WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Congo 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:07.000 Hey, you welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. This is 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:07.920 Rob Lamb. 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:11.600 And I'm Joe McCormick, and today we're featuring an older 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:15.720 episode of Weird House Cinema. This one originally published on 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:19.400 November eleventh, twenty twenty two. And let's see, I was 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:21.759 not on this episode. This is one that you recorded 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:25.599 with our friend and colleague Annie Reese. This was on 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:29.000 the movie Congo. Oh boy, we were just talking about Congo, 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:34.440 the weird Michael Crichton written jungle adventure movie with an 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:39.360 animatronic gorilla, talking gorilla, and very importantly Tim Curry in 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:42.040 just an unbelievable Peter Lorii role. 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:44.919 Yeah, it's a super fun film. This one came up 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:46.919 in our recent Listener Mail episode and I was like, oh, 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:49.400 well that was a fun episode and we've never rerun it, 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:51.320 so we're going to rerun it here now. This one, 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.520 As I recall, Annie presented a list of movies she 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:56.840 would be open to talking about, and this was on 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:58.800 the list. I was like, it's got to be Congo. 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:02.680 Laura Lenny, Ernie Hudson, Joe Don Baker, what's not to love? 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:05.360 Yes, all right, let's jump right in. 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.480 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.279 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:23.760 and I'm Annie Reese. That's right. 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:25.720 Can I just jump in? Yeah? 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:29.880 Yeah, that's perfectly, perfectly fine. That's the way to do it. Yes, everyone, 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:32.399 it's Annie Reese of Stuff Mom Never told you and 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:36.319 save her. She is going to join me as my 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:39.080 guest co host today as Joe is still very much 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:42.800 on parental leave, and we kind of had a back 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:46.360 and forth about what to discuss here, and eventually there 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.240 was just no denying the appeal of nineteen ninety five's Congo. 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:52.600 I think it was my first option, and I'm very 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.120 sorry if I overwhelmed you, because I do love movies. 0:01:55.720 --> 0:02:00.880 I do love bad slash weird. I don't want to 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:02.400 put them in the same category, but I do love 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.760 movies that kind of make you raise your eyebrow like huh. 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:09.440 So when you asked, I was super excited and immediately 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:14.200 sent you I think like fifteen suggestions, but Congo was 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.360 the first one. And I hope Joe's not mad that 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:19.320 we're doing it without him, because I've talked about Congo 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:26.160 with him, but it is just something that is hard 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:27.840 to explain. And in fact, last night I was going 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:29.800 over some of your notes and I was laughing aloud 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:35.360 at your notes because it's just a strange film. So 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:40.600 much of it is hard to describe, and I kind 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:42.799 of love that about it. I'm kind of endeared by 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.240 how strange it is, if that makes sense. 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:48.000 Yeah, it's one of those films where, oh, on one hand, 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:52.280 I can't imagine Congo is anyone's favorite movie. No, and 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:57.160 yet it's hard not to love, if not parts of 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:00.799 the film or the whole film itself, you've still got 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:04.440 to admire sort of the the guts to try and 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:07.720 put together something like this like this was. It's like 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:11.320 a throwback to older jungle adventure movies, but with the 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:14.960 high tech Michael Crichton edge to it. And I'm not 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:18.800 sure ultimately anybody was really clamoring for this, but it's 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:21.200 hard to argue with the fun results here. 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:26.120 Yes, yes, I think that's It's such a It's a 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.760 movie that continually is asking you, like, well, don't ask 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:33.440 too many questions. Just come along with this journey. We 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:35.160 don't have to explain this. It's just going to be 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:39.160 fun and it's it does end up being very fun, 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:43.080 even though at the end you're like, but wait, and 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:48.080 it just like switches genres a million times. It's never 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:51.760 entirely clear like what it's trying to be. It's very 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:54.520 obviously in the shadow of Jurassic Park, because it had 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:58.600 come out in the wake of Jurassic Park. But there's 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:02.920 something about about so much of the acting in it 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:08.600 that is just fullhearted despite what is going on around, 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:11.720 like maybe even because of what is going on in 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:16.000 the script that is just hard not to kind of 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.119 it just kind of winds you over. You're like, oh, yeah, sure, 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:21.560 let's go on this journey. 