Saturday 20 August 2011

King of Kong: A fistful of quarters

I was turned on to this doc a while ago after it was mentioned in a Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) interview on the Adam Carolla show. It slowly slipped down my lovefilm rental list until this week. All I knew about King of Kong was the it centred around the retro arcade game Donkey Kong and it has been credited as one of the best docs in recent years.

The doc really didn't disappoint, its pure geek heaven at its best. Although it could be off putting when you know the story centres on young men's ambition to have the high score on a very old computer game - I resisted the urge to shout at the TV that they would be amazed by Call of Duty or the latest Fifa.

What makes this film work is that it's more about real people than gaming. I couldn't help getting drawn in by Steve Wiebe's challenge and all his personal shortcomings in his past - I'm British, we're well known for cheering for the underdog afterall. It made addictive viewing and by the end I enjoyed the hatred I felt for Billy Mitchell, the fact that these two "people" are exactly that and not fictional characters makes the whole experience a lot sweeter.

Fancy a doc then this is it.

No comments:

Post a Comment