It is a general rule of sequels that they are no good.
At least "King Kong Lives" goes by the rules.
There is a flashback or two to the 1976 remake of the original, which is fine by me (LOVED that one) but then they ruin everything and continue the story where it last left off.
I give away nothing by saying that scientists resurrect the King of the monkeys (Heck, the TITLE gives that away!); they even give him an artificial heart! And soon Kong is back in fighting shape, ravaging the Army, demolishing cars with one stomp and sharing screen time with luminaries like Hamilton, Kerwin, Ashton and Hope Nunnery - okay, Hope Nunnery isn't TECHNICALLY a luminary, but I like her name.
But everything here is so slap-dash, so forced and so disjointed that it falls apart LONG before we discover that Kong has found a new girlfriend. If you make it that far, you deserve every scene with these two to follow, especially the very last one.
At least the FX are fairly decent; they're headed by "E.T."'s Carlo Rambaldi and are a darn sight better than what he passed off as FX in "Dune".
In closing all else I can say is, in seeing that Guillermin also directed this sequel to his '76 classic, it doesn't matter who you are - sequel-itis will get you if you don't watch out.
One star. "King Kong Lives" - but he doesn't live large.
At least "King Kong Lives" goes by the rules.
There is a flashback or two to the 1976 remake of the original, which is fine by me (LOVED that one) but then they ruin everything and continue the story where it last left off.
I give away nothing by saying that scientists resurrect the King of the monkeys (Heck, the TITLE gives that away!); they even give him an artificial heart! And soon Kong is back in fighting shape, ravaging the Army, demolishing cars with one stomp and sharing screen time with luminaries like Hamilton, Kerwin, Ashton and Hope Nunnery - okay, Hope Nunnery isn't TECHNICALLY a luminary, but I like her name.
But everything here is so slap-dash, so forced and so disjointed that it falls apart LONG before we discover that Kong has found a new girlfriend. If you make it that far, you deserve every scene with these two to follow, especially the very last one.
At least the FX are fairly decent; they're headed by "E.T."'s Carlo Rambaldi and are a darn sight better than what he passed off as FX in "Dune".
In closing all else I can say is, in seeing that Guillermin also directed this sequel to his '76 classic, it doesn't matter who you are - sequel-itis will get you if you don't watch out.
One star. "King Kong Lives" - but he doesn't live large.