An epic contest between good and evil. By CALEB STARRENBURG.

I DOUBT IF there has ever been a more electric group gathered at a Festival documentary. The potpourri of freaks and geeks, scene kids, television people and curious others were congregated to watch arcade game exposé The King of Kong. The premise might sound bewildering, but as the torrents of laughter and applause would attest, this crowd-pleasing film has universal appeal.

The King of Kong is ostensibly the examination of a fiercely contested Donkey Kong rivalry. However, the film transcends its immediate subject matter to depict an epic battle of good versus evil; a documentary with the sort of heroes and villains Hollywood screenwriters can only dream of creating. On the one side there’s sleazy Billy Mitchell, hot sauce-making restaurant profiteer, whose Donkey Kong record hasn’t been beaten since 1982. Mitchell’s position as sovereign of the arcade universe is suddenly threatened when a videotape surfaces revealing Steve Wiebe, disarming Middle American science teacher and family man, setting a new high score.

What follows is a grand Wagner-esque opera of plot twists and emotional turns. Wiebe’s tape is inexplicably invalidated by self-proclaimed governing body Twin Galaxies, compelling him to step up and perform the feat again in a public forum, only to be cut-down by the dubious tactics of Mitchell and his band of minions. When Guinness Book of Records enters the fray and challenges both men to a public duel, things really start to get interesting.

Director Seth Gordon’s documentary conspicuously ratchets up the tension as it asks us to root for underdog, although it’s hard not identify with the affable Wiebe. One almost feels a measure of sympathy for Mitchell – so socially awkward he’s entirely unaware of his own conceit.

King of Kong is a well crafted, edge-of-your-seat documentary. And it’s no small feat to make an arcade game training montage so instantly appealing. Gordon is no doubt assisted by his choice of 1980s power-pop anthems. Eye of the Tiger anyone? If accompanying Festival documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster* seeks to deconstruct the American Dream, then The King of Kong is here to tell us nice guys don’t have to finish last. Hopefully this film finds some sort of theatrical re-release. In the meantime, catch this enthralling indulgence while you can.

See also:
» Desperate Measures: Bigger, Stronger, Faster*; The King of Kong