King Kong Lives

D: John Guillermin. Linda Hamilton; Brian Kerwin; Mike Starr.

Silly but ambitious sequel to Dino DeLaurentiis' remake of the 1933 classic monster movie. Of all the wonderful stories that could be told using the most famous movie ape of all time, screenwriter Ronald Shusset (Alien, Dead and Buried) opts for a ludicrous tale about an overly involved scientist/doctor/biologist Hamilton and her emotional quest to save Kong. Future comedy talent Starr is wasted as a bad tempered facility guard while co-star Kerwin shows off his Indiana Jones impression as a `wild boy' adventurer. Only DeLaurentiis could make a good idea this bad. However, for a genuine Kong fan, this may provide some light entertainment – once you look past the terrible Carlo Rambaldi (King Kong, Alien) visual effects and the rambling, overlong script. Director Guillermin's final theatrical effort.

The decidedly crappy reviews heaped on this film were pretty well deserved, though it must be said that there have been much worse insults to filmgoers' intelligence than "King Kong Lives." Linda Hamilton stars as Amy Franklin, head of a scientific team that develops an artificial heart to miraculously keep Kong with us after his famous fall from the New York City skyline. With the help of blood transfused from a newly-discovered Lady Kong, the big guy is soon up and around and eating people again. But this time his true interest lay in his new girlfriend, whom he not-so-subtly rescues from captivity. The hairy couple hope to live happily ever after, but the brutish army and rifle-bearing yokels have other ideas.

It's difficult to pinpoint the biggest fault of "King Kong Lives." Overall, it's pretty ridiculous, from the story to the special effects to the supposedly emotional moments. It's overlong, the dialog could have been written by junior high kids, and the characters, particularly the "bad guys," are so one-dimensional it's not even funny. But if you can accept all of that, you can get at least some entertainment value out of this sequel, though don't expect a so-bad-it's-funny picture.

Well, the only thing good in this movie is the split-second flash you get of Linda Hamilton's rack. I don't know who the hell the rest of these people were. There was some blond dufus named "Hank". And a lot of really bad special FX. All in all, it's an awful movie.

But just imagine if it had been made today, it'd have super-slick CGI effects for the monkeys and a sound track by Elton John singing about "shining stars" and hairy monkey suits. Joel Schumacher would direct of course. The female lead would be played by Denise Richards except she wouldn't show her boobs. There'd be long shots of Hank's naked ass several times throughout the movie. Wouldn't it be great?

Er, maybe I'll just watch to 80's version again.

Well I gotta tell ya - when I bought this flick ($4 - yeah...I KNOW I was way overcharged)in the late 80's, my kids loved it! As an 8 year old, you tend NOT to notice the hilarious dialog, K-Mart effects and Z-Grade production values. My five year old sobbed her little eyes out when KONG was having a coronary...the other three cheered when he wrote off the bad army guys so hey, I'm biased! This film made my kids happy so I haven't the heart to belittle its achievements - microscopic that they are!

PLUS the fact you get to see Linda Hamilton when she was really pretty so c'mon, be charitable - let it be wouldja?

Don't expect a work of art, but do expect a masterpiece of absurdity and fun. King Kong Lives is an ultra-cheesy monster flick that's wacky from beginning to end. Sure it's "bad", but it's also extremely amusing and entertaining. It's absurdities are part of it's charm. King Kong is brought back to life and sets about romancing a female giant ape while squashing nasty humans. I had a great time cheering for Kong while watching this. It's hard not too cheer for him since he's such a lovable lug. My heart really went out to him at times. At other times I just couldn't stop laughing! King Kong Lives will always be one of my very favorite giant monster run amok movies.