of the dazzling Empire State Building climax. Moreover, Andrew Lesnie's cinematography is as gorgeous as it is kinetic; Adrien Brody should make sure Lesnie photographs every film he's in from now on, because he's never looked so handsome as he does here! :-) KING KONG is over 3 hours long, yet I never once thought to look at my watch. It's 3+ hours and the price of admission well-spent.

Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (46.2 Mb/s)
Resolution: Upscaled 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio
English: DTS-X 7.1 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: DTS 2.0
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish (Latino): DTS 5.1
French (Canada): DTS 5.1
Japanese: DTS 5.1
Portuguese: DTS 5.1

Subtitles
English SDH, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish.