Congo

1995 Action/Adventure

Good gorillas meet bad gorillas while human beings search for treasure in this jungle advnture saga. R.B. Travis (Joe Don Baker) is the ruthless head of Travi-Com, a telecommunications firm on the cusp of a major breakthrough in laser communications technology. However, Travis needs diamonds to finish the project, so he sends a group of men to Zaire, where he's told that a large supply of the gems can be easily found. When the men go missing, Travis sends his trusted assistant Karen Ross (Laura Linney), a one-time CIA associate, into the jungle to find both his staff and the jewels. Hoping to keep her mission a secret, Karen travels to Zaire in the company of Peter (Dylan Walsh), a researcher on primate development who is hoping to return Amy, a gorilla who has been taught sign language and can "speak" English with the help of a glove-controlled computer device. Also travelling with them is Herkermer (Tim Curry), a Romanian with a secret agenda: he's convinced that Amy can guide him to the Lost City of Zinj, where he believes that King Solomon's Mines are located. Upon arrival, the group is met by Monroe Kelly (Ernie Hudson), a self-described "great white hunter who happens to be black," and they discover that the jungle holds a menace that they weren't counting on: a tribe of bloodthirsty gray gorillas. Congo was based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. more..

Director: Frank Marshall

Starring: Dylan Walsh, Laura Linney, Ernie Hudson, Tim Curry,Grant Heslov

Reviews

  • The result is not a movie that is very good, exactly, but it's entertaining and funny.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    19 January 2013

  • As in "Arachnophobia", director Frank Marshall can't decide whether he's making a thriller or a laff-it-up lark.

    Mike Clark - USA Today

    19 January 2013

  • Congo, adapted by John Patrick Shanley and directed by Stephen Spielberg protege Frank Marshall, is not one of the better silly action pictures set in gratuitously fake jungles and featuring nefarious foreigners, threatening natives, and talking gorillas.

    - TV Guide

    19 January 2013

  • This glib, overheated film about vicious primates delivers little suspense, nor are there signs of the 65 cited volumes and articles that turned Mr. Crichton's book into such a learning experience.

    Elvis Mitchell - The New York Times

    19 January 2013

  • Even with these high-end artists on the team, though, the movie seems thin.

    Hal Hinson - The Washington Post

    19 January 2013

Awards

  • Best Director

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (1996)

     
  • Jerry Goldsmith

    BMI Film & TV Awards (1996)

  • Favorite Animal Star

    Kids' Choice Awards (1996)

     
  • Worst Director

    Razzie Awards (1996)

     
  • Best Supporting Actor in a Genre Motion Picture

    Sci-Fi Universe Magazine (1995)