King Kong Vive!

King Kong is sexually active, and the wannabe Indiana Jones and Dr. Connor are too! Ten years after falling from the WTC, the big ape received an artificial heart the size of a recycling container and finally understood that with his size, he needs to find love within his own kind. While it had success in Soviet cinemas, the depressed John Guillermin drastically slammed the door to Hollywood with this one, and I wonder if there was any scene that couldn't be called worthless. Some might find it in the heart-wrenching ending, where John Scott tried to sneak in tones from the alien's farewell with the healing finger, but that's just awkward. Actually, yes, one scene was amusing. That was when Taggart from Beverly Hills Cop became part of his tombstone. (03/06/2024)

King Kong Lives is a sequel that's not really a sequel; it's actually a remake because the overall story is exactly the same. It's even worse than the first film, even dumber, with such unnecessary scenes that aren't even very logical, that you'll wish it would all just end. And thankfully it ends and you are literally forced to be sad. A poor product of American production that nearly degraded the entire concept of King Kong. (30/07/2015)

This sequel has been widely spat upon, but in my opinion it is no worse than Guillermo's film, which is a decade older, and to which it is a direct sequel. I might even say it's slightly better because it's more fun. The idea that Kong somehow survived the fall doesn't strike me as bad at all, even the discovery of his (future) mate doesn't bother me. The plot sometimes teeters on the edge of (unintentional?) parody, when we watch monkey and human courtship in the forest, or when the title character eats crocodiles, but sometimes it makes fun quite deliberately ("I've never seen such brown and big eyes."), and that's quite pleasant. Surprisingly, the film has quite good momentum, the operation was shot perhaps even thrillingly and several special effects scenes are great, especially Kong's showdown with the two hunters.___P.S. If anything deserves to be spit upon, it's definitely the domestic DVD release with its hideously grainy and oddly cropped and squashed image. Yuck. (19/06/2015)