Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun for gamers And Non-Gamers Alike, February 15, 2008
I stuck this movie into the DVD player thinking I'd watch 15 minutes or so and then go make dinner. Before I knew it, the end titles were coming up. This movie starts out slowly and you think it's going to be for hard-core gamers only and then it just sucks you in.
The first time you see Billy Mitchell on screen, standing in front of a copy machine wearing a button up shirt and tie, hair unfashionably long and blunt cut, with facial hair right out of the 70s, your first thought is "loser." Some of this comes from the popular image of people who are hard-core game players as not having real lives. It comes a surprise, therefore, to find out that not only is Mitchell a world champion video gamer, he is an exceptionally successful business person who is married and has children. Nevertheless, this doesn't stop him from coming across as a world-class jerk. While this is no doubt due somewhat to editing, no one put words into Mitchell's mouth and after a while you'll want to roll your eyes at his pompous pontificating. Still, he's the rock star of video gamers and the world-record holder in Donkey Kong, and even if you think that people who spend that much time going after such a seemingly useless world record need to get a life, you can't argue with the fact that Billy Mitchell certainly seems to have one, even if you'd never want to be part of it.
Steve Wiebe, on the other hand, is one of those guys you'd love to have as your best friend. Just as no amount of editing could make Billy Mitchell into the jerk he obviously is, no amount of editing in a picture this long could make Steve Wiebe out to be such a good guy if he weren't genuinely good natured. Even when the video gaming world seems to be conspiring against him to make sure that Billy Mitchell stays on top, Wiebe has a smile on his face. He's smart, good-looking, talented, and also married and a father. And such a sap that times, you just want to slap him for putting up with everything with such good grace.
The movie is about Wiebe's attempt to break Mitchell's long-standing world record for the highest ever Donkey Kong score. Those of us old enough to have played the game back in its heyday will remember how fun it was as well as its sheer impossibility. But even if you never played, or if that funny looking little guy dodging fireballs and falling barrels while trying hopelessly to rescue the girl never appealed to you, chances are you'll find this movie delightful. Because this movie is not about a video game, it's about what drives us to keep going in the face of the odds. The filmmakers do a great job of eliciting from the participants, particularly Wiebe, the reasons for their attraction to the game and the pursuit of the all time high score. Actual gameplay is kept to a minimum, which is frustrating for those of us who really liked the game, but what keeps it interesting even for people who've never held a joystick. Even if you think such a pursuit is really stupid, you'll probably find yourself torn when Steve Wiebe has to choose between breaking the world record and wiping his young son's bottom. You really end up rooting for him.
The supporting players are almost as entertaining as Wiebe and Mitchell, especially Walter Day, the folksinging, meditating, self-appointed guru of the gaming world, who seems to be going out of his way to keep Billy Mitchell on top. Seriously, you couldn't invent this guy.
Seth Gordon, the director of this film, worked on the movie New York Doll, and he seems to have picked up some of that film's ability to transcend the subject matter and keep us interested in people who might not otherwise seem like anyone we'd want to watch for a couple of hours. That Gordon can make Donkey Kong into a metaphor for life, and an entertaining one at that, is no mean accomplishment. I loved this movie.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Video Game Rivalry as Both Character Drama and Quirky Amusement., February 2, 2008
"The King of Kong" follows the 2004-2006 rivalry and resulting controversy for the title of Donkey Kong Champion between longtime record holder and Gamer of the Century Billy Mitchell and challenger Steve Wiebe. Wiebe is cast in the role of heroic underdog, a junior high school science teacher from Washington state who has chosen Donkey Kong as the vehicle of his success after a series of disappointments in other fields. When Wiebe's videotaped record-breaking game is rejected by Twin Galaxies, the regulatory organization for classic arcade records, Steve is forced to try to break the record live, with referee Walter Day as a witness. Meanwhile, defending champion Billy Mitchell, a hot sauce mogul from Florida, avoids the challenge of his rival for fear of losing his title.
I didn't realize that the interest in retro arcade games is still so intense, as I haven't seen hide nor hair of one of these machines since the 1980s. Director Seth Gordon has fashioned a story from a competition that takes place in front of video game screens by focusing on the characters and the controversy. He digs into Steve Wiebe's past to find motivation, accurate or not, for his obsessive pursuit of the Donkey Kong title. Billy Mitchell is portrayed as a egomaniac who tries to manipulate Twin Galaxies' acceptance of challengers' scores. His fear of defeat after 20 years on top is understandable, even if his actions are not admirable. I have no interest in video games, but "The King of Kong" is a character drama that is at once compelling and curious.
The DVD (New Line 2008): Bonus features include 10 bonus scenes, 11 extended interviews, a DVD-ROM (Windows only), a theatrical trailer (2 min), a Glossary of 12 arcade terms, 2 feature commentaries, and: "The Saga Continues" updates us on the rivalry for the Donkey Kong title since 2006. "A Really, Really Brief History of Donkey Kong" (1 min) is a fast-talking animated history of the game. "I am 8-bit" is a gallery of 18 frames of a group art project, with music, inspired by classic arcade games. Subtitles for the film are available in English and Spanish.
The first feature commentary is by the filmmakers. Director Seth Gordon, producer Ed Cunningham, and associate producer Clay Tweel tell us how they discovered the story, how different parts of the film were conceived, and provide additional history of the people and relationships in the film. The second feature commentary is by Chris Carlyle, entertainment editorial director for IGN, and Jon M. Gibson, founder of "i am 8-bit". This is a conversational, often joking commentary about the people in the film. I'd skip it.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As good as it gets -- documentary hits jackpot playing quarters, February 5, 2008
Steve Wiebe just wants to win, at something, anything, and knows he has everything it takes but a little bit of self-confidence and a cause to fight for. He finds that cause in his quest to master Donkey Kong -- allegedly the most challenging of all the classic video games. The problem is that reigning champion Billy Mitchell is not about to give up his title as the King of Kong -- one of the last remaining crowns upon which he's staked his reputation and his ego. The first record set by Steve is challenged on legal grounds -- with the suggestion that he must have tampered with his machine. His new challenge is to set the record straight, in public and in person -- but Billy is just too slick to put his record on the line without a few tricks up his sleeve.
This is really as good as it gets in documentary territory -- fun, funny, heartbreaking, tense, exciting, enraging. It's all there -- and what is so quirky and odd is that the stakes can be so high in what appears on the face of it to be the most trivial of contests. It is rare that a documentarian can find a protagonist as likeable and worthy but down on his luck as Steve Wiebe and an antagonist as devious and clever and diabolical as his weaselly slick archnemesis Jedi from the darkside Billy Mitchell. For a match of similar proportions you'd almost have to look to Michael Moore's Roger and Me -- except for the sneaking suspicion during that film that it's really Mike who is playing Jedi mind tricks.
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