“The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters” is a heart warming documentary about two men competing to be the world’s best at the arcade classic, Donkey Kong. Two red flags for potentially boring movies wave immediately. I mean seriously, strike one is that it’s a documentary, and strike two is that it’s about middle-aged video game players; or “gamers” as they like to be called. That being said “King of Kong” is the most entertaining documentary I’ve seen in a long time.
This movie chronicles Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe’s back and forth battle at claiming the Guinness World Record for high score on the joystick classic. Billy, who is slightly larger in his own mind, has been the top dog on the chutes and ladders game since 1982; when out of nowhere a 35-year-old unemployed husband and father, Steve, records an impossible new record. This real life version of David versus Goliath pulls you in before you can even realize that you’re watching two video game aficionados vie for supremacy one quarter at a time. The supporting characters like the aging referee and founder of Twin Galaxies Official Scoreboard, Walter Day, could not have been written in a more eccentric light. And while you still chuckle at the level of importance the sub-world of hardcore gamers place on these titles, you still have to commend the level of dedication and skill it takes to become the world’s best at “anything.”By the time the credits roll you definitely feel like you’ve witnessed an epic battle between good and evil or at the very least Luke Skywalker versus Darth Vader. And just when you think the story’s over, the special features fuel to the fire with a quick epilogue of updates… I smell sequel.
All in all, "The King of Kong" was a wildly subdued yet awkward classic. The whole idea of documentary about Donkey Kong being fun seems to be an oxymoron so why not describe it as one. I’m not sure if quirky is the right word, but it’s definitely the first one that comes to mind.
1 comment:
Sounds a little like American Movie...Or like our lives in like fifteen years (without the film crews and excitement of course).
Post a Comment