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:24.520 It has a lot of energy, and it has some 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:28.240 great performers in it, who many of which really decide 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.000 to chew the scenery, which I think is the right 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:33.120 impulse for a film like this. And then yeah, the 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.440 genre I wouldn't I won't say it's necessarily a genre confusion, 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:40.880 but there are elements of this movie that are kind 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:44.520 of monster film and perhaps even seem like they might 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.920 venture into horror. But there's also plenty of stuff that's 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:51.840 just kind of this old fashioned, essentially like a jungle 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:56.880 cruise kind of adventure. And if you go in just 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:59.280 hungry for the killer gorillas. You get a little bit 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:00.680 at the beginning, and then you got to wait a 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:02.600 long time before you get back to them. 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:05.679 I think I read I read an article that said, 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:08.880 if you're for a movie that was like promising killer gorillas, 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:13.280 you only really get them at the one hundred minute mark, 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:17.080 just constantly like but wait where okay? 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:21.400 But then they they and then the ultimate I guess. Yeah, 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:23.159 they're not on screen a lot, but there are a 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:27.400 lot of gorillas on screen when they are on screen, 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:29.880 so you do get to see a lot of really 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.839 amazing gorilla costumes. And I'm a sucker. I'm a sucker 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:36.680 for a bad gorilla costume. You bring a great gorilla costume, 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:37.799 and I'm totally on board. 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:42.359 Yes, and I if you would allow me, I would 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.360 love to tell the very complicated story of how I 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:45.960 saw congo. 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:47.159 Oh, let's hear it. 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:50.840 Yes, okay, okay, So come along with this journey like 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:56.080 this is oh so I One of the first movies 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:58.719 I ever saw in theaters was Jurassic Park. I snuck 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.960 into the theater. I was like three or four. I 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:04.599 should not have been there, and I had a nightmare 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:06.680 about Raptors. That night, I couldn't hide that I had 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:09.120 seen this movie because it became very clear. So I 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.760 got in very big trouble for it. But I loved 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:15.600 the movie, and after that I became Once I got older, 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.599 I read a lot of Michael Crichton. I really liked sphear. 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:24.000 I think my interest was sort of reignited in the 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:28.320 two thousand's after Lost, because there was a big loss 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:32.240 theory about the book Prey. Yeah, so I started reading 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:38.080 it again, and somehow Congo never entered this year. I 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:40.599 did not know it was written by Michael Crichton. I 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:45.040 because I'm kind of a gullible and sometimes terrible at 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:49.080 deciphering sarcasm, had been told that Congo was an Oscar 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.320 winning movie and like best Film level, okay, So I 0:06:53.920 --> 0:07:00.000 thought it was going to be this really dramatic sade 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:07.440 on I don't know, diamonds and or gorillas in Africa, which, 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:08.919 by the way, that is one thing that does not 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:12.400 age well in this movie. So I was preparing it 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:16.440 for it to be a really emotional, sad film, and 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:18.560 because of that I had put it off. I'd put 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:21.440 off seeing it for years and years and years, still 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:25.720 not knowing it's Michael Crichton, and so at the beginning 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:29.840 of the pandemic, when it's like, oh gosh, I'm just 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.000 gonna have to start, I'm gonna stream everything because that's 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.040 what I that's what I have to only love to 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:37.520 me to do. I was with a friend of mine, 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:39.800 a very very good friend of mine, and I was like, 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:42.240 you know what, tonights the night I'm gonna I'm gonna 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:46.760 do Congo, I'm gonna stream it. I'm gonna be sad 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.840 and it's gonna be great. And I So we kept 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:52.840 putting it off even into the night, and so it 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.680 was like two am, and I was kind of tipsy, 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.320 and I started watching it, and she went. She went 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:00.240 to lay down in a room next to me so 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.360 she could still hear me, but she wasn't watching it. 