King Kong Lives (1986) User Reviews

The dating scene is tough when you're a 50 ft. monkey

[Mothra-4 · 5/10 · 9 August 2000]

Yep. It's a terrible movie, but worth watching for the laughs. When King Kong and Lady Kong first meet, they gaze into each other's eyes - and Pow! It's love at first sight! - and the Love Theme from King Kong Lives starts swelling up in the background - it brought tears to my eyes. Because I was laughing so hard I was close to weeping. This movie goes beyond its weird anthropomorphism and bad writing to achieve an unprecedented new level of cheese.

There are other fun moments, like when Kong starts climbing a mountain that is VERY obviously some painted plywood stuck to the side of a stepladder.

If you feel like watching something silly, or if you want to see a giant monkey trying to get to second base, this movie is for you!

Crappy Reviews No Surprise, But...

[ReelCheese · 4/10 · 25 August 2006]

The decidedly crappy reviews heaped on this film were pretty well deserved, though it must be said that there have been much worse insults to filmgoers' intelligence than "King Kong Lives." Linda Hamilton stars as Amy Franklin, head of a scientific team that develops an artificial heart to miraculously keep Kong with us after his famous fall from the New York City skyline. With the help of blood transfused from a newly-discovered Lady Kong, the big guy is soon up and around and eating people again. But this time his true interest lay in his new girlfriend, whom he not-so-subtly rescues from captivity. The hairy couple hope to live happily ever after, but the brutish army and rifle-bearing yokels have other ideas.

It's difficult to pinpoint the biggest fault of "King Kong Lives." Overall, it's pretty ridiculous, from the story to the special effects to the supposedly emotional moments. It's overlong, the dialog could have been written by junior high kids, and the characters, particularly the "bad guys," are so one-dimensional it's not even funny. But if you can accept all of that, you can get at least some entertainment value out of this sequel, though don't expect a so-bad-it's-funny picture.

"Hello Kong..., welcome back."

[classicsoncall · 4/10 · 9 August 2006]

I never knew this film even existed until I ran across it in a second hand shop. With Linda Hamilton in the credits it was worth a try for the buck I laid out, even though messing with the Kong legend is always risky business. Equal parts camp and cheese, the film has it's occasional high spots amid the generally ranging low ones.

I got a kick out of an early scene when Brian Kerwin's character Mitchell uses the 'Can you hear me now' line some dozen years or so before those annoying Verizon commercials made it a household slogan.

The sit up and take notice scene had to be that enormous artificial heart that was going to be placed in the chest of the Kong that survived the fall from the World Trade Center in the 1976 film. Complete with footage of Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange from that less than successful remake, this film continues on to give new meaning to the term monkeyshines.

When King and Lady Kong see each other for the first time, their exchange of glances is worthy of the most ambitious 'Saturday Night Live' skit. So where does the King take his bride on their wedding night? - why Honeymoon Ridge of course. How was he to know she was afraid of snakes? The big ape certainly didn't waste any time when it came to the romance department though, here for the first time we learn about the real origin of the Son of Kong.

Unique fast-food cinema.

[dmc102 · 28 July 2004]

D: John Guillermin. Linda Hamilton; Brian Kerwin; Mike Starr.

Silly but ambitious sequel to Dino DeLaurentiis' remake of the 1933 classic monster movie. Of all the wonderful stories that could be told using the most famous movie ape of all time, screenwriter Ronald Shusset (Alien, Dead and Buried) opts for a ludicrous tale about an overly involved scientist/doctor/biologist Hamilton and her emotional quest to save Kong. Future comedy talent Starr is wasted as a bad tempered facility guard while co-star Kerwin shows off his Indiana Jones impression as a `wild boy' adventurer. Only DeLaurentiis could make a good idea this bad. However, for a genuine Kong fan, this may provide some light entertainment – once you look past the terrible Carlo Rambaldi (King Kong, Alien) visual effects and the rambling, overlong script. Director Guillermin's final theatrical effort.

King Kong Lives - Enuff Said!

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 5/10 · 5 February 2018]

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.

Primal, very primal!

