Going Ape - "King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters"
A story arc exists about two-thirds of the way through the feature documentary King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters when you’ll want to punch something. Keep this in mind if you think you’re settling in to a nice, 90-minute, nostalgic trip down memory lane to the days of sweet-smelling, sticky-carpeted video game arcades filled with the beeps and buzzes of Pac Man, Dig Dug, Centipede, Galaga, and Donkey Kong. Sure, there’s plenty of that. But there’s more of this: King of Kong gets under your skin.
It’s the story of Steve Wiebe (pronounced Wee-Bee), a laid-off Boeing employee, now middle-school science teacher, who achieves what has long appeared to be the impossible: scoring 1,000,000 points playing Donkey Kong.
It’s an amazing feat, for sure. But it’s also rife with doubt, as so-called ‘Gamer of the Century’ and hot sauce mogul Billy Mitchell, who held the record for nearly two-decades, steps forward to question this Wiebe character, and put a chill through the retro-arcade community. When Mitchell pulls a shifty move that truly puts Wiebe’s record in jeopardy, that’s when blood pressures lift and fists clench for most moviegoers: suddenly, nothing in the world is more important than seeing this film end with justice for Wiebe.
The biggest misconception about King of Kong is that you must be a gamer or video game nut to fully enjoy it. If you were consistently picked last for any organized sporting event during your formative years (Hi, how are you doing?), or hatched an honest and heartfelt idea to achieve greatness only to spend more time counting the scraps of that idea after it blew up in your face (me again!), then your connection to Wiebe will be immediate.
King of Kong is such a great film for reasons that have nothing to do with Donkey Kong or video games. At its core, it’s just a funny—at times dramatic—story of good versus evil, nice guy versus jerk, and, of course, man versus ape.
The film opens Friday at the Grand Cinema (606 S. Fawcett Ave.). On Saturday, it will screen with Wiebe in attendance. During the Seattle International Film Festival earlier this year, a packed house remained after the credits to hear Wiebe and the filmmakers describe the twists and turns of setting the video game record and making the film. Folks in Tacoma should do the same at the Grand this weekend.
Todd Matthews writes for the Tacoma Daily Index.
King of Kong preview on YouTube:
4 comments
S Squid February 13, 2008
Good luck to Jeff Bishop. He’s a proven commodity and quality chef. Looking forward to good things from him.
Kudos to Kris Blondin for taking a huge risk on the neighborhood and making Vin Grotto work. She and her restaurant contributed to the renaissance of north Pacific.
M Marguerite February 13, 2008
Il cibo buono vicino il mio lavoro!
I’m so excited. Will it be open for lunch and dinner? Right now Marzano is my favorite for Italian, but it’s so far away…
E Erik B. February 13, 2008
Kudos to Kris Blondin for taking a huge risk on the neighborhood and making Vin Grotto work. She and her restaurant contributed to the renaissance of north Pacific.
Vin Grotto was one of the reasons I signed my lease downtown. I remember wondering at the time what I was getting into in this area of town and whether it was too far into the urban fringe. Hard to believe looking at the block now.
B Bell Capt: February 13, 2008
Vin Grotto was always the choice for the “guest” when the bottle (or more) of a special wine was requested. Vin G. was close to walk and I always knew the out of town person would be treated with “class” and come back “happy”: I miss you all-ready K. Blondin—-continued success and if you ever want to “do it over” bring it closer to #13th & #15th !