CONGO
[Spoilers]
A film review by Roger Crow
Copyright 1995 Roger Crow
Starring Laura Linney, Ernie Hudson and Tim Curry Screenplay by John Patrick Shanley Directed by Frank Marshall
It seems Michael Crichton can't write a note to the milkman these days without some Hollywood exec snapping up the rights to it. However, while we'll have to wait a while for the hypothetical "Two pints please" movie, Frank Marshall steps in to fill the breach with his version of CONGO which has just been released in Britain.
This is a film of possibilities and missed opportunity. Not having read the novel, I had no expectations so was pleasantly surprised by the quest for diamonds by a big wig corporation; a super smart gorilla's return to its home and, based on arachnophobia, the chance for Marshall to show us whether he can recreate the sense of white-knuckle panic only really attainable by throwing hundred of deadly spiders at a wary audience.
Some might say Marshall had a leg up with his first two films. Many people are afraid of spiders (arachnophobia) and plane crashes as in Alive, so the suspension of disbelief usually painstakingly achieved in other genre entries, Alien and Aliens for example, is already there in abundance. Congo, surprisingly, lacks a primal undercurrent other than "lets have a look round the jungle for some enigmatic monkeys and a lost civilisation." The inspiration is clearly evident but the final message, if ever there is a message in such mainstream potential crowd pullers, as quiet as a whimper.
The plot finds hi-tech whiz kid Laura Linney traipsing deep into the Congo to find her lover (Bruce Campbell). She joins up with Steve Guttenberg clone Dylan Walsh who's returning his pet gorilla Amy (a Stan Winston animatronic creation that still liked like a guy in a suit) to its home. Throw in guide Ernie Hudson (hilarious); Romanian nasty Tim Curry; heat and serve.
The end result, for the undiscerning, is good fun. A tightly scripted ride with John Patrick Shanley's screenplay bristling with enough hair-raising stunts, gags and frights to keep you hooked.
Although the studio-based finale looked like, well, a studio based finale, and the sight of the heroine slicing up loads of simians would leave Dian Fossey turning in her grave, it's an old-fashioned, cut and pasted blast.
Rating 3 out of 5
-- Roger Crow rogerc@compnews.co.uk
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