The Billiken's Bluff

I saw King Kong last Friday. It was good and a whole lot of fun, despite what some people said. I could have done without the first hour, but some of the scenes on Skull Island were completely shocking and aweing. For instance Kong takes on not one but over a dozen full-grown T-Rex. He dismisses them summarily:



Over cliffs.



Right hooks to the T-Rex Jaw.




And the grand finale, the Mortal Kombat-style finishing move,



a truly inspired scene where King Kong grabs the final T-Rex by the mouth, pulls its jaw open with his hands,



and rips the jaw apart (predictably I couldn't find any screen shots of this climatic moment). Just to recap the T-Rex, king of all dinosaurs, monster of Jurassic Park, master of the primordial jungle, was trying to close its mouth, like a little kid who doesn't want to eat his peas and carrots.



King Kong isn’t going to stand for that type of insolence, so he pries the T-Rex’s jaw open and gives him a firm reprimanding. Who hasn't wanted to do this to a T-Rex?



I've often felt like doing this to something as formidable as a T-Rex, but my rage usually ends up being directed, deflected towards something more mundane like my cell phone.