[GOWBTW · 5/10 · 1 December 2012]

Are you kidding me? This is the sappiest sequel I have ever seen! I thought King Kong has perished from being shot down of The World Trade Center. WRONG! He survived the fall, that left him in a coma for a decade. So what happens next? He gets an artificial heart, and a new mate: Lady Kong. Boy, it doesn't get any better than this. The whole place in Georgia becomes a jungle when these primates get together. Unlike the one made 10 years earlier, this movie goes back to nature in many ways. A zoo that big couldn't hold these two lovebirds. Did I say lovebirds? Hahaha! I did it, again! When the two protectors Hank(Brian Kerwin) and Amy(Linda Hamilton) go to extreme lengths to assure the safety of King and Lady Kong. But there's trouble. The U.S. Army lead by mad Col. Nevitt (John Ashton) will go to full length to neutralize the Kongs. After Hank brings Lady Kong from Borneo, nothing would be the same. When the Army attacked Kong, he turned those tanks and jeeps into broken hunk of junk, and the scene where Kong recovers from his injuries, it was just amazing. Eating the alligators, or better yet, when he ate one of the hunters. But the fun part of the movie I like the most, is when Kong squashed the Col. Like a bug. That one was too silly there. And the really cheesy part of the film is when Kong gets to see his son for the first and last time. This movie didn't do well in the box office, but I think it's great... for a rainy day. Some legends remain to be legends, King Kong could have have more there in this sequel. The problem: IT'S TOO SHORT!

Silly but watchable

[Stevieboy666 · 5/10 · 24 November 2017]

Sequel to the 1976 remake of King Kong. Turns out the giant ape survived, here he is given an artificial heart and falls in love with the recently captured Lady Kong. Things go wrong for the couple when they escape captivity & are pursued by the military. Much of the movie is played with tongue firmly in cheek but it also centres on human - and ape - emotions, i.e. the romance not only between leads Linda Hamilton & Brian Kerwin but also between the male & female Kongs. Special effects vary from reasonable to rubbish - check out the rubber Caiman crocs - but that only adds to the so bad it's fun aspect. Yes, it's an insult to the original 1933 movie but it's also quite easy to watch, just put your brain into neutral first!

This should have deep sixed Linda Hamilton's acting career BUT...

[AlsExGal · 1/10 · 26 October 2019]

... it wasn't all her fault. The script is just bad and at points, nonsensical. WHY would you want to bring King Kong back when he wreaked havoc on New York City in the last film? The last film is 1976's King Kong ,which I am sure Jessica Lange would love to forget is in her filmography, so she was probably one of the few people happy about this one being worse than the King Kong film that she was in.

The basis of the film is that King Kong has been in a coma and needs a heart transplant. In order to do that transplant, blood is needed. Lots of it. So enter "Lady Kong", the female equivalent of King Kong. She is used as a donor in the operation, but then Kong "smells" her scent, escapes with Lady Kong, and complications ensue.

Worst line of the film - "We are primates too" uttered by Ms. Hamilton herself. Supposed to initiate a romantic moment, it just put me into convulsions of laughter. Siskel and Ebert deemed it the worst film of 1986, and having to watch junk like this possibly contributed to shortening both of their lives. But I digress.

As for Linda Hamilton? She unimaginably did just fine after this stink bomb, starring in the at least temporarily very popular "Beauty and the Beast" TV series for a couple of years, and then having a leading role in the second Terminator film which turned out to be a monster money maker in 1991, in spite of her still terrible acting. I don't know folks, I think voodoo had to be involved in her continued success.

Avoid this one unless you are in the mood for some Rifftrax worthy film watching.

Beat up a little too much.

[jerekra · 5/10 · 2 September 2008]

This movie is not great, or even that good. But I do not think that it should be beaten up nearly as much as it is by reviewers. I mean they tried to make this movie unique. The story is somewhat interesting and at least there is a lot going on. A female Kong is found and they decide to try to bring King Kong back to life by putting in a mechanical heart. This mechanical heart must have been well made because Kong Acts like normal once he comes to.

The acting is pretty adequate. Linda Hamilton is a pretty good actress, she is not that hot but at least she shows off one of her breasts for a split section. There are a few oddities. For one King Kong feeds on alligators in this film. Gorillas I thought were vegetarian, but it is a movie and I guess that accuracy to real life is not that important. The whole Kong and lady Kong relationship is kind of fast and not seen on screen that much. At least it did not show them mate on screen. There is some action at parts, but not enough. And the whole idea of bringing Kong back to life and then the army goes after him, maybe I missed something. And the ending to this film is pretty sad and depressing (I do not want to give it away).

So yeagh, this movie is not great. However it is not as bad as people say. There are some good parts, but I guess not enough. But I guess be the judge for yourself. If you liked the remake of King Kong made in 1976 go see this one. If you did not like the remake you probably wont like this one.