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:09.600 So what follows was me desperately trying to make sense 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:11.920 in my head about how this could be a Best 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:16.040 Picture Oscar movie and me shouting at Katie like, oh 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:18.040 my god, Tim Curry showed up and he's got some 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:22.200 accents I can't explain, and her being like what and 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:26.720 me being like, oh my gosh, there's a talking gorilla 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:30.800 and it likes Martini's what's going on? And just like 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:35.560 my brain desperately trying to make this make sense. And 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:38.360 I think it's a real testament to like what you 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:41.400 think a movie is when you go into it, of 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:45.280 how hard I was trying to well there's I mean, 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:50.200 surely it's something. I'm maybe I'm missing something or and 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:57.120 so I it wasn't until the lasers lasering of the 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:00.000 gorillas at the end that I was finally like, I'm 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:03.959 I'm not sure this movie won any all screws. Then 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:08.439 when they escape in the hot air balloon, I was like, O, Katie, 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:12.560 they're in a hot air balloon. I don't think I 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:14.880 don't think this was an award winning movie at all. 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:18.640 And so then I desperately like go online and I 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:22.840 search what is this movie? And to my delight, I 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:27.040 found several several articles about it that were like exactly that, 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:30.000 what is this movie? And I read them all and 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:32.200 then I said, we are watching this again, and I 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:36.280 need you to witness what I just saw. So it 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.040 was like only a couple of years ago I saw it, 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:41.160 and I just it still left such a mark on 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:45.079 me because I was the whole time, what is going 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:46.120 on here? 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:50.200 Oh wow, that's so. Yeah. If you go into into 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:53.679 the film Congo expecting one of those, and then there 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:58.760 were I believe several like serious films that came out 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:02.800 at least in the decade follow dealing with serious dramatic 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:07.160 scenarios in Africa. This is this is not one of them. No, 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.600 but I can imagine, Yeah, you're surprised when these various 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:13.760 speculative and fantastic elements begin to pop up. 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:16.440 Oh my gosh, the hot air ballue. It's the funniest 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:17.959 part to me is that I made it all the 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:22.080 way to that part before I was finally like, something's 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:24.959 off here. I think I've been told a lie about 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:27.439 what it is. 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.640 Oh wow, that is that's amazing. So the second viewing 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:33.480 you had that was the one where you went in 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:36.640 having full knowledge of what Congo was and what you're 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:37.440 going to get out of it. 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.680 Yes, and now I've seen it several several times, and 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:42.800 it's kind of a tradition, a tradition with me and 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:45.240 some friends that we watch it and mostly we just 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.319 are like, look at what Tim Curry is doing, because 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:50.880 he's really, like you said, a lot of the actors 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:54.040 are chewing up the scenery. Him and Ernie Hudson are 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:57.880 just it feels like they're having a good time. And yeah, 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.280 I hope so, because they it's it's shining through and 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:05.439 it's so fun to just watch them have that fun. 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:06.319 Yeah. 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:09.200 Yeah, I'm looking forward to talking more about about Ernie 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:11.600 Hudson in a bit because it is a great Ernie 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:17.040 Hudson role, perhaps his best role. It's amazing. Now my 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:21.280 history with Congo it very much connected to Jurassic Park, 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.000 you know, because nineteen ninety three, Jurassic Park comes out 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:27.120 in theaters. I think I was fourteen at that point, 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:31.200 and like a lot of kids of that age in 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:34.679 that time period, like instantly you're in on Michael Crichton books. 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:37.600 You pick up a copy of Jurassic Park, you read that, 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:42.880 and they both provide very similar but slightly differing experiences. 