The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2008)

 
It is a strange and surreal feeling to describe a film that is about video gaming as some kind of epic battle of the Titans. However that analogy is completely appropriate to any labeling of The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Instead of fighting a giant Cyclops in an ancient Greek myth, our protagonists do battle with an angry, demented and dangerously unstable gorilla. 

The King of Kong opens with the triumphant story of Billy Mitchell’s 1982 Donkey Kong world record-setting achievement. Fast-forward 21 years and Mitchell’s top score is yet to be broken. Enter Steve Wiebe: an unemployed teacher and all round dweeb as a lone challenger to the title of Player of the Century.

Now we can all assume with some confidence that people who refer to themselves in the third person are clearly a few pence short of a pound and with Mitchell, we have verification. Imagine Jesus Christ swaggering around the mean streets of 21st century Florida, sporting one of the most impressive mullets you’ve ever seen, and you have Billy Mitchell. The self-proclaimed Obe Wan Kinobe of Donkey Kong has finally met his match – or has he? Steve Wiebe is a downtrodden family man who loves his wife and kids - and his Donkey Kong machine. Walter Day (a man who looks like he has just woken up in a car-park) is the “official scorekeeper for the world of videogame and pinball playing since the early 1980s” at a two-bit arcade in Hicksville, Iowa.

Infuriating, dumbfounding, frustrating; these are just a few emotions that pepper Seth Gordon's enjoyable documentary. King of Kong says as much about the value of hubris and the price of heartbreak as it does about humanity’s ugly competitive mature. Wiebe has failed at everything, save his marriage and, of course, his Donkey Kong mastery, which Mitchell and his disciples fail to recognise. Mitchell’s downright deviousness and how low he's willing to stoop is at the heart of The King of Kong, which would make an excellent dark comedy were there not such bone fide cruelty at its core. That said, it is a thoroughly entertaining film and is well worth a look.

Release Date: 16th June 2008
Director: Seth Gordon
Featuring: steve Wiebe, Billy Mitchell, Walter Day, Brian Kuh, Mark Alpiger, Roy "Mr Awesome" Shildt, Steve Sanders
Certificate: PG
Language: English
Running time: 89 mins (approx)
RRP: £15.99

Adrian McBreen