I read DVD Savant's DVD review of King Kong (2005) 2-disc Special Edition at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=20919 and...i thougt id offer up my 2cents. i enjoyed the film overall, and am a huge fan of the original.i also aggree w/your critique for the most part. however i too feel that somewhere within this film lies a 2 hour masterpiece, and that if any lesson was lost from the 1933 version it was economy. cooper made sure he never read a comment in a review such as the one made by you regarding the rarity of truely horrific moments being provided by the lead, and never allowed anything in his film to remove him from the forfront of your thinking or anticipation.its almost as if all the discarded sequences that normally appear in xtra features on subsequent editions, were instead included in the theatrical release.so i think pj should respond to this ( from what ive read to be his main criticizm } and release a trimmed down version for his directors cut. that would be a brave move, and one well serving of his film and his fans. i aggree with your idea concerning steiners score being adapted, {ala cape fears remake }and know it would have propelled the film more successfully if it was handelled right, as well as giving it a truely unique atmosphere.