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:46.480 And I remember my dad had read and was reading 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:48.760 some Michael Crichton at the time, so we kind of 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:52.160 had that to bond over, and I read I read 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:53.840 a series of them at the time. I think I 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:57.760 read Fear, which I think I've mostly forgotten, Eaters of 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:01.080 the Dead, which I enjoyed a lot, and then the 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:04.319 nineteen eighty novel Congo, which of course is the basis 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:08.160 for this film. So looking back on it, I think 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:10.800 I was drawn in more to the more fantastic of 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:13.720 the Michael Crichton books, the ones that involve dinosaurs coming 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:19.800 back from the dead, cannibal cavemen attacking vikings, and of 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:25.079 course this wonderful tale of strange lost gorillas and lost 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.720 cities in the jungle and superpowered lasers. 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:31.520 Of course, and diamonds that somehow, you know, that's one 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:33.760 of my other favorite parts of this movie. And I 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:39.520 am a big sucker for this period of technology where 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:42.640 I experienced it. I grew up with it, but it 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:48.160 feels so outdated and kind of like wonky now, and 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:52.120 it's clear that, like the understanding wasn't entirely there. So 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:54.880 I love the plot line of just like, don't ask 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:58.720 too many questions, but this diamond is how we're going 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:02.920 to revolutionize commune occasions technology and it is necessary for satellites. 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:07.800 Yeah, the techno aspect of the film is it's one 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:10.320 of the aspects of Michael Crichton's work that I think 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:12.960 tended to set a lot of his stuff apart, especially 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.400 from this period of his writing, because he had a 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:18.240 real knack for like adventure and thriller stories, but then 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:24.319 would bring in this level of technology and technological speculation, 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:27.680 and yeah, it made things feel more alive at the time. 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:29.640 Some of it maybe it has not aged as well, 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.800 just because that's how that's how cutting edge sci fi works. 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.080 As you eventually reach the period where you read Neuromancer 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:39.680 again and you're like, whoa, they're sending faxes. That doesn't 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:42.920 feel very cyberpunk, but it's just talid cos. 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:44.800 Yeah, and I do love it. I mean, there's so 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:47.880 many parts of this movie where it is very fun, 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:50.760 which again I'll use that word a lot because I 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:54.600 do think Congo is a very fun movie to look 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:59.600 back at the technology and just smile to yourself and 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:03.200 be like, well, it was a different time and they 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:03.760 were trying. 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:07.320 Yeah, it's I mean, this is a pretty pricey film. 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:09.240 I don't think it's the most expensive film that we've 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:12.920 watched on Weird House, but it's up there. It was 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:16.079 a big summer blockbuster, and the weird thing is that 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:20.200 it was successful. I understand it, maybe not critically, but 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:21.760 it made money at the box. I was people went 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:23.600 out and saw it and they enjoyed it, and yet 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:26.960 it is It is the right level of blockbuster where 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:29.880 it is sort of culturally forgotten by a lot of people, 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:32.960 which allows someone like you to come around later and 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.240 go into it not knowing exactly what you're going to 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:36.920 get out of it. Yeah. 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.480 Such a lot of the articles I read before this, 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:42.800 a lot of people said that, like, people are rediscovering 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:47.600 Congo and asking the same questions I did after watching it. 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:51.160 And it is interesting because, as you said, people saw 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.800 it and it had a huge marketing push, huge marketing push. 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:57.200 From what I understand, I think there was a quote 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:00.880 from one of the somebody higher up the film that 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:03.280 he basically said, anybody who doesn't see Congo is a 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:07.440 terrible person or something like. They were really really hyping this, 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:12.320 and I'm surprised that. Yeah, it just I guess people 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:14.720 were like, sure there was this talk and Gorilla, let's 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:19.360 move on to another thing. But now people are rediscovering 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:25.320 it and it is it's just a ride. I'm excited 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:29.760 for any listeners who haven't seen it to just describing 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:31.600 the plot. That was one of the most fun things 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:33.480 that night when I was watching it the first time 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:35.960 and just shouting these random phrases to my friend in 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.680 the other Boom, like I had to share it with 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:43.480 her because this is so bizarre to explain to someone. 