Congo (1995)

From Michael Crichton, the legendary best-selling author of JURASSIC PARK. Kathleen Kennedy, the producer of E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL. John Patrick Shanley, the award-winning screenwriter of DOUBT. And Frank Marshall, the director of ALIVE and ARACHNOPHOBIA, bring you the action-adventure movie CONGO. Released in 1995 and Based on the best-selling 1980 novel of the same name, the film tells the story about a communications technologist name Dr. Karen Ross (Laura Linney - Kinsey) who is sent to the Congo to search for a rare diamond mine and possibly a lost expedition crew who was looking for the mine. To keep her goal confidential, Ross tags along with Dr. Peter Elliot (Dylan Walsh – TV’s Nip/Tuck), a devoted primatologist and researcher from Berkley, California, who is Africa-bound to return his gifted gorilla Amy to her natural habitat. Upon their arrival, they are joined by Monroe Kelly (Ernie Hudson - Ghostbusters), an English-African mercenary who acts as their guide, and Herkermer Homolka (Tim Curry – The Rocky Horror Picture Show), an eccentric Romanian explorer who’s searching for a mythical lost city called Zinj. Soon, the expedition turns into a deadly safari of suspense and someone…or something in the jungle is watching their every move, turning the hunters into the hunted. The film also stars Grant Heslov (True Lies) as Peter’s hapless assistant Richard, Joe Don Baker (007 - The Living Daylights) as megalomaniac CEO R.B. Travis, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls) as African Porter leader Kahega, and special appearances by Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead 1 & 2) as R.B.’s son Charles Travis, Joe Pantoliano (Bound) as the wisecracking transportation and equipment guy Eddie Ventro, and Delroy Lindo (Malcolm X) as the bigmouth African military leader Wanta. Marshall filmed this movie in not just Los Angeles but in Costa Rica, Tanzania, and Kenya. The film’s music, which I really loved, was composed by legendary Academy Award winning composer Jerry Goldsmith (The Omen). I remember seeing half of this movie on TV when I was seven years old and I never saw it again till I was 21, and after watching it all, I really enjoyed it. When it was released on June 9th, 1995, the reaction from the critics and the fans was less successful. Roger Ebert said that Congo is a splendid example of a genre no longer much in fashion, the jungle adventure story. He gave it 3 out of 4 stars and Rotten Tomatoes gave it an aggregate rating of 22% based on 41 reviews. When Jurassic Park was released two years earlier, the audiences were familiarized with the CGI Dinosaurs and it was originally planned for Congo to have the same thing for the gorillas, but the technology had not yet been developed to the point where realistic hair could be created. While smooth skinned dinosaurs were possible, hairy apes would have looked inappropriately cartoonish. So instead, Marshall went to legendary Academy Award winning visual effects supervisor Stan Winston, who also worked on Jurassic Park, to create animatronics, puppets and costumes for the actors playing the gorillas. My favorite quote from the film is when Tim Curry’s character says: “Those Hieroglyphics we saw inscribed everywhere, I have translated them: WE ARE…WATCHING YOU!” Whether you like the film or not, I still consider CONGO one of the most entertaining movies I’ve ever seen. And as it says in the film’s trailer: YOU ARE THE ENDANGERED SPECIES!