"Well, we should have no problem identifying the enemy, their approximately 50 feet tall & wearing their birthday suit's." So bad it's good.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 9 March 2006]

King Kong Lives starts off with the final few minutes from the original King Kong (1976) as the giant Gorilla seemingly falls to his death from the World Trade Center in New York. Jump to 'Atlanta Institute, Georgia Ten Years Later' where they have Kong (Peter Elliott) on a life support system waiting to undergo a heart transplant(!). Dr. Amy Franklin (Linda Hamilton) is ready to perform the operation but Kong needs a steady supply of blood to survive the procedure, as luck would have it diamond mercenary Hank Mitchell (Brian Kerwin) has found a lady Kong (George Yiasoumi) while trekking through the Borneo jungle. In no time whatsoever the institute has brought the female & the operation has taken place with the artificial heart going in nicely. The operation is a success & Kong lives, the institute decides to keep both Gorillas but when Kong hears the female call out he uses all his strength to break free from his chains & go in search of a mate, obviously the United States Army can't have giant apes running around can they so it's up to Colonel Nevitt (John Ashton) to capture them by whatever means necessary...

Directed by John Guillermin &, according to the IMDb an uncredited Charles McCracken, this is the sequel to the '76 remake of King Kong which Guillermin also directed. In my humble opinion I think King Kong Lives is one of those so-bad-it's-good abominations that I simply can't believe someone green lighted & trust me King Kong Lives is a bad film through & through. The script by Roland Shusett & Steven Pressfield is absolutely hilarious at times, you won't know weather to laugh or cry at some of the stuff that makes it's way into this film. I think King Kong Lives is meant to be a serious film but scenes such as the heart transplant complete with massive over-sized medical instruments, the giant artificial heart that needs to be lowered into Kong's chest using a crane(!) & all filmed in complete seriousness, there's a bit when Kong manages to 'sneak' up behind an entire platoon of soldiers, for Christs sake Kong is a 50 foot Gorilla couldn't any of these dumb soldiers see him? The scenes in which Kong & Lady Kong romanticise with hugs, 'I love you' type looks & Kong wanting to give her something so he uproots a bunch of trees & tries to give her those! The entire concept is bizarre, daft & just complete total & utter nonsense while at times it becomes embarrassing to watch. But having said that it moves along like a rocket & is never dull or boring, when all said & done I found King Kong Lives to be a throughly entertaining film for all the wrong reasons.

Director Guillermin messes everything up, there is no excitement, scares, tension or any action although it is quite funny on numerous occasions. The whole mood of the film is wrong considering just how stupid it is. There are a few snippets of violence & gore, Kong's removed heart, someone is snapped in two, Kong eats someone as well as a load of crocodiles & he gets shot at the end.

With a supposed budget of over $30,000,000 King Kong Lives is a travesty, where did all the money go? The special effects are worse than the '76 version in my opinion because of the 10 year gap, didn't special effects move on at all during that period? If you put King Kong '76 & King Kong Lives side-by-side you would think not. It really is just a man in a rubber monkey suit from beginning to end, the full size hand & arm shots are awful as they just look so stiff & unnatural. For 30 big ones King Kong Lives is a shoddily produced film & doesn't look the part at all. The acting is about as good as you would expect from such a silly film, I wonder if the cast knew how bad this was going to turn out to be?

King Kong Lives provides 100 odd minutes of pure entertainment for me, it's a crap film but it's just so bad it's good. It's a bit like a train wreck, you know you shouldn't look but you can't take your eyes off it. An absolute treat for bad film fans!

Not all bad actually...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 1 April 2021]

Taking into consideration that "King Kong Lives" is a movie from the mid-1980s, then it is actually not too bad. Sure, if you compare it with the "King Kong" movies seen today, then this is just utter rubbish and obviously people in animal suits and lousy attempts of blending shot scenes to make it appear like these are in fact massive apes.

But hey, yeah this is a cheesy movie. Of course it is. I mean, this is a 1986 movie about King Kong after all. Of course it reeks of being a campy and cheesy movie. Isn't that the appeal of these older "King Kong" movies?

The storyline is adequate, and actually have more contents to it than the movies of recent years that have King Kong in it. That is kind of odd though, I think, as movies evolve into CGI spectaculars that slack on the storylines.

Sure, it was fun to watch Linda Hamilton and John Ashton stumble about in this movie. Granted, it wasn't stellar performances by either of them, but then again, the contents of the movie weren't exactly all that solid to begin with.