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:47.960 Yeah, it's it's the story behind it is kind of 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:50.640 bizarre too. I was reading a little bit about this. Like, 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:51.920 one thing we have to keep in mind is that 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:56.080 coming back to nineteen eighty the period that the book 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:59.800 comes out, So by the late seventies, Michael Crichton was 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:04.320 all already a big name, both with books but also 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:06.240 with movies. We'll get into that in a bit, but 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:09.040 the story goes that he had this idea to do 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:12.920 a modern King Solomon's Minds type movie, a modern jungle 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:17.480 adventure but updated for modern audiences with lots of you know, 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:22.000 Michael Crichton technos stuff in it. And twentieth Century Fox 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:23.840 loved it. In fact, they loved it so much as 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.480 they signed him to a contract to write the novel, 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:30.560 the screenplay, and direct it before there was even a book. 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:34.800 He signed. But then he got massive writer's block and 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.880 had to use an isolation tank to overcome it, and 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:40.400 that is where Congo comes from. It emerges from the 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:41.360 isolation tank. 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:49.680 That makes sense. That makes sense, And he had some 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:52.720 really this original take on the film that he was 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:55.080 going to do sounds like it was going to be 0:16:55.280 --> 0:17:01.360 extremely different, and also kind of gave me the vibes 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:04.320 of like, how is this going to get made? How 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:08.359 are we going to translate this story to a movie? 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:11.280 Mm hmm, yeah, And I think there were there were 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:13.479 some some issues early on, just like how would you 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:16.040 create like the gorillas. And I think one of the 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:17.800 reasons they ended up making it, They're like, well, we've 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.560 done Jurassic Park, now we can do anything. Let's make 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:23.400 cgi gorillas. And I think it didn't take them long 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:26.680 to realize that that a that wasn't really achievable, mainly 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.440 because of the fur issue. But then also I think 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:33.160 they encountered something that that that filmmakers have have sort 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:35.840 of have to rekeep reminding them, and that is gorilla 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:39.400 suits absolutely work. The gorilla suits are great. You get 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:43.360 a good physical actor in there who can move around properly, 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:47.160 and and it's amazing. It totally. In fact, it works 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:51.000 so well. You know you'll encounter films like say, hell Boy. 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:53.480 I remember seeing some behind the scenes stuff with Giamo 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:56.800 del Toro who was talking about creating these like secondary 0:17:56.880 --> 0:17:59.960 demon monsters that hell Boy battles, and he was like, well, Bay, 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:02.960 we said, let's start with a gorilla suit and let's 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:05.040 just monster it out. Make it not a gorilla but 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:08.480 a demon. But performance wise, it's essentially a gorilla suit 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:10.760 because that absolutely works. Yeah. 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:14.639 Yeah, that's really interesting because I do think and I 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:16.879 just watched a documentary about this the other day about 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:19.119 special effects, and I do think it's interesting that like 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:24.640 Jurassic Park was such this like touchstone in terms of 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.720 technology what we can do, and it was a lot 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.400 in a lot of ways, like they had so many 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:33.480 practical things, but they also had CGI, and so I 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:36.960 think there was a lot of like, well maybe CGI 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:40.240 sounds cooler, like this technology is newer, so much must 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:43.359 be better. And I think that we have seen and 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.960 have talked about, like CGI is obviously gotten a lot 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:51.400 better since then, but in those early days especially, there 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:56.920 was something better. It worked better to have these gorilla 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.600 suits as opposed to trying to do something with CGI. 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:04.240 Like there Stan Winston who was behind it, like he 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:07.200 he created these and I don't think I think it 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:09.600 would have been much worse if they had tried to 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:13.399 go a different route, especially because as we're going to 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:17.240 talk about there. I can't say it enough. This gorilla 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:22.119 like drinks some martini. Oh yeah, Like we can't. I 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:24.199 think if they had tried to see gi some of 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:27.200 this stuff, or gone a different way than gorilla suits, 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:31.640 then it would be funnier in a way that they 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.000 absolutely didn't intend. There are certain scenes in this movie 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:35.480 where I'm like, I can't tell if you meant for 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:36.399 this to be funnier or not. 