Starring: Steve Wiebe, Billy Mitchell, Brian Kuh, Todd Rogers, Walter Day
Director: Seth Gordon
The Lowdown: In this 2007 documentary, recently laid off Redmond, Washington resident Steve Wiebe finds solace in playing Donkey Kong obsessively in an attempt to capture the world record high score. Eventually, Wiebe finds himself right in the middle of the world of competitive gaming and in the midst of a fierce rivalry with Billy Mitchell, the holder of Donkey Kong's high score for the past 25 years.
My Take:
These days so many average joes play video games in their spare time that its hard to believe that gaming was once a nerd subculture as it was in the 80s. Over the past 20 years it has also become exceptionally rare to find anybody making the trek to a local arcade in search of the ever elusive high score. However, as it is in almost anything, there's still a fringe group that obsessive over 80s arcade games, and spend an incalculable amount of time hunched over Pac Man machines and the like trying to capture the high score (and keep it out of the reach of other gamers). "The King of Kong" is a documentary that explores the unusual rivalry between two such people within this tiny subculture. As such, one gets a very detailed look at competitive high score gaming, and the lengths at which people will go to to maintain their world record and ultimately their reputation amongst fellow gamers.
What's fascinating is how for being a real life documentary the story frequently feels like the more offbeat, nerdy cousin to a Hollywood sports film. In Steve Wiebe we have the film's underdog. When the movie starts Wiebe has recently been laid off from his job as an engineer (later in the film he has become a math teacher) and in the interim has been obsessively playing an old Donkey Kong arcade machine that he keeps in his garage. Steve begins to use his knowledge of mathematics to predict patterns in the game and inch ever more closely towards the highest score ever achieved.
This is where the film's other main character, and villain, comes in. Billy Mitchell is a hotshot, world famous competitive gamer with many famous scores including the world's first known perfect Pac Man score, and the world record Donkey Kong score since 1982. For the competitive gaming set Billy Mitchell is a superstar on the same level as Michael Jordan. He's the sort of figure that young competitive gamers idolize and worship to an alarming degree. We learn that Billy Mitchell also works as an official video game referee for Twin Galaxies, the respected "official scorekeeper" for gamers around the world that Guiness consults for its video game scores section in its book of world records.
On top of all that Mitchell also happens to be one of the douchiest villains in a sports movie. Ever. When Steve sends in a tape to Twin Galaxies depicting him beating Mitchell's score, Mitchell sinks to some pretty pathetic tactics. These include sending two guys to Steve's house to look at the DK machine's circuit board, milking Steve's friendship with controversial gamer Roy Shildt (an enemy of Twin Galaxies who allegedly gave false claims to holding high scores of various arcade games) for all its worth and eventually refusing to even go head to head with Steve at a public arcade tournament. Mitchell makes most sports movie villains look downright likable, he's the sort of character that were he fictional you wouldn't believe anyone could be this big of a douche bag.
In addition to these two main characters the cast is rounded out by a few other eccentric characters:
-Brian Kuh: Mitchell's prodigy and #1 fan. He worships Mitchell so much that he'll do anything to intimidate Steve Wiebe. Brian has also retired from his bank management position at the ripe old age of 30 to pursue competitive gaming full time.
- Doris Self: An 80 year old woman and the worlds oldest competitive gamer, who Mitchell has mentored. Self seeks to maintain her world record score on the game Q-Bert.
-Walter Day: The owner of Twin Galaxies and an aspiring folk singer.
You just can't make up this many unique and memorable characters. That's exactly what makes "The King of Kong" such a fun documentary.
Best Moment: Anytime popular gaming ref and aspiring rock star Walter Day appears on screen you know a scene is about to be stolen.
In Short:
Like some of the very best documentaries "The King of Kong" explores a world and a story that sometimes seems too bizarre to actually be believable. Its a classic underdog story with a nerdy twist and full of eccentric characters, some of whom would make fascinating documentary subjects themselves. Fans of classic arcade games and those looking for a less traditional spin on the typical sports movie story will appreciate this terrifically entertaining and engaging film.
9 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment