“The King of Kong” – Movie Review

I’ve had this gem of a documentary, “The King of Kong”, on my watchlist for the longest time. I just managed to get round to watching it this weekend.

Yes, it’s dated. Yes, it’s protagonists take retro video gaming WAY too seriously. But it made me chuckle, lifted my spirits and was just a gentle reminder that you need some things in life that are totally pointless (or 1,000,000 points plus in this case) just to get you through the real pointed stuff.

At the movies core is the often-asked question of whether the nice guy (Steve Wiebe in this case) can actually win, or do you have to be cut-throat to succeed? Does the competitive spirit squeeze out every ounce of humanity and humility that any champion has? It’s the classic David vs Goliath or in this instance Mario vs Donkey Kong. I won’t give the game away; you’ll just have to watch for yourself to find out who prevails in this duel.

The real winner in the film is Steve’s long-suffering wife, Nicole. She’s a gem. And she is the takeaway lesson for me. She really gets him. She understands how much he needs to succeed at his passion. You can see the frustration in her, you just know that at times she just wants to scream: “there is so much more to life than DONKEY KONG!!” Yet she selflessly puts up with hours of video games, travels the country with him to tournaments and tirelessly keeps the whole ship afloat while Steve follows his passion.

That’s love. That’s commitment. That’s teamwork. She is the real King, or should I say Queen of Kong.

We all need something in life to call our own – a talent or skill – that can give us the self-confidence we need to deal with what life can throw at us. It doesn’t have to mean the world. It can be a retro videogame. But it just has to mean the world to us.

And with a little help from those who love us, we will prevail in the end. Win or lose.

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