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:40.320 Yeah, but they had got on cgi gorillas, it would 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:43.200 be an entirely different piece. Because there's plenty of stuff 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:45.520 about this film that does feel dated, be it the 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:48.840 sort of high tech stuff or the general like nineteen 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:52.639 ninety five sheen that is over everything, and like the 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:57.840 film doesn't have like a visual vision. I guess that 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:02.840 really supersedes that ninety fiveness of the whole picture. But 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:07.200 the gorilla suits amy that they all look very real. 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:09.800 You still buy them like they hold up, even if 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:11.400 there are other aspects of the film that don't. 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:23.719 It's true, it's true. 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:26.959 So but before we go move on to the trailer, 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:29.160 and one more thing I want to add is that, yeah, 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:32.080 I very much remember enjoying the book. I did read 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:34.520 the book first, on this one. It's full of a 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:38.679 lot of traditional jungle adventure story elements, but with the 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:42.600 added laser technology that's very much in there, it does 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:46.960 get progressively weirder as you end up learning more about 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:50.919 these mysterious gray apes and this lost city. And I 0:20:50.960 --> 0:20:53.679 think a lot of this ties into some elements of 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:59.320 essentially what was kind of darwin'sploitation fiction of Yesteryear. We 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:05.639 see this in in the works of HP Lovecraft's facts 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:09.840 concerning the late author German J. E. R. N y N, 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:14.560 but also Sir Arthur Cunnan Doyle. He had one of 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:17.200 the Sherlock Home adventures called The Adventure of the Crooked Man. 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:21.040 And then there's also it's also worth noting that the 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:23.719 Lovecraft tale in question kind of links back to an 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:27.760 Edgar Rice Burrough story from nineteen sixteen titled Tarzan and 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:31.320 the Jewels of Opar, which also seems very It seems 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:34.679 like it was probably a primary inspiration on Michael Crichton here, 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:38.440 because it concerns a lost city and it also concerns 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:41.280 a group of human ape hybrids that protect it. And 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:43.679 all of these films, I mean, all these stories that 0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:48.719 I just mentioned, they all have elements of human ape 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:54.080 hybridity and strange things, strange apes and sort of evolution 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:55.080 tinged danger. 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.240 Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. And I do have 0:21:58.280 --> 0:21:59.440 a quote I want to read at the end, but 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:05.920 somebody was reviewing it and was just asking, like the 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:10.360 monstrous gray apes in this, if you dig too deep 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:14.760 into why they exist, it doesn't really make sense. 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:18.680 No, no, it. 0:22:18.600 --> 0:22:22.040 Doesn't really make sense at all. But that's true. Yeah, 0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:26.400 that kind of evolution gone wrong, or maybe like even 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:29.879 our fears around evolution and even some of those past 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:34.600 perhaps scared stories and sometimes not scared stories of experiments 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:37.280 done with humans and apes and like the Soviet Union 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:39.040 and stuff like that, but then you always had kind 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:43.240 of the comedic tinge of you know, Harrying the Hintersons, 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:46.000 Like there was a lot going on in that genre act. 0:22:46.280 --> 0:22:50.720 We are in that kind of specific idea. So that's interesting. 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:54.040 All right, Well, it is again a jungle adventure movie, 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:56.480 but with satellites and lasers. Let's go ahead and hear 0:22:56.600 --> 0:23:09.920 that fabulous mid nineties trailer audio Activate the remote. 0:23:10.640 --> 0:23:15.000 In the race for the world's most advanced communications technology, 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:18.480 a shocking discovery has been made. 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:21.200 Block You're remote, give me a thermal reading result of 0:23:21.240 --> 0:23:21.680 six six. 0:23:21.880 --> 0:23:29.400 Relatively, it will take two young scientists into the heart 0:23:29.480 --> 0:23:35.240 of the African jungle. A secret hidden for two thousand 0:23:35.400 --> 0:23:36.560 years owns the. 0:23:36.680 --> 0:23:40.440 Key to the future. This is Karen Ross eight one 0:23:40.560 --> 0:23:41.960 four five two Houston. 0:23:42.080 --> 0:23:44.120 Do you read you used to work for the CIA, 0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:48.280 and now you're trafical. Some will come to it for science. 0:23:48.400 --> 0:23:49.560 The delts. 0:23:49.880 --> 0:23:53.639 This is a big five. Some for fortune and diamond 0:23:53.720 --> 0:23:58.639 line of incredible bounty, and some to return home. She 0:23:58.680 --> 0:24:01.840 doesn't really belong anywhere to No, she belongs here. 0:24:02.680 --> 0:24:05.680 Together they will search my boss. 0:24:05.280 --> 0:24:07.719 You thought I wasn't gonna make it. We sent another expedition, 0:24:08.000 --> 0:24:15.000 drawn deep into a mystery castroyed people dead, great gorilla gorilla. 