Review of Congo (1995) by Jason I — 23 Aug 2010

Another 90's Michael Crichton adaptation, no doubt hurredly rushed into production to cash in on the success of Jurassic Park, however, don't expect anything even nearly as iconic as Spielberg's super-blockbuster, instead expect a daft but still entertaining in its own way action flick about Ernie Hudson's Great White/Black Hunter leading an expedition into deepest, darkest Africa and encountering a lost city populated by a breed of murderous gorillas whose only weaknesses are molten lava and anti-gorilla death lasers! The team each have their own reason for being there (which I won't bother going into) and are made up of Laura Linney (an actress who has the unusual characteristic of getting better-looking with age), Dylan Walsh, Tim Curry (who's deploying Corny Accent #14 from his extensive repertoire, supposedly Romanian but really it could be anything.

.. gotta love Tim Curry) and of course Amy the talking, cigar-smoking, martini-drinking, parachuting gorilla, the character upon which your acceptance of the film largely depends. Personally I come down somewhere in the middle - it's dumb sure but my suspension of disbelief can handle it.

The film doesn't have a lot to say outside of gorillas are better off in the wild and greed is bad but as a dopey action movie it's fun to watch, especially thanks to Tim Curry, Delroy Lindo's bit part ("Stop eating my sesame cake!") and that sweet-ass laser gun!