"King Kong Lives" is a watchable movie, for sure. But it was hardly an outstanding movie. Nor is it a movie that has withstood the trials of passing time particularly well, because the effects are horribly outdated.

I believe that if you sit down to watch "King Kong Lives" once, then it is hardly a movie that you will be returning to a second time around.

My rating of directors John Guillermin and Charles McCracken 1986 movie "King Kong Lives" settles on a four out of ten stars.

The big ape lives again

[Rautus · 9/10 · 10 March 2007]

After falling down the Twin towers King Kong is alive but in a coma and is being kept in a huge building were scientists are trying to give him a heart transplant but he needs a blood transfer in the process so a group of people go into Skull Island and capture a female giant ape named Lady Kong.

After successfully giving Kong the heart transplant he and Lady Kong escape from the place so a Scietist and Explorer go after them to bring the safely home but the Amry wan't to take them in by force.

But when Kong escapes the Army are after him and so are those two, it seems a group of locals want to kill King Kong or capture him but after capturing him and taunting him he breaks out and kills them.

Finding the military base Kong breaks Lady Kong out and escape, the Scientist and Explorer find them and try to protect them since Lady Kong is about to have Kong's son.

So Kong fights the army as the two help Lady Kong out, he stops them attacking him and as he sees his new but son the amount of bullets shot into him kills him.

So Lady Kong and Kong's son are sent to Skull Island and live in peace again.

King Kong Lives is an OK film and I liked it but it may not go for everyone. Monster movie fans and Kong fans may want to check it out.

King Kong Lives (1986) is a pretty good sequel

[Horror_Metal · 6/10 · 25 November 2005]

I have yet to read a positive review for this extremely underrated mildly amusing sequel to the 1976 remake of King Kong, which was also a great movie but not as good as the original smash fest of the 30s. A decade after our hero fell from the World Trade Center to his death, the big ape receives a heart transplant from a giant female gorilla of the same species, Lady Kong, who he falls in love with. The first time I heard this idea I figured this movie would suck and just be two guys in gorilla suits romancing over each other. But having loved its predecessor I had to check out this truly unique film. Unlike the rest of the Kong series this is more like a popcorn film that is here strictly to entertain us and isn't as deep as the previous films. Another kool thing is that Kong doesn't fall in love with a human girl (like every other Kong movie) but with an equal size girl ape which is, I think, a tremendous idea. Linda Hamilton (who I've always loved from the Terminator series) almost plays the same character she played from Dante's Peak and is responsible for Kong's blood transfusion. She is a great actress and came out of this movie OK. Indiana Jones wannabe Brian Kerwin plays her love interest and is also responsible for Kong's rebirth upon capturing Lady Kong. He does a superb job as well. The army is constantly causing problems for the ape couple but our two heroes (Hamilton and Kerwin) successfully stop them and near the end the two big apes have a Baby Kong (possibly setting up for another sequel). Yes this movie could have been called Bride of Kong and had a lot of high quality action scenes, some of which are actually quite gory for a Kong film (heads being bit off, people being tore in half, rubber alligators being chewed up) and seems a lot like a Godzilla film. Sure the plot gets a little silly and having two giant gorillas cuddle each other and act like humans is a bit much, but all the cheesy scenes are mediocre at best. And yes I did hate some of it, mostly the army scenes and the rubber alligator scene (really bad FX there) but being the sixth film in the Kong series, what more do you want? Seeing Kong smash stuff will make me happy. I now have this film in my Kong DVD collection along with King Kong '33, Son of Kong, and King Kong '76 (the two Japanese films will join them soon), I even have Might Joe Young though I don't count that as part of the series. I have now reviewed all the Kong films except the brand new 2005 remake which i simply can't wait to see. Review for that coming soon! Overall, I really enjoyed this film and it wasn't as bad as I expected nor as bad as people say. I give this worthy entry to the Kong series and great sequel to the 70's movie a 6/10.

This movie made my brain hurt.

[Anonymous_Maxine · 2/10 · 28 January 2005]

Okay, before I say anything else, every time an ape smiled in this movie I wanted to put a pot over my head and beat on it with a serving ladle. But no matter. The Kongs have become a family of epic grinners, you just have to deal with it. The scariest thing is that that's not even the worst part of this movie. It is dangerous ground to make a sequel that involves a movie monster getting romantically involved. They did it with Child's Play and it transformed the early camp horror films into pure comedy. Child's Play was no longer even in the same genre as it started out in. King Kong Lives doesn't even deserve to be in the same GENRE, even of the 1976 film, which was very well made, much less the 1933 classic.

