The three hours is no problem at all. Any really BIG story ought to be 3 hours long, in my opinion...and that IS the length of the standard East Indian movie. The Indians and Pakistanis seem to think that's fine. Do they have a longer attention span? Or more respect? Or is it just an accident of culture?

Nice that he managed to get 3 of the 6 planes. Humanity, as usual, showed themselves for what they collectively are: the most dangerous, self-important, and deluded creatures on Earth. Their saving grace is that some of them have real character.

One thing that seemed odd to me. Almost no blood. In the original film you can see that Kong's throat and chest become wet with blood as the machine gun bullets keep hitting him. He dabs at it forlornly, realizing that he is weakening and dying. That was very heartbreaking. In this color film you would have expected to see a whole lot of blood all over Kong, and on the top of the building, gallons of it....but nope, no blood. Very odd. Did they figure that it would lose them a "PG" rating or something?

I think it's a darned good movie. Worth an "A". I'm not as impressed as Chongo, and I won't see it four times, but it's good.

Chongo was expressing regrets that Kong didn't land right on top of Carl Denham when he plummeted to the pavement. Denham and his showbiz cronies are the crux of what makes America ugly. They are the real "beast" in the story, and the cops and military are the unfortunate robots who must do their dirty work for them when things go wrong. You could see the sorrow and pity in the face of one airplane pilot when they were lining up their final attack runs. He realized if only for a moment that he was participating in a great tragedy.

Anne Darrow was played wonderfully by Naomi Watts. She and Kong were the stars, no doubt about that, and that makes the movie work.

The real King Kong, by the way, is Mother Nature. Humanity has no weapon strong enough to kill her. Hope she does not get too angry.