King Kong (1976) Steelbook [4K UHD + Blu-ray] - Classic Monster Movie Collection for Home Theater & Film Enthusiasts

This review is pertaining to the "extended edition" steelbook that was released in April of 2024. While I already have this movie on DVD, I got this version of the movie for 1#, the beautiful steelbook packaging that the movie comes in, & 2#, the extended tv cut of the movie which I had never seen before; both of which were definitely worth getting. First off, like I said the steelbook packaging is really great. The colors are nice and vibrant and the image of Kong is very detailed. As a fan of steelbook packaging, this is definitely a great edition. I will say that the plastic slipcover that goes over the steelbook is a little loose and comes off a little too easily for my liking, but that might just be the specific copy that I got. Either way, it's not too big a deal and it still looks really nice. Now this comes with the theatrical cut of the movie on a 4K disc and the tv extended cut on a separate Blu-ray disc. I don't have a 4K disc player, so I can't really say what the movie looks like in 4K, but I was able to check out the tv cut which is the main reason I got this release. I was very pleased to see that the tv cut is presented in full high definition with the aspect ratio adjusted to how it was originally filmed as opposed to the cropped tv presentation that it originally aired on. I was really worried about that since a lot of "TV" cuts of films usually aren't preserved in the best of conditions, but here it looks great and I believe is on par with the standard high definition blu-ray releases of the theatrical cut. So, the real question is... is the extra footage added any good? Well it depends. If your a big fan this movie, then checking this version of the film out is a no brainer. As far as the story goes, the extra footage is mostly insignificant narrative-wise. There's a lot of "extended shots" that are just shots from the theatrical version that go on way longer without adding anything significant. A lot of the "unused" footage added in feels rather pointless such as an opening that actually shows the lead character Jack hanging out in a bar before he goes to ship at the start of the movie. The scene doesn't really go anywhere or lead into anything and just feels like filler which is how a lot of the "extra" footage feels for the first half of the movie. Now the second half of the movie is actually pretty interesting as we do get to see more footage of Kong rampaging through the city that was not shown in the theatrical cut. Not a whole lot of it is actually "new" per say, but rather the same destruction sequences of Kong with more footage here and there added in. Some of it seems to be extended shots but there's also unused angles and alternate takes of the Kong on display here. We even get a completely unused scene where Kong picks up some poor taxi cab driver and yeats him into the side of a building which is pretty great. While the theatrical cut is perhaps better paced and edited, I'd actually say that the second half of the TV cut is a little better simple because we get to see more footage of Kong's rampage. And honestly isn't that what you want to see in King Kong movie? More Kong? The only downside to the TV cut is that for obvious reasons they had to cut out the more graphic moments from the movie. The brief scene where Kong nudges Jessica Lang's top off is omitted and most of the bloodier moments are also cut out such as the scene where Kong rips a giant snake's jaw apart and a good portion of the helicopter shootout with Kong. Most of these cuts aren't too bad and are still edited in a way where it it's not too obvious or jarring( unless your a person who just really wanted to see that half second shot of Jessica Lang topless). Overall, I'd definitely recommend this release for fans of this movie. It's worth getting for The beautiful steelbook as well as the extended tv cut in High Definition.