King Kong

If you want action that respects the story underneath it, King Kong is available in Australia on Disney Plus, and in the UK on Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus right now. The runtime earns every minute, with nothing here that feels like padding. With 8,572 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. No filler scenes, no spinning wheels between the action. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Disney Plus.

King Kong is not trying to be everything to everyone, and that focus is exactly what makes it work. King Kong understands that stakes only matter if you care who is at risk. In 1933 New York, an overly ambitious movie producer coerces his cast and hired ship crew to travel to mysterious Skull Island, where they encounter Kong, a giant ape who is immediately smitten with the leading lady. Naomi Watts and Adrien Brody lead a cast that keeps the chaos grounded in who's actually at stake. It hit screens in 2005. The geography of every set piece in King Kong is legible, which is rarer in the genre than it should be. There is real craft here, even in the moments that do not fully land.

Action fans who want craft and story alongside the spectacle will find exactly that in King Kong. It stands on its own even without an obvious comparison point. The complete film is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. Naomi Watts brings a physicality to the role that elevates every set piece. Action that earns its sequences rather than just delivering them.