Congo

I love this movie. It's so simple and presented nicely. Do not compare it with other movies. Just enjoy the trip and feel the adventure.

Almost a usual adventurous movie and maybe that's the reason many people find it too usual.

When an expedition to the African Congo ends in disaster, a new team is assembled to find out what went wrong.

I saw this film in the theater and recall liking it. It had action, adventure, some horror elements. A great cast. Even Bruce Campbell, who I liked at the time. But watching it again now (2015) twenty years later, I didn't really remember very much, it seems, beyond the killer gorillas.

I had no recollection, for example, of just how bad the gorilla costumes were. Amy (the good gorilla) in particular looks awful. Now, I would rather have a bad suit than bad CGI. So that's good. But it still makes the movie sort of cheesy and has probably caused its stock to decline in recent years.

What can you say about a movie like "Congo"? Well, it's silly and underdeveloped with some pretty shabby special effects but god help me, I like it.

The plot is somewhat episodic as multiple different characters with wildly different motives converge on the Congo. One is a communications technician (played nicely by Lauara Linney) who is looking for her fiancé. Another is a Romanain nut case (played by the fabulous Tim Curry) who is looking for a mythical, lost diamond mine. And the last is a gorilla expert returning a talking gorilla back to her natural habitat. I swear, I'm NOT making this up.

The cast as a whole is OK. Linney is appealing, Curry turns in a usual fine job, and cameos from Bruce Campbell and Joe Don Baker add to the quirky atmosphere. Special mention should go to Ernie Hudson, who's roguish charm while not as polished as Harrison Ford's, makes a great Clark Gable/Indiana Jones type-explorer.

The special effects are kind of a mixed bag. The gorillas are obviously stunt-men but the hokeyness is kind of fun. The climax in the temple is also silly but still rousing. Topping all this off, the quirky Jerry Goldsmith score adds considerably to the film as a whole.

Although certainly not a classic or even 100% good, "Congo" is a cheesy, yet entertaining jungle adventure movie and is worth seeing.

I've never read the Crichton novel despite being a fan but this film adaptation is pretty fun. I know it's been criticised heavily but I enjoyed the background to the story and Crichton's exploration of cutting-edge science and research as always. The cast members are likeable, Ernie Hudson in particular, and the Bruce Campbell cameo is a nice touch.

This movie is a great litmus test. It can be used to separate your friends and family into two categories: fun people vs elitist snobs. The type of people that hate this movie are the same ones that want to argue about mise-en-scene in Argento films and the iconography of Bergman.

Congo is a throw back to the days of the drive-in movie. In those simpler times, movies about lost cities, diamonds and killer gorillas were considered fun. Sometimes, movies are just meant to be fun. Tim Curry gets it, why can't you?