King Kong Lives (1986)

Director: John Guillermin

Starring: Brian Kerwin, Linda Hamilton

Run Time: 105 mins

Certificate: PG

 

Plot Outline: King Kong somehow survived being shot and falling from the top of the World Trade Center. He was placed into medical care but was in a coma with a very weak heart. In order to have an artificial heart implanted, he needs a blood transfusion. Coincidentally at the same time another giant ape is discovered, this time a female. After being captured and brought to the USA, this female is able to give Kong the transfusion he needs. But when he awakes from his coma he is pretty pissed off having been nearly killed and is in love with the female ape. Kong breaks loose and havoc ensues again.

The Review: It's not as bad as some people will make you believe but it's still really trashy. We want to see Kong trashing giant dinosaurs and stomping on small people as he's done in all of his previous films (even the 2 Japanese films with Kong in had him kicking monster ass). We don't want to see a tepid love story between two human characters who speak, let alone two apes that don't. We get a lot of really gushy moments as the two giant apes exchange "pleasantries" in ape language and do a load of stupid things designed to make the audience go "awwww" and fall in love with the 50ft duo. If you like your films a little sloppy and easy to sympathise with the characters, then here is your film. But those of us looking for a darker edge will be sorely disappointed. Kong doesn't really do much here to show why he's the "king of the jungle." He trashes a few toy cars, eats a few rubber alligators and chews up a couple of rednecks. It all looks pretty silly. The special effects don't seem to have altered much. Just like the 1976 version, this one thinks that a man in a monkey suit and a stupid prop hand are what we class as special effects. A lot of rear projection is used which adds to the cheapness of the feel of the film. Kong has never looked better than he did in 1933 - around 70 years later and he still looks better there than he does in these more modern films. The rest of the film is hit and miss depending on what turns you on. The human characters do a lot of chasing the apes around the jungles of Georgia (some of the scenes are filled with lush green forests - is there anywhere in Georgia like this?). Then the apes do a lot of chasing each other around. Follow the same formula for about 40 minutes until you get to the end. The finale isn't too bad but it's deliberately sloppy and designed to play on your emotions as a dying Kong holds out his hand to see his new born son (who was apparently conceived, born and grown to a full baby stage in 3 days film time) before crashing to the ground dead. He's been brought back from the dead once and with his status as one of the most famous movie monsters of all time, I wouldn't bet against him using up #3 of his 9 lives for another crack at the big time.

Final Verdict: King Kong Lives is an extremely sloppy film which doesn't even try to do anything worthwhile with the big ape. Even the 1976 version looks like a classic compared to this.

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