ALARIS' REVIEWS

11th April 2010
The King of Kong (2007)

I found this documentary about Donkey Kong unexpectedly heartbreaking, which probably says more about where I am right now than it says about the doco. But the doco's pretty engrossing.

The King of Kong brings us into the world of competitive, non-professional gamers, specifically those who focus on classic arcade games like Donkey Kong and Pac Man. It's a small world, largely driven by nostalgia, obsession, and a sense of community.

Billy Mitchell is a colossus in this tight-knit world, holding the unbroken high score in Donkey Kong for over twenty years. He's the epitome of the slick entrepreneur - cunning, slightly smarmy, and a hero in the gaming community.

Enter Steve Wiebe, a softly spoken family man from mid-town America, who recently took up playing Donkey Kong after losing his job. Wiebe has OCD, and is a talented musician and artist, who never managed to get his dreams off the ground. His current goal: to break the Donkey Kong record held by Billy Mitchell.

I'd heard lukewarm reviews for The King of Kong , but I found the documentary surprisingly moving. The editorial bent is obvious, but also very convincing. Wiebe is quietly likeable and achingly earnest, and the setbacks and injustices he encounters are deeply felt.

The King of Kong moves at a steady pace, and the background information isn't cumbersome. The stakes feel immense at times, but the tone of the documentary is understated, much like Wiebe himself.

Slight spoiler warning ahead, but the message of the documentary is what made an impact for me. About five minutes from the end, I decided the message of the documentary was 'Good guys don't win'.

As the credits rolled, I decided the coda was 'But it doesn't matter'.

The King of Kong spotlights that eternal question: what kind of a person do you want to be? Do you want to be a winner, or a good guy? In any given crowd, the split is probably 50/50. The important question is, which are you?

Verdict: An understated documentary about classic arcade gaming, and the qualities that make a person who they are.

If gaming bores you, you probably won't like this.