The King of Kong 2007
This is an extensive documentary about a very small subject: the competion to get the best all-time score in the 80’s arcade game Donkey Kong. It features a group of intensely geeky people who have been competing and keeping up with the scores since they were teenagers. They all revere the champion from the 80’s who once held records on five different games, as he deals with losing his last remaining title to a newcomer and regular guy. The movie definitely is biased towards the newcomer and against the smug, self-congratulatory clique of geeks. It is great reality programming and shows some of the sacrifices that are made to be the best at something, anything. The lack of any real consequence and the humble setting of many of the interviews (dilapidated old arcades where national title competions are held, offices crowded with stuff, one guy’s cabin) makes this grittier and somehow better than previous similar documentaries like Spellbound and Wordplay. However as the movie runs on, even at only 79 minutes, watching people play this game gets a little old and the whole thing runs out of gas. It is worth watching for the geek culture alone, but it also works pretty well as a whole with one disappointment coming from a lack of real resolution as the competition continues afterwards, perhaps even more so with the nationwide release of the movie and DVD.
Written: 03 Dec 2008