DVD: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Posted by Tara Settembre (tara@filmschoolrejects.com) on January 17, 2008
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is not another film featuring the popular beast, King Kong, but instead is a humorous documentary on another famous Kong, the 80s arcade game relic—Donkey Kong—and those who have spent their lives trying to master it.
Back in 1982, gamer Billy Mitchell scored a high score of over 874,300 in Donkey Kong and for twenty years no one had even come close to beating him, elevating Mitchell to a cult star. That same year he appeared on the cover of Lifemagazine as one of the top players for Centipede too. Being the World Record holder for two arcade games he was later named the “Gamer of the Century,” but as the film shows, he’s not the most humble of divas.
Luckily, there’s a new gamer in the O.K. Arcade, Steve Weibe, a genuinely likeable school teacher with Donkey Kong in his garage and a dream in his heart to be the best at something. But as the film’s tagline reads, “In the cutthroat world of Donkey Kong, only one man can rule” and soon a cross-country, old school arcade duel for the right to be included in the 2007 Guinness World Records book ensues. Several tears, treacheries and tirades later it’s on like Donkey Kong.
This isn’t a spoof or a mockumentary, but at times it can seem like one due to the sometimes pathetic passion these gamers have when it comes to their “sport” and “skills.” The encouraging 80s anthems from Rocky and Karate Kid, which play in the background, only help to make fun of their seriousness further. Despite the laughs had at the expense of the characters and the “score referees” though, this gaming culture is fascinating and at times admirable. Heck, I can only wish to beat all the levels of Pac Man and I’ve owned the arcade game since I was 10.
Usually when it comes to documentaries, I always seem to loose interest half way in, however, I didn’t think of the time as I waited to see who would be the King of Kong. The DVD extras though provide 90 minutes of extra footage, which is a bit extreme, unless you just can’t get enough.
Another DVD feature provides an animated short “A Really, Really Brief History of Donkey Kong,” which is interesting and something that I felt the film lacked. I would have liked to have heard when Donkey Kong was created and how popular it was in its day, some sort of archive footage or expert commentary on that at the beginning of the doc I think would have laid the groundwork better. In fact, I just learned more about the arcade game from Wikipedia than I did the film (see the below On the Side).
DVD Special Features and Specs:
(90 minutes worth of extra footage)
• Feature commentary from director Seth Gordon, producer Ed Cunningham, associate producer Clay Tweel and associate producer Luis Lopez
• Feature commentary from IGN.com editor and i am 8-bit founder
• Featurettes including extended interviews, player profiles and bonus footage
• “A Really, Really Brief History of Donkey Kong” animated short
• 16×9 widescreen (1.85) version of the film
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and English 2.0 Stereo Surround
• English & Spanish subtitles
• Closed captions
• Animated menus (that look like an arcade score board)
• Alternative DVD cover, just flip the artwork over to have artwork by Scott Campbell displayed.
The Upside: A captivating yet simplistic battle of good vs. evil that will have you routing for the under dog.
The Downside: Not enough background on Weibe (for instance, he played Donkey Kong in college, who knew?)
On the Side: The documentary is going to be made into a feature film with a script and actors. I think Greg Kinnear would be good as Weibe.
More On the Side: The original name of the game was called “Monkey Kong”, but due to a faxing error from the U.S. to Japan before the game was to be completed, Donkey Kong was born. It’s also the first game to feature Mario.
Read more articles by Tara Settembre
