The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)
Jamal's Rating: 5 stars
Netflix Average Rating: 4.1 stars
Even documentaries have a protagonist and an antagonist, and in The King of Kong it's cut and dry. Steve Wiebe: caring father, schoolteacher, shy in public and a dedicated musician, who plays Donkey Kong in the garage of his modest suburban home. And Billy Mitchell: rich, cutthroat competitor, self-promotional businessman, who has more major gaming records than any person yet still seems to have a chip on his shoulder. Mitchell kicks his feet back on his coffee table and eavesdrops on his competition through scouts he contacts by cell phone, reminiscent in a way of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Pumping Iron swimming at the beach while his competition pours blood and sweat training in a gym to beat him. Wiebe is a much more sympathetic character, laughing abashedly at the fact that he didn't/couldn't get up during a marathon run on the arcade machine to help his son, who screams on the potty: "Stop playing Donkey Kooooonng!" There are so many great moments in the film, and so entertaining a rivalry between the two opponents, complete with extraordinary shenanigans, that you may be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn't enjoy this, regardless of their gaming history, or lack thereof. There's an addendum that was tacked on to the ending when the recordholder changed unexpectedly after production, but the new ending is anticlimactic, and largely irrelevant besides: having a quick glance at the official Twin Galaxies website, the tides of recordholder have pinballed several times since the film was released.
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