0:24:15.160 --> 0:24:15.920 I saw one. 0:24:15.960 --> 0:24:21.159 And the more they discover the same aheroglyphics, over and over, 0:24:21.320 --> 0:24:25.000 the greater the danger. What did they say, we are 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:35.960 watching you? 0:24:35.880 --> 0:24:37.320 You never saw an animal. 0:24:37.000 --> 0:24:45.159 Move like that? How intelligent are they? 0:24:46.240 --> 0:24:46.560 Smart? 0:24:46.800 --> 0:24:48.200 The two damn spots. 0:24:49.920 --> 0:24:52.040 We're getting out of here them put them on the. 0:24:52.160 --> 0:24:55.119 Danger species left. 0:24:54.119 --> 0:24:57.760 From the best selling novel by the author of Jurassic. 0:24:57.440 --> 0:24:58.120 Art fil. 0:25:00.119 --> 0:25:06.480 Of The feel Isn't true. 0:25:08.240 --> 0:25:12.280 Congo, Where you are the endangered species? 0:25:19.080 --> 0:25:20.879 See it sounds like it's gonna be an adventure. It 0:25:20.880 --> 0:25:22.840 sounds like something that you're gonna you're gonna buy a 0:25:22.880 --> 0:25:26.639 lot of popcorn and cola for and you just just 0:25:26.760 --> 0:25:28.320 try not to pee the entire time. 0:25:28.680 --> 0:25:30.720 There's a part of me that wishes I had seen 0:25:31.640 --> 0:25:33.160 I think if I had seen the trailer and had 0:25:33.160 --> 0:25:37.040 no idea about the movie, I wish I I I'm 0:25:37.119 --> 0:25:39.640 jealous I didn't get to have that experience. I suppose 0:25:41.560 --> 0:25:45.640 because it's actually having seen it. It's a pretty accurate trailer. 0:25:45.720 --> 0:25:47.960 I was expecting something cheesier, to be honest, but it 0:25:48.000 --> 0:25:52.880 could be because I've seen Congo a lot by now, 0:25:54.600 --> 0:25:57.879 so it didn't have exactly the as much of the 0:25:59.080 --> 0:26:02.040 strangeness and dated vibe that I thought it would. And 0:26:02.080 --> 0:26:06.280 it does feel very much like, Yeah, this is popcorn movie. 0:26:06.560 --> 0:26:10.200 Come out and enjoy your popcorn, have fun, then go 0:26:10.240 --> 0:26:11.280 and home and forget about it. 0:26:11.320 --> 0:26:14.720 I guess yeah. I don't know that much of the 0:26:14.720 --> 0:26:18.000 film really stuck with me. In fact, there are elements 0:26:18.000 --> 0:26:21.320 of the film that I remembered as being different because 0:26:21.320 --> 0:26:23.760 of the book, Like I just ended up assuming that 0:26:23.800 --> 0:26:27.240 the parts of the book were were accurately depicted in 0:26:27.280 --> 0:26:29.399 the film, and so I just remembered the film as 0:26:29.440 --> 0:26:33.880 having those details, and we'll come back to what those 0:26:33.920 --> 0:26:36.639 are in a bit. But if you are looking to 0:26:36.640 --> 0:26:39.800 have your first Congo experience, or your first Congo experience 0:26:39.960 --> 0:26:44.280 in decades, well, lucky for you, Congo is widely available, 0:26:44.359 --> 0:26:47.800 even if it's partially forgotten, as much as a blockbuster 0:26:47.880 --> 0:26:50.800 can be forgotten. I watched it on a very old 0:26:50.840 --> 0:26:54.000 feeling DVD that I rented from Video Drum here in Atlanta. 0:26:55.160 --> 0:26:58.399 There is a Blu ray from twenty fourteen and in 0:26:58.440 --> 0:27:02.600 their HD digital cop you can rent or purchase online, 0:27:02.960 --> 0:27:05.640 but I don't think it's received a full blown special edition, 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:08.960 so there are no like real Congo extras out there 0:27:08.960 --> 0:27:10.399 floating around, which seems weird. 0:27:10.720 --> 0:27:14.639 It does. I couldn't really get a good grasp on 0:27:14.760 --> 0:27:21.560 that I own the DVD because I never wanted to 0:27:21.600 --> 0:27:25.320 be without it after that first time watching it. But 0:27:25.400 --> 0:27:29.440 it is one of those things where I honestly feel 0:27:29.480 --> 0:27:33.200 like most of the cast gave it there all they 0:27:33.280 --> 0:27:38.240 really did, but it's it's also got the vibe of like, okay, 0:27:38.240 --> 0:27:42.399 we did that, let's not talk about it anymore. I 0:27:42.480 --> 0:27:46.879 do know Ernie Hudson has said he would reprise his 0:27:47.040 --> 0:27:51.679 role as Monroe. Oh that would be me, I know, 0:27:51.840 --> 0:27:53.919 but I'm not sure, like if there's any talk at 0:27:54.000 --> 0:27:56.600 all about a sequel. I just know he said that 0:27:56.680 --> 0:28:01.000 he would do that. But yeah, and like you said, 0:28:01.000 --> 0:28:06.040 it was it was financially successful, but I think it 0:28:06.200 --> 0:28:10.480 wasn't because of the critical review, which was not good 0:28:10.600 --> 0:28:12.200 if we didn't make clearer but I think we did, 0:28:12.240 --> 0:28:16.080 but it was not good because of that, And I 0:28:16.119 --> 0:28:18.600 don't think it did as well as they wanted, even 0:28:18.640 --> 0:28:20.679 though it did way better than it should have. Given 0:28:20.720 --> 0:28:26.520 the reviews, I think they've just sort of, yeah, put 0:28:26.520 --> 0:28:30.120 that one up on the shelf. Let's just forget that 0:28:30.119 --> 0:28:30.760 that happened. 0:28:31.440 --> 0:28:36.400 Yeah, it is. Speaking of reviews, I had to revisit 0:28:36.960 --> 0:28:39.920 Roger Ebert's review for the film because it's a pretty 0:28:39.920 --> 0:28:42.040 fun review. It's a three star review, to be clear, 0:28:42.080 --> 0:28:44.640 so he didn't he didn't go beyond three stars on it. 0:28:44.640 --> 0:28:47.280 But it's also kind of a glowing review of the film, 0:28:47.400 --> 0:28:49.760 Like he has a lot of very nice things to 0:28:49.760 --> 0:28:53.720 say about it and some of the performances. So I'll 0:28:53.760 --> 0:28:55.800 call back to that review a couple of times in 0:28:55.840 --> 0:28:56.120 a bit. 0:28:57.240 --> 0:28:59.880 Yeah, I read that to you and I was amused 0:28:59.880 --> 0:29:02.120 by because I was expecting it to be negative, but 0:29:02.240 --> 0:29:05.720 he kind of seemed to, I hesitate to say get 0:29:05.760 --> 0:29:09.120 it because I mean, he kind of seemed to be like, 0:29:09.200 --> 0:29:12.600 you know, this is just it's a fun movie. It's 0:29:12.600 --> 0:29:17.120 got its issues, but I had a good time watching it. 0:29:17.480 --> 0:29:23.200 Yeah, Ebert would would definitely fall on that line for 0:29:23.360 --> 0:29:26.160 various film reviews if it was just the right type 0:29:26.200 --> 0:29:30.280 of kind of weird film or pulpy film, like he would, 0:29:30.480 --> 0:29:33.880 he would view it favorably. So yeah, I find myself 0:29:34.200 --> 0:29:38.880 agreeing with Ebert a lot on certain films. All Right, 0:29:38.880 --> 0:29:41.360 well let's get into some We've discussed some of the 0:29:41.360 --> 0:29:44.480 people already, but just to go through the list, and 0:29:44.520 --> 0:29:48.800 I think some of these will, especially behind the scenes names, 0:29:48.840 --> 0:29:50.720 will help us sort of make sense of like what 0:29:50.880 --> 0:29:54.600 Congo is. And I think, you know, pointing out that 0:29:54.880 --> 0:29:58.960 Frank Marshall born nineteen forty six is both the director 0:29:59.040 --> 0:30:03.960 and the executive this feels kind of key because Marshall 0:30:04.160 --> 0:30:07.440 primarily known as a major Hollywood producer, and while he's 0:30:07.440 --> 0:30:10.400 not involved in the current Star Wars stuff with his wife, 0:30:10.400 --> 0:30:12.920 he's still very much a part of the Indiana Jones franchise, 0:30:13.000 --> 0:30:16.520 the Jurassic Park