The Top Directors Working Today: Peter Jackson

I've been a fan of Peter Jackson since BAD TASTE. I always loved the resourcefulness and ingenuity of his low-budget "splatstick" comedies. (MEET THE FEEBLES is a personal favorite.) He developed his talents well, channeling them into 2 other favorites, THE FRIGHTENERS and HEAVENLY CREATURES.

But LORD OF THE RINGS changed everything, and KING KONG proved we're looking at a completely different filmmaker now. He no longer needs to stretch his dollars and is only limited by his pretty awesome imagination. Okay, actually I think his biggest weakness is with the way he handles comedy. It hasn't matured as well as the rest of his skills.

I definitely love his entire body of work. I will miss the madness (and tighter pace) of his pre-Rings films, and I don't think he'll ever match that achievement, although I think he'll try to for the rest of his career. Right now I say he's definitely Great, and I'll see whatever he wants to show me, but I worry my enthusiasm will weaken over the years

According to the poll on Filmspotting, opinions are all over the place.

16% think he's always been Great and will watch anything he does.
4% will now watch anything he does because of LORD OF THE RINGS
20% worry that he will keep trying to top THE RINGS.
12% think RINGS will be his only brush with Greatness.
12% think he's very good, but not Great.
16% think he was better before THE RINGS made him respectable.
20% think there's never been anything special about his directing.

I think that if there's an heir apparent to Spielberg and Lucas, it's him. But he does have the potential to eventually go overboard. The fact that he's following up Kong with something small like Lovely Bones, as well as turned down the chance to direct the Halo movie, makes me think that he's got his head in the right place.
-arcnyc

I think he's definitely one of the greatest filmmakers out there today, and he has proven himself to be a master craftsman of the epic. And really I think he's only made one third of a bad film. All reservations about him I have are limited to the second half of King Kong, which I think is a classic example of film making ruined by excess and overkill. But the movie itself I think is redeemed by the brilliant third act in New York, which is a close to perfect as you can get.
-gateway

His greatness is in his drive to make movies and his love of the medium, not in execution.
-pixote