Is there anything more tiresome than watching people play video games? Seth Gordon's documentary "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" answers that question with a decisive yes: watching a movie about people playing video games.
Following the all-too-familiar formula of the charming 2002 documentary "Spellbound," Gordon's film chronicles the efforts of die-hard players of the classic video game Donkey Kong as they vie for the world record score. True to the structure that has become increasingly hackneyed with the glut of competition docs ("Mad Hot Ballroom," "Wordplay"), "The King of Kong" features the cocky champion who's defending his title, the genial but fatally flawed underdog and the ambitious upstart.
There's also a loathsome eminence grise who calls himself "Mr. Awesome" and introduces a whiff of sleaze and corruption into the hermetic culture of grown men who spend nearly every waking hour behind a joystick. (If Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell aren't engaged in a bidding war over the life rights of reigning champ Billy Mitchell, they should be.) Low-fi production values and endless talking heads don't help make an already un-engaging world any more compelling.
It's a depressing little kingdom, even when Gordon tries desperately to goose the drama with the requisite "Eye of the Tiger" riffs and some junior high-level palace intrigue. "The King of Kong" suggests that the old saw about academia stands true for the insular world of video games: The competition is so vicious because the stakes are so low.
i thought this movie was cool. ive seen it about 3-4 times now. billy mitchell is the ****ing man. he put up a Cool Million on DK live at funspot the day the movie came out. lol.
I suspect the vast majority of people watching this film have little idea that there's even an official Donkey Kong record, and certainly don't know who holds it or if it was broken recently.
walter day is actually a really nice person that puts a ton of effort into keeping competitive gaming alive. if you are a true video game enthusiast you would appreciate his efforts. he takes alot of time and spent hours upon hours to publish his record books and keep contact with the community. twin galaxies is really reputable amongst game players and the whole slandar of billy's image in the movie is to make it somewhat interesting. there obviously has to be some type of drama to keep the crowd interested and by making one person seem evil and one seem good, this develops the good guy vs bad guy scenario and creates an actual storyline instead of seeing two people playing a game. cmon man, the concept isnt too difficult. if you go and youtube some video stuff youll see walter day on some old old tv shows with billy mitchell and others. guys like this dont stick around forever because they are liars, scammers, etc. they stick around because they are stand up people who actually care about what they do and should get some respect for it.
Are you saying someone forced Walter Day and Billy Mitchell to say those things they said on camera? Cause that's what I judge them on. Walter does appear to be nice, but clueless as to his own biases. Billy is a whacko nerd run amuck. As a whacko nerd myself I can identify another one a mile away.
some of this stuff is obviously staged and many things were used for effect to keep interest. i dont know billy personally but i can do know walter. he is a very very very nice guy and just loves games to death
I saw this last night and was very confused as to why Billy would talk so much **** and not play Steve head to head. That didnt annoy anyone else? I was like wtf, he won't even play the guy. Overall, very entertaining and in terms of douchiness: Kuh>>>>>>>Mitchell imo.