Congo (1995)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

Frank Marshall

Writers (WGA):

Michael Crichton (novel)
John Patrick Shanley (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 June 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Where you are the endangered species

Plot:

When an expedition to the African Congo ends in disaster, a new team is assembled to find out what went wrong.

Plot Keywords:

Laser | Gorilla | Diamond | Talking Gorilla | Lion

Awards:

2 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Laura Linney	...	Dr. Karen Ross
Dylan Walsh	...	Dr. Peter Elliot
Ernie Hudson	...	Captain Munro Kelly
Tim Curry	...	Herkermer Homolka
Grant Heslov	...	Richard
Joe Don Baker	...	R.B. Travis
Lorene Noh	...	Amy
Mary Ellen Trainor	...	Moira
Misty Rosas	...	Amy the Gorilla
Stuart Pankin	...	Boyd
Carolyn Seymour	...	Eleanor Romy
Romy Rosemont	...	Assistant
James Karen	...	College President / Elliot's Boss
Bill Pugin	...	William
Lawrence T. Wrentz	...	Prof. Arliss Wender

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for jungle adventure terror and action and brief strong language.

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #33485) | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Australia:M | South Korea:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Germany:12 | Finland:K-12 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:7 | Sweden:15 | UK:12

Filming Locations:

Costa Rica

Company:

Kennedy/Marshall Company, The

Trivia:

The "diamonds" used for the scenes during the climax of the movie were actually Herkimer Diamonds borrowed from the Herkimer Diamond Mines of Middleville, New York. They are doubly-terminated (two-ended) quartz crystals that are found in only two places in the world. They were the only gems that would look enough like diamonds and be that large.

Goofs:

Continuity: The man with the Shadow People is clean shaven, yet has been there for ages.

Quotes:

Dr. Karen Ross: Are you sure there aren't some kind of gorillas that kill.
Dr. Peter Elliot: Please, Dr. Ross. What's your area of expertise? Folk-singing?
Dr. Karen Ross: [smugly] Communications technology.
Dr. Peter Elliot: So you're a geek with a cellular phone.
Dr. Karen Ross: I'm a scientist. But you and your protege, as far as I can see, belong in the circus.
[looks at Amy eating flowers]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Troldspejlet: Troldspejlet special: Troldspejlet i USA (#17.1)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

Celebrated Minuet

Slightly above average

It is a fairly mindless piece of work, not as good as the novel, but this film isn't too bad. The monkey scenes are good, as is the plot which is: Working for a company mining diamonds out of Congo, Karen Ross, whose previous team had been killed, goes to the Congo with Peter Elliott, who has trained a gorilla to talk using sign language, who is planning to release her. Special-effects aren't great, but I enjoyed it. I don't really understand why the gorillas were simply jumping into lava at the end. It only rates a 5 out of 10 on my ratings.