The movie opens with the ending of the 1976 film, with Kong climbing and being shot down from the World Trade Center. This movie (surprise) takes place ten years later. I guess Kong has been in some sort of coma for ten years, and as the movie starts a lot of scientists are in the process of performing a heart transplant on him. Next thing you know, he's ripping electrodes off and jumping up for the windows in the roof, then lifting himself up bodily by the bars on those windows despite just having had his rib cage sawn open and a plastic heart the size of a Volkswagen installed.

Now, this was hard, but I managed to accept that he was able to do that. I know virtually nothing about primates, much less 50 foot tall primates. Who am I to judge his healing speed? But given that I had accepted his remarkable ability to recover from a barrage of anti-aircraft gunshot wounds from helicopters on all sides, then a fall that would have reduced all of his organs to mush, then a historic heart transplant, and THEN display a miraculous mending of the sternum, I found it more than a little odd how easily he was undone when he bumped his head on a rock later in the movie. One clever individual in the film tries to convince Amy (Linda Hamilton) to just forget about him because "outside his environment, he would not be able to acquire enough protein to survive."

PROTEIN!!

Nevermind the fact that there's a 10,000-pound gorilla corpse floating downriver, let's just go home because he won't be able to find enough protein to survive! That's OUTSTANDING science, my friend! Then again, the Kongs have not only found love, but they have mastered the art of invisibility, so it's not surprising that he didn't want to be bothered with a search. The Kongs are like freaking ninjas!

At the beginning, Hank, the big game hunter that some nutcase refers to as Indiana Jones, lays down on some foliage to take a nap, not noticing that there is a 50 foot gorilla less than 20 feet away from him until she tries to pick him up. This guy is no Indiana Jones. Later in the film, some golfer hits King Kong in the face with a golf ball before he notices that there's a gigantic gorilla standing on the course. I'm guessing he wasn't looking where he was hitting the ball.

Yes. It's true.

King Kong.

Gets hit.

With a golf ball.

It is odd indeed that it necessitates an entire army of troops, tanks, and helicopters to find King Kong and Mrs. Kong, who one guy in a helicopter with a searchlight could easily find since they tower over the trees. And you guessed it, Kong manages to sneak up on the entire Army, too. While they're standing watch. Looking for King Kong. Nice work, soldiers. These guys are dumber than the law enforcement in First Blood.

At one point a lot of rednecks get into boats to go hunt down Kong, and some military jerk goes, "What is this, Deliverance?" No, sir. The rednecks were in the woods in Deliverance, not the boats. This is far worse, this is Gator Bait!

And Hank, the golfers, and the military are not the only people suffering from vision loss in the movie. At one point Amy nearly falls over a waterfall while she and Hank are walking across a rickety wooden bridge (in a sad, sad homage to the Temple of Doom), and when she gets back up she frantically asks, "Where's the heart rate monitor??" Apparently unable to see its bulky mass sitting two feet away from her. Somebody get this woman some binoculars!

The movie almost gets meaningful when Kong is frantic to get out of captivity and get to the female that he can smell nearby. Forget about any stupid sex jokes, any ape is going to want to mate after being held in captivity. Then it turns out that they just want to go lounge in the woods grabassing and massaging each other. At one point Mighty Jane Young starts licking a wound Kong has somehow gotten on his knee, and he puts his arm around her and grins. The only thing missing is a barrel of beer in his other hand.

Ultimately, of course, we are forced to meet Son of Kong, a human-sized ape which, having come from Mrs. Kong, makes about as much sense as a human woman giving birth to a child the size of like, a grape.

In the movie's defense, we do get to see Linda Hamilton topless for exactly two fifteenths of a second, but director John Guillermin, who also directed the massively superior 1976 remake, has not even managed to produce a grape.

He's given birth to a raisin.

A rotten one.

very fun and funny!!!

[fano-flicks · 31 May 2005]

Don't expect a work of art, but do expect a masterpiece of absurdity and fun. King Kong Lives is an ultra-cheesy monster flick that's wacky from beginning to end. Sure it's "bad", but it's also extremely amusing and entertaining. It's absurdities are part of it's charm. King Kong is brought back to life and sets about romancing a female giant ape while squashing nasty humans. I had a great time cheering for Kong while watching this. It's hard not too cheer for him since he's such a lovable lug. My heart really went out to him at times. At other times I just couldn't stop laughing! King Kong Lives will always be one of my very favorite giant monster run amok movies.

