Film Review: King Kong Lives (1986)

(source: tmdb.org)

Some films can develop reputations so bad that they later become object of ridicule in other films. Example of such cruel fate can be found in 1998 action comedy Big Hit, when one of the characters is mocked by his taste in films that made him watch King Kong Lives, 1986 monster epic directed by John Guillerman, nowadays known as one of the most notorious flops of its time.

This film is a sequel to King Kong or, to be more precise, 1976 version, also directed by Guillermin and produced by famed Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis. New film begins by recycling the ending of the old, including the scene when gigantic ape called King Kong falls to apparent death from the top of World Trade Center in New York. Plot then advances ten years and shows that King Kong actually survived the fall and spent a decade in coma, supervised by dedicated team of scientists. His heart is currently failing so the scientists have built huge artificial heart as a replacement. Dr. Amy Franklin (played by Linda Hamilton), however, warns that surgery can’t proceed because King Kong would lose too much blood and there isn’t blood that could be used for transfusion. Everything changes when adventurer Hank Mitchell (played by Robert Kerwin), while exploring jungles of Borneo, finds a gigantic female ape which apparently belongs to the same species as King Kong. He catches “Lady Kong” and sells her to scientists who use her blood to save King Kong. However, when King Kong wakes up from coma he begins to feel irresistible attraction to nearby female and becomes aroused enough to smash his constraints and make both himself and “Lady Kong” escape from activity. Two apes run towards mountains, but they are mercilessly pursued by US Army units Aled by Lt. Colonel Archie Nevitt (played by John Ashton). Mitchell and Dr. Franklin join forces and head to the mountains in order to prevent military from harming or killing two giant creatures.

1976 film was more than decent box office hit, although it was disliked by critics. Sequel was again produced by De Laurentiis who brought back Guillermin as director. Script by Ronald Shusett and Steven Pressfield tried to bring something original to the story – King Kong was given a mate and the setting was changed from New York to rural areas of American South. During the production Guillermin was still grief-stricken by the tragic death of his son and this affected his direction of film, and he, for all practical purposes, lost control of the film. As a result, potential of the script was wasted. Southern setting made film makers succumb to cliches and cheap mocking of the local population, which was depicted as bunch of unrefined and often violent rednecks. Two giant ape characters – created by famed Italian designer Carlo Rambaldi with the help of mechanical effects and two actors in a suit (Peter Elliott and George Yiaosumi) – show more emotion than human characters that look bland and forgettable. That includes Mitchell and Dr. Franklin, which are burdened by predictable yet unnecessary romantic subplot which suffers because of lack of chemistry between Kerwin and Hamilton. Character of Nevitt, on the other hand, displays homicidal hatred towards the apes that is never properly explained. The film is generally played straight, but many scenes end up as unintentionally funny, although not in a way that would push King Kong Lives to “it’s so bad it’s good” territory. There are some bright spots, like special effects that were rather decent for its time, as well musical soundtrack by John Scott, but they aren’t enough to make this film good. King Kong Lives failed at the US box office, but it had decent results at international market, although not decent enough to prevent financial collapse of De Laurentiis’ film studio.

RATING: 3/10 (+)