21st
Documentary Review > King Of The Kong - The Rise of Steve Wiebe over Billy Mitchell
The King of Kong is a documentary that follows Steve Wiebe as he tries to take the world high score for the arcade game Donkey Kong from reigning champion Billy Mitchell.
This documentary is better than alot of movies you will see this year, and I strongly recommend you to rent it to your favorite DVD rental store. It scores an amazing 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and its been nominated as the best documentary by many film critics associations including the Broadcast Film Critics Association and Chicago Film Critics Association.
From Wikipedia:
Billy Mitchell is widely recognized as a celebrity in the videogame community for holding world records in the arcade classics Donkey Kong and Centipede in the 1980s, and for performing a perfect game of Pac-Man in July 1999. Mitchell is also noted for his cocky, self-promoting attitude; he is the self-proclaimed “most seasoned person in the hot-sauce/chicken wing industry” and owner of “Rickey’s Hot Sauce” in Hollywood, Florida. Additionally, he was also made one of the chief “referees” for the videogame record trackers at Twin Galaxies in the 1990s.
On the other side of the country, in Redmond, Washington, Boeing employee Steve Wiebe has been laid off. Wiebe is described by his wife Nicole and by his friends as a closet talent; a baseball player, artist, and musician who never quite succeeded on a high level in any of these areas. After losing his job, Wiebe returns to college to be certified as a teacher and begins playing the game Donkey Kong in his garage as a pastime. After reading of Mitchell’s world record of 874,300 on the internet, Wiebe sends a videotape of himself to Twin Galaxies on which he reaches 1,006,600 points, besting Mitchell’s record.
Billy Mitchell really looks like the kind of guy with a competivite mind who cannot stand competition in this documentary. And even if on July 26, 2007, right around the time of the film’s theatrical release, Mitchell played in public and retook the Donkey Kong record with a score of 1,050,200 it’s difficult to give him back the credit as he had plenty of time to study Steve Wiebe high score tapes to master his technique.
Looking at the Official site welcome video by Steve Wiebe and upcoming project by Director Seth Gordon, the director of the documentary, who has plan for a sequel, I know it’s not the end of the story.
My Rating: 4.5/5
The King of Kong Official Site
The King of Kong Trailer on YouTube