Livin' la vida boredom...

[Mister-6 · 1/10 · 1 February 2000]

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.

one big old plastic heart of love

[bunny-31 · 2/10 · 6 January 2001]

I love this movie with the plastic heart and the lovely Linda Hamilton putting it in with a crane and a crew of a dozen scalpel artists. King Kong is strong but a little rugged around the eyes from his fall in downtown New York. Very sexy with a female member with the gorilla bosom about to make Kong's blood boil asunder. I recommend for some late viewing while you eat pumpkin pie and nothing else is on in your parent's basement. Live on Kong.

Doesn't hold up

[rivertam26 · 3/10 · 14 May 2020]

When I first saw this as a kid at 6 y/o I remember liking it. Almost 35 years later I've gone out of my way to get a copy because its been discontinued. So I spent a decent amount. Boy what a mistake because this movie is the pits. Picking up after the events of the not so great 70s version. Kong is given an artificial heart transplant and they've captured a female. When he finally awakes he goes on a little rampage because he senses her. They get together and act all cute while a scientist and an explorer. One of them played by a usually great Linda Hamilton (Terminator) whose just not very good here. And then you know the rest military goes after them, big showdown yada, yada, yada. The effects are okay but look goofy. The movie is dragging and a boring which is surprising considering the amount of action It's really just quite bad.

Budget: $18m Box Office: $4.7m

3/10

Bad sequel but not forgotten!!

[elo-equipamentos · 5/10 · 5 October 2017]

King Kong 2 Dino De Laurentiis's sequel is a crap, but funny and delightful, great budge but didn't get the target, somehow l honestly prefer movie like that than made on graphic computer, bad but not forgotten!! Linda Hamilton was a peak of his career and beauty than ever, John Ashton is fantastic as villain and died like a dog!!

Resume:

First watch: 1988 / How many: 5 / Source: TV-VHS-DVD / Rating: 5

What the hell is this? Deliverance?

[lastliberal · 5/10 · 21 November 2009]

Now, don't make the mistake in thinking that this is a work of art. This film follows the tradition of the great Godzilla movies made in Tokyo. If you like those, you will like this film.

It has it all - rednecks, sex, the Army, and Kong himself. No, he didn't die when he fell from the skyscraper. He has been in a coma for the last 10 years.

The NRA may tell us that hunters want to preserve the population of animals for all to enjoy, but the rednecks in this film do a disservice to the organization. There was a sense of satisfaction when Kong snapped one in two like a twig, and ate another whole -- redneck poppers! Linda Hamilton is always a joy, and she did a good job here as a scientist wanting to save Kong.

Kong doesn't make it, but he manages to hook up with a female and after a quickie in the bushes, they have a son. Yeah, they really stretched that, didn't they.

It is just the think to watch on a Saturday afternoon with a bowl of popcorn.

action packed and entertaining

[disdressed12 · 7/10 · 23 January 2008]

my sister and i watched this sequel to the 1976 version of KIng Kong.and we actually both liked it.sure it's no masterpiece and i didn't like it quite as much as King Kong,but i did find it entertaining and fun.i felt it was on a smaller scope than KIng Kong(1976) and less serious,on my opinion,but it wasn't half bad.true,the dialogue won't win any awards,and the acting could have been better,but there was plenty of action and excitement.the story is bit of a stretch for sure,but if you don't take it too seriously,you might enjoy it for what it is:an action packed,entertaining 90 minutes or so.and it might make you forget about life for awhile.for me,King Kong Lives is a 7/10

Directed and written by gerbils...really, really DUMB gerbils!

[planktonrules · 1/10 · 7 November 2009]

KING KONG LIVES is a great example of a big budget yet total ineptness throughout. While schlock directors like Ed Wood, Arch Hall and Al Adamson can make really bad films, their budgets are minuscule. Here, however, with a big budget the producers show that they can produce a film every bit as bad. That's a great great return on your money, folks!

This is also one of those films whose concept is so bizarre and dumb you wonder how it ever got made in the first place. First, considering how much of an enormous box office bomb the previous version of KING KONG was, you'd be amazed to see this this is a sequel! Second, the entire idea just makes no sense at all. This sequel begins as you see Kong falling to his death at the end of KING KONG (1976). But, despite falling a bazillion stories AND being machine gunned repeatedly, KING KONG LIVES expects us to accept that the giant ape DID NOT DIE!!! And, here's the weirdest part folks, some evil rich guy has been paying to keep the ape on life support in a warehouse for a decade!!! Why?!? This NEVER is explored in the least. And, after the nasty simian destroys New York, this guy has the idea of trying to revive this beast!?!

