King Kong Lives (1986)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Load of rubbish!!

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

KING KONG LIVES is undoubtedly the worst KING KONG movie in existence, a film even worse than the remake which it follows. It's hard to imagine that a director who put out an all-time classic like THE TOWERING INFERNO was capable of making something this bad, but there you go. This film was written by the excellent novelist Steven Pressfield, but he has none of the talent on display that he would bring to a novel like GATES OF FIRE. The cheesy, family-friendly story sees Kong surviving his fall from the World Trade Center before hooking up with a mate, so expect lots of cutesy material and a ton of '80s-era cheese. Linda Hamilton has never looked more attractive than she does here, but she, like the rest of the humour cast, are wasted and merely deliver one trite line after another. The man-in-a-suit special effects look particularly bad given the era while this is the kind of film which just drags on and on with no end in sight. My recommendation? Give it a wide berth.

It took a long time to make a sequel to the remake of King Kong from 1979... and I can see why... lack of a decent story. And it's the story and ropy special effects that hurt this film.So the movie opens with the ending of the 1979 remake; Kong's fall from the tower. However, he doesn't die. As the years pass the doctors realise his heart is failing and his blood is poisoned. They could fit an artificial heart but without a transfusion, Kong will die. Enter Hank Mitchell (Kerwin), who whilst exploring the African continent comes across a second giant gorilla... phew, just in time to save the plotline... Even better for the plot, the ape is female. Against the lead doctor's advice, Amy Franklin (Hamilton), the college assigned to study Kong ship the female across, instead of just taking her blood. Of course, when you put two giant apes together, of different genders, things are bound to get amorous and frisky. As with humans, love and lust can drive apes to do desperate deeds. However, instead of running amuck, the apes settle down to domestic bliss... which totally upsets Lt Col Nevitt as he has some really expensive weapons to play with... and Goddamnit, he's gonna play with them and so sets out to destroy the happy couple.Okay, so I'm making light of the story plot, but hey, that, in a nutshell, is the story. For a creature feature, there's way too many scenes of Mr & Mrs K sitting around picking racoons off of each other. Also, the fact that it's two men in Gorilla costumes is so evident it's laughable, especially today. This section of the film doesn't wear well after an age. However, it's the other effects that add strength to the action sequences of the film. The fight scenes between apes and army are well done and are paced so well as to actually be exciting.The other thing that carries the film is the acting. Though the leads, Brian Kerwin and Linda Hamilton are very good in their roles, it was John Ashton as Nevitt that made this film for me.I'd not really recommend this film to anybody. To be truthful, the original movie is still superb and better than this, let alone the Peter Jackson Remake and the latest action flick Kong: Skull Island, both of which are superior in every way. Though if you like your monster movies with a heavy dose of cheesiness then maybe you can give this a go... it does have it's good points.

This is sequel to the the 1976 remake of King Kong. It's a good movie. But King Kong (1976) it better. King Kong (1933) is better. King Kong (2005) is better. There is a sequel to the original King Kong titled Son of Kong. That one is also better.Then there is part three to the original series King Kong vs Godzilla also better then this one. Then there was part four King Kong escapes also better. This is my lest favorite King Kong movie. But I still say it's very good see it. It as great acting. Great special effects great story. It very scary. I need more lines. Great movie Great movie. Great movie. Great movie. See all the King Kong movies. See all the King Kong movie. They are all awesome.

The 1976 version of King Kong, produced by the Dino De Laurentiis company and directed by John Guillermin, really didn't perform at the box office and was also poorly received by the critics. It is therefore something of a surprise that the same producer and director returned to the story for this sequel in 1986; alas, they seriously needn't have bothered. Few films can match the idiocy of King Kong Lives, with its lame-brained science, endless logic lapses, absurd dialogue and silly plot developments. It is a film which actually seems to show contempt towards its own audience. 'We think you're a bunch of dummies', the film is saying to viewers, 'and we're gonna treat you exactly as dummies deserve to be treated!' Unfortunately for the makers, audiences didn't want to be treated with such brazen disregard and were quick to reject the film; meanwhile the critics had a field-day all over again ripping the film to shreds.Starting with a recap of the climax of the 1976 film, we once more see the mighty Kong fall from the World Trade Centre to his death far below. But wait! No! He is not dead, just severely injured… and ten years later we catch up with the giant ape, comatose in a research facility where a team of scientists work round the clock to keep him alive. Feisty doctor Amy Franklin (Linda Hamilton) desperately wants to help Kong by giving him a blood transfusion but cannot find a suitable blood match for such a unique beast. "Only one thing can save Kong now; a miracle!" she laments. And a miracle is what she gets when American adventurer Hank Mitchell (Brian Kerwin) comes across a female Kong in the jungles of Borneo. The lady Kong is brought to America and her blood used to revive her male counterpart… but disaster strikes when both apes, horny and angry, escape from the research facility and flee into the neighbouring mountains. Obsessive soldier Lt.-Col R.T. Nevitt (John Ashton) pursues the giant beasts but, despite clear orders to bring them back alive, his overwhelming desire is to kill the runaway creatures… There's really little more to be said about King Kong Lives. It's yet another film which proves that Linda Hamilton has little-to-no star attraction away from The Terminator movies; plus it makes thorough fools of Brian Kerwin and John Ashton (the latter particularly absurd as a military zealot). Its special effects are generally laughable, its occasional touches of comedy woefully misjudged. In one notably silly scene a golfer hits a perfect drive only for his ball to strike Kong on the forehead as he emerges from the trees – there follows a dull 'clonk' followed by an enraged roar from Kong. When the mighty Kong is reduced to being the butt of slapstick golf course pratfalls, you know you're in dire trouble. And so is the film. Avoid.