'90s Trash?: Congo

At long last, I see if any of this as good to me as it was in 1995.  Today's Film is Congo, a Film I haven't seen in full since it was actually in Theaters.  It's one of those 'Always on Cable sometime' Movies though.  It's like Russian Roulette with some Films- the ending is just guaranteed to be better.  

Having spent a whole $1 on this, will I get my money's worth?  

To look at Congo, you have to remember where we were when it came out.  It's based on a Michael Crichton Book and one of those made 'all of the money' just recently.  You know the one, right?  Coming off of that, a bunch of Books became Films, including Disclosure, Sphere and The 13th Warrior.  This is one of the more remembered, but also forgotten.  In fact, the Film is most famous for a Mandela Effect moment.  

It's also remembered as 'That Film with Bruce Campbell in it for 5 minutes.'  Somehow the Studio rejected him as the Lead (aw!) and gave him this tiny part instead.  

It is the Film that made you ask the question 'Which one is the real Ape and which one is the guy in a suit?'  The Plot involves a 'talking' Ape, some hidden treasure, telecom technology and Ernie Hudson.  He really steals the Movie, which is hard when you consider that he's competing with Tim Curry doing a funny accent!  

Is the Film good?  

Will I still like it?  

To find out, read on...

A Telecom Company has an expedition going to find some diamonds to something something make phones work better.

The Leader- Campbell- is seemingly-killed, although the Movie acts like you don't know that for some reason.

With that cut, he's totally dead!

The lead women- Laura Linney- goes against her Boss- 'Mitchell'- and tries to save Bruce.

As such, she buys her way onto an expedition with Not Bruce and Amy, his 'talking' monkey (using sign language to create a form of text to speech via computer).

They team up with Ernie here and Curry (a Character not in the Book) to take Amy back home...but mostly find the diamonds!

After lots of shooting and adventure, they find the hidden place known as King Solomon's Mines.  

What's it secret?

They trained Gray Gorillas to be the Guards...only to be killed by them and the City lost to History.

Of course- why didn't I think of that?!?

Linney finds the diamond to power this Film's Chekhov's Gun- a laser that cuts up the Gorillas!

They escape the Volcano- which erupts with dramatic timing- and Amy finds her home, leaving the survivors to fly away in a balloon.

Those eyes...I mean, The End.

A weird and kind of fun Film.  Is it good?  No.  The Plot is all sorts of a mess.  We have a Primatologist and Amy.  We have Linney working for a Tech Company.  We have Curry looking for a Lost City.  We have Ernie Hudson and company just trying to survive.  There's too much going on, but also not enough going on.  They rush through the last part of the Story.  

As such, they slow down a lot once they get into Africa.  Pacing is way off in this one, mostly in the middle.  They get to Africa in the first 20 minutes, but then don't get to the City until over an hour in.  Does that feel right?  

The big draw here is the Special Effects.  I'll say this- hats off to the people who made those Animatronic Apes and Suits.  That said, they are 100% not convincing.  They look interesting, but never like actual Apes of any kind.  As I said, good work at creating things- just not convincing creatures of any kind.  The evil Gorillas look neat- just not real- and terrifying.  The Plot involving them is so weird that I now really want to see a Prequel explaining it.  

Seriously, a group of people bred and trained attack Gorillas to guard a Mine- make that Movie! 

 In summary, Congo is a fun and silly Film.  If you remember it from the '90s, it won't hold up as well as a good Film...but it's just as fun.  Bonus points for a random Jimmy Buffet Cameo too.

Next time, I hop back to the '70s to see a Film related to a recent box office disappointment.  When in doubt, add more Monsters!  Stay tuned...