In contrast to the evil industrialist (and aren't they all in these sort of films?!), you have the dedicated people (the doctor who saved Kong and the man who discovered a female Kong) who want to save the ape and return it to the wild--sort of like that kid from ET. And, when the military comes into the film, you KNOW that they are evil and only want to kill. So, it's the two innocent idiots who have to battle the unfeeling idiots who want to kill Kong and his new lady love (yes, folks, there are now TWO giant apes in this film). So, despite Linda Hamilton (who really seems to have a thing for big hairy guys) and some other jerk armed only with pluck, they are able to sneak past a bazillion idiot soldiers and the forces of the evil idiot rich dude...and save the day. In the process, the cars and trucks of the evil rich dude inexplicably run into each other and instantly explode in flames--thus enabling the apes and the only two who understand and care to escape.

One of my favorite awful scenes was right after this when the male and female apes escape. They are now in the wild and are at a place called "Honeymoon Ridge"--at which place, naturally, the now adorable aminals start cooing and falling in love! Oh, this is stupid and I couldn't help but groan...and laugh. And, when the two ape-lovers happen upon them, guy what happens next?! Yes, they, too, are smitten and inspired by the apes' pure and innocent love!

A short time later, the evil military mess up this perfect love and manage to gas the female ape to sleep. This works very, very well. So, when Kong shows up a minute later, they barely even try to put him to sleep as well but throw bombs and stuff at him--and really ticking him off in the process. Why didn't they also just put Kong to sleep as well and transport them to a sanctuary or a zoo or to Disney's Animal Kingdom?! So, given that the two lovers are separated, is what happens next really much of a surprise?! However, I was surprised to see that Kong survived by hiding out and eating alligators--and later, even people. The ape appears to be a giant gorilla--and gorillas are vegetarians. Also, the forest where Kong and Mrs. Kong hied out appears to be some place like Idaho or Colorado. Which begs the question "what are giant rubber alligators doing in this part of the United States?!?".

Now I noticed that this movie won a Razzie award for its special effects and I actually think this is unfair. The ape suits were not that bad and the special effects are actually the best thing about this terrible film. I do agree with the Razzie book (which I own) that it is a great movie to see because it is so laughably bad, but the award seemed misplaced. To have given an award for writing, directing or even acting would have seemed a lot more appropriate because of the silly lovemaking that occurred between the apes--now THAT was dumb! But the costumes weren't that bad for 1986 (other than Baby Kong's--whose was truly terrible). Also, in the film's defense, while the film was 100% stupid, it looked good--with good camera-work and decent effects. But, at heart, despite this, it was still incredibly dumb.

And, speaking of the love of two apes, apparently the two apes can meet, have sex and have a baby all in the space of a day or two. Wow, those giant apes work fast!! And, with no amniotic fluid, placenta or mess whatsoever!! And, oddly, the baby turns out to be about the size of a normal gorilla--making me wonder who the father REALLY was!!! Apparently, Mrs. Kong was quite the slut! By the way, apparently the people inside the Mr. and Mrs. Kong's outfits were both guys. This makes the amazing childbirth scene all the more amazing!!!

Oh, and the only good scene in the entire dreadful film involves Kong ripping some dumb redneck in half and then eat another. It's dumb but kinda cool as well. Although, it's pretty sad if this is the BEST thing the film has to offer! It's also interesting because the ape only appears to eat bad people--despite man chances to eat others, it only eats these rednecks who deserved it!

King Kong Lives!

[Movie Nuttball · 9/10 · 19 October 2001]

This is one of the great movies of the 80s in MY collection that I think about all the time.

Some minor spoilers

King Kong Lives starts right where the 1977 version left off.KKL is very good movie and is really a super sequel.Its made very well and the acting and effects is very good but the movie is just plain sad.I guess all lovers of Apes will cry if they see this movie.I don`t want to spoil it it for you but there is lots of action and the film is never boring.I really like the scene where King Kong walks through the swamp and is all you see is fog then and black sky.That is so neat.I wouldn`t recommend this movie to people who dislike animals getting hurt.If you like King Kong but don`t like to see the great ape get hurt then I recommend that you see King Kong vs. Godzilla and King Kong Escapes.In them movies he is unstoppable.The music it terriffic! Its by John Scott.Its a great score.Overall King Kong Lives is great movie!

