So after a pretty neat discussion on Ernie Hudson in the midst of the B-Action thread, I was reminded of my love for Congo. And since I couldn't find a thread for it...
Hudson is a real badass in this, and Laura Linney / that guy from NipTuck who isnt Dr. Doom round out the trio of heroes nicely. But a lot of the fun comes from the parade of character actors filling smaller roles. Bruce Campbell, Joe Pantoliano, and Delroy Lindo all appear just long enough to remind us why we love them, and even Lost's very own Mr. Eko gets to show up and get killed by evil gorillas. But the winner here is Tim Curry, with his absolutely ridiculous Romanian accent, giving a performance that dances the fine line between brilliant and terrible. Every one of his lines delivered in that accent is a hoot, and any exchange he has with Hudson is just great.
Director Frank Marshall keeps things moving from one set piece to the next (hungry hungry Hippos!), and, more importantly, keeps the tone of the movie fairly light. The effects are questionable at times (well, most of the time) and the volcano finale is atrocious and any scenes involving Amy the talking gorilla are cringe-worthy. But its hard to fault a movie where our plucky band of heroes slaughters evil gorillas with a hand-held laser.
This is perhaps one of my guiltiest pleasures. Released in the wake of Jurassic Park, at the height of Crichton fever, I think Congo was judged rather harshly, based partially on high expectations. But I think its the kind of fun pulpy adventure flick we don't see to often these days.
Hudson is a real badass in this, and Laura Linney / that guy from NipTuck who isnt Dr. Doom round out the trio of heroes nicely. But a lot of the fun comes from the parade of character actors filling smaller roles. Bruce Campbell, Joe Pantoliano, and Delroy Lindo all appear just long enough to remind us why we love them, and even Lost's very own Mr. Eko gets to show up and get killed by evil gorillas. But the winner here is Tim Curry, with his absolutely ridiculous Romanian accent, giving a performance that dances the fine line between brilliant and terrible. Every one of his lines delivered in that accent is a hoot, and any exchange he has with Hudson is just great.
Director Frank Marshall keeps things moving from one set piece to the next (hungry hungry Hippos!), and, more importantly, keeps the tone of the movie fairly light. The effects are questionable at times (well, most of the time) and the volcano finale is atrocious and any scenes involving Amy the talking gorilla are cringe-worthy. But its hard to fault a movie where our plucky band of heroes slaughters evil gorillas with a hand-held laser.
This is perhaps one of my guiltiest pleasures. Released in the wake of Jurassic Park, at the height of Crichton fever, I think Congo was judged rather harshly, based partially on high expectations. But I think its the kind of fun pulpy adventure flick we don't see to often these days.