All the King Kong movie are good

[jacobjohntaylor1 · 7/10 · 20 May 2014]

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.

Wow..

[anxietyresister · 4/10 · 7 August 2008]

Well, where do you start with a movie as boneheaded as this one? A sequel virtually no-one requested to the 1976 remake, (of which I've only seen snippets) this is one of the oddest films I since for a while. It stars Linda Hamilton of Terminator fame, John Ashton as a mad general and a whole bunch of other people you haven't heard of. The plot is (as the title suggests) that Kong, even after falling off the Twin Towers a decade ago, isn't actually dead. He has been kept alive all this time, using a device to keep his circulation going by a government lab, but now he desperately needs a heart transplant otherwise he will buy the farm. "We need a miracle" proclaims Hamilton's surgeon character.

WELL WHAT DO YOU KNOW at that exact moment, a fortune hunter (played by Brian Kerwin) is on some remote desert island when he is chased by.. you guessed it.. another giant primate (not John Prescott). This one though, is a SHE and even more fortunately, Kerwin has his backing chorus of tribesmen to knock her out with many blow-darts. Gosh, if it's that easy to take down those pesky apes, why doesn't every trooper carry one?! No matter, the Indy wannabe flies Ms Monkey to the States, where he gives the creature to the lab for a wad of cash. An operation then takes place, where half the heart of Lady Kong is removed and given to K. Kong.

It turns out to be a success, and now there are two big animal attractions in the USA. HURRAY! Sadly, those stoopid scientists have placed the female too close to the male, and once Mr Kong gets a whiff of those pheromones, you can bet your blue baboon butt he's away... busting out of his cage that's protected by one (1!) guard, and going on the rampage till he finds the love of his life. And it's at this point I'd like to pause, reflect.. and ask a few questions if you don't mind, sonny Jim.

1. Why bother spending millions of dollars keeping this big lunk alive for years, only to try and kill it the moment it gets better? They don't even attempt to knock him out when he escapes, they just whip out the ol' tanks and guns, and try and turn the animal into a very fetching black rug.

2. Why entrust Lady Kong's care to an insane cigar chomping, warmongering general who couldn't care less about the creatures and would like nothing more than to slaughter them both? PETA's missing presence in this film is a giant question mark.

3. Why does everyone attack and torture these docile animals, when it's already been proved in the original that they only fight back in self-defence? Give them a couple of bananas and they'll be your best friend, no need for all the artillery!

4. Later, Hamilton and Kerwin find out Kong's mate is pregnant. This is an amazing development for arguably the rarest species in the word. What do they do with this information. Why, they tell The Insane General (see 2) who has already demonstrated his utter contempt for these primate pests! How about, going to the president or the FBI? Not in this mad movie!

5. Most amazingly of all, every single shot from Uncle Sam's boys misses Mr and Mrs Kong, even at point blank range! And we're talking about the biggest targets EVER here! The only time they connect is at the end, during a 'noble sacrifice' YAWN. I hope the real American army isn't this inept, or you may as well surrender to China and Iran now!

And so on, and so forth. About from all the implausibilities in the plot, the most painful moments are the romantic scenes between the apes, complete with goo-goo faces and slushy melodies in the background. HELLO THIS IS KING KONG AND LADY KONG, NOT TOM HANKS AND MEG RYAN. My favourite bit though, is in during one of these little trysts, when Hamilton is subtly enchanted enough after watching them to offer Kerwin a spot in her sleeping bag " Are you sure about this"?! He asks. She replies with the quote of the century "WELL WE'RE PRIMATES TOO!!" Expect that to rank with lines from Citizen Kane and Casablanca in the all time greatest list.

The special effects aren't half bad for the 80's, as long as you can pretend you're not looking at two boiling actors in gorilla suits. I hope they had ventilation! Of course if you're expecting something along the lines of Peter Jackson's 2005 interpretation of the character you're beating your chest at the wrong film. I will say this for it though.. it is diverting a lot of the time, not just because there's so much going on, but sometimes it just gets so silly you have to stop and rub your eyes. I can't really recommend it as an action film, but as a comedy when you've had a few bevvies and you've got the lads around it fits the bill perfectly. On that basis, I would give it a 4/10.. now I've got to go. Something big's just stepped on my dad's car! HE'S GONNA KILL ME!!