franchise, which of course keeps coming back 0:30:16.600 --> 0:30:20.560 to life and emerging from eggs various other film and 0:30:20.600 --> 0:30:24.000 TV projects. His direct as a director's output has been 0:30:24.040 --> 0:30:28.920 far smaller. But I think this is perhaps key, Like 0:30:29.400 --> 0:30:31.960 if we think of the blockbuster as as not just 0:30:32.000 --> 0:30:34.120 a film, not just like a piece of art, but 0:30:34.200 --> 0:30:38.000 this sort of colossal business project. Congo I think does 0:30:38.160 --> 0:30:40.640 kind of feel like that, Like, can you fault the 0:30:40.640 --> 0:30:43.880 fact that the Congo exists as a finished film and 0:30:43.920 --> 0:30:46.080 made more money than it costs? You know, it seems 0:30:46.120 --> 0:30:50.160 to have been a financial success. It checks off all 0:30:50.160 --> 0:30:52.560 the boxes. You can't really fault it for that. You 0:30:52.680 --> 0:30:57.040 might fault it for vision, You might say, well, you know, 0:30:57.080 --> 0:30:58.640 it has this kind I've seen people point out what 0:30:58.680 --> 0:31:01.480 has kind of a like a TV almost look to it. 0:31:01.480 --> 0:31:07.240 It doesn't feel suitably cinematic enough, et cetera. But there's 0:31:07.280 --> 0:31:09.080 no faulting it from a business perspective. 0:31:09.440 --> 0:31:12.040 Yeah, yeah, I mean it had all the ingredients there. 0:31:12.240 --> 0:31:16.160 And I do think the timing of this is important 0:31:16.200 --> 0:31:18.960 to keep in mind too, because again, it was a 0:31:19.000 --> 0:31:21.880 time when technology was shifting, when what people had access 0:31:21.920 --> 0:31:24.520 to in terms of technology was shifting when what people 0:31:24.600 --> 0:31:27.520 could do in terms of creating things with technology was shifting. 0:31:29.280 --> 0:31:33.600 So I think it very much was a product of 0:31:33.640 --> 0:31:37.560 its time in that way where you know, the idea 0:31:37.560 --> 0:31:41.120 of the blockbuster had been around since the seventies, but 0:31:41.640 --> 0:31:44.400 it had kind of become a here's how you do 0:31:44.480 --> 0:31:47.880 it by that point. But it also had these pieces 0:31:47.920 --> 0:31:51.880 that were changing in terms of the technology especially, So 0:31:52.000 --> 0:31:54.200 it is interesting to me that they did stick with 0:31:54.320 --> 0:32:01.560 the gorillas and suits, but also having these people that 0:32:01.680 --> 0:32:04.920 had been involved in one way or another in this 0:32:05.000 --> 0:32:07.400 type of blockbuster business, as you say, because they did 0:32:07.480 --> 0:32:13.360 very much a business. It's it's seeing what came out 0:32:13.400 --> 0:32:16.840 of that because there are pieces. I feel like, this 0:32:16.880 --> 0:32:19.400 is one of the things about Congo is there. It's 0:32:19.400 --> 0:32:25.000 all there, but it's almost like they weren't matched or 0:32:25.040 --> 0:32:27.520 they were like leaning in too hard at in this 0:32:27.640 --> 0:32:29.640 comedic way at one point and too hard in this way. 0:32:29.640 --> 0:32:33.160 Like it was kind of like a blockbuster, but not 0:32:33.240 --> 0:32:37.640 one that was uniform, if that makes sense. Yeah, Like 0:32:37.680 --> 0:32:40.640 there was a lot going on where they're like, oh, 0:32:40.760 --> 0:32:42.440 let's try this, let's try this, let's try this, which 0:32:42.480 --> 0:32:44.640 all can work in a blockbuster, but they did it 0:32:44.680 --> 0:32:47.240 from almost like three or four different blockbusters and kind 0:32:47.240 --> 0:32:48.520 of trying to jam it together. 0:32:50.760 --> 0:32:52.840 Yeah, and I can see you might might chalk that 0:32:52.960 --> 0:32:56.960 up to Marshall and like, like, what's the director's vision 0:32:57.000 --> 0:32:58.720 for it, and how much of what works in the 0:32:58.720 --> 0:33:02.080 film is ultimately coming from all of the people who 0:33:02.760 --> 0:33:05.120 give it. They're all for this performance, of this bit 0:33:05.160 --> 0:33:07.240 of the special effects. But still at the end of 0:33:07.280 --> 0:33:09.680 the day, like Marshall is the one. He's landing the 0:33:09.680 --> 0:33:11.960 plane here, he's the one bringing the ship to port. 0:33:12.240 --> 0:33:16.880 So yeah, it's certainly have to give him credit to 0:33:17.600 --> 0:33:20.640 all Right, Well, Michael Crichton we already mentioned him a 0:33:20.640 --> 0:33:23.480 bit already, but lived nineteen forty two through two thousand 0:33:23.480 --> 0:33:25.680 and eight. Probably one of the best known novelists of 0:33:25.720 --> 0:33:29.720 the late twentieth century, and his work continues to resonate, 0:33:29.760 --> 0:33:32.360 at least with some of the franchises that he helped establish, 0:33:32.440 --> 0:33:34.480 particularly Jurassic Park in Westworld. 0:33:34.960 --> 0:33:37.920 Yes, and I loved I loved Drastic Park, and I 0:33:37.960 --> 0:33:42.320 read all of those books, and it is very because 0:33:42.320 --> 0:33:45.400 i'd seen the movie first, and reading Drastic Park after 0:33:45.440 --> 0:33:47.120 you've seen the movie, and Lost World after you've seen 0:33:47.160 --> 0:33:51.239 the movie, it is a lot more there's a lot 0:33:51.280 --> 0:33:54.840 more attention to detail, a lot more technology, a lot 0:33:54.880 --> 0:33:59.120 more science, which I guess that makes sense in terms 0:33:59.120 --> 0:34:02.280 of what can trance to film, especially a blockbuster film, 0:34:02.600 --> 0:34:05.160 and what can be in a book. But that was 0:34:05.160 --> 0:34:06.920 something that was interesting to me when I went back 0:34:06.920 --> 0:34:09.840 and read those books, was Oh, wow, this is a 0:34:09.840 --> 0:34:14.000 lot more detailed in terms of how this would actually work. 0:34:14.640 --> 0:34:14.879 Yeah. 0:34:15.000 --> 0:34:17.560 Yeah. 0:34:17.600 --> 0:34:20.399 As a novelist, he wrote several novels under pen names 0:34:20.400 --> 0:34:22.520 in the late nineteen sixties, but then he published The 0:34:22.520 --> 0:34:25.719 Andromeda Strain that came out in nineteen sixty nine under 0:34:25.719 --> 0:34:29.680 his own name, and this propelled him into bestseller status. 0:34:30.760 --> 0:34:33.439 Very listed some of his big novels, but he also 0:34:33.520 --> 0:34:36.760 entered into the film world pretty early, directing and writing 0:34:36.880 --> 0:34:39.719 five films between nineteen seventy three and nineteen eighty four, 0:34:40.280 --> 0:34:45.040 West World, Coma, The Great Train Robbery based on his 0:34:45.040 --> 0:34:50.359 book Looker, and Oh are you familiar with Runaway? I'm 0:34:50.440 --> 0:34:56.200 Not Runaway is this stupendous film that stars Tom Selleck 0:34:56.600 --> 0:35:00.239 as like a cop who specialty is hunting down killer 0:35:00.400 --> 0:35:05.080 robots that are the work of the diabolical roboticist played 0:35:05.080 --> 0:35:09.919 by Gene Simmons of Kiss and I mean, that's already enough. 0:35:09.960 --> 0:35:12.320 You got a that's a lot just going on visually 0:35:12.360 --> 0:35:15.280 with these two actors. But the tiny robots in question, 0:35:15.960 --> 0:35:21.440 So don't don't think like black Mirror asks scary killer robot. 0:35:21.719 --> 0:35:24.920 These things look like something you would see in a 0:35:25.040 --> 0:35:28.640 nineteen eighties special about the future of robots. You know, 0:35:28.920 --> 0:35:31.880 these are about as scary as the little robot that 0:35:31.920 --> 0:35:35.040 came with the original Nintendo system that puts the spinning 0:35:35.080 --> 0:35:36.200 discs on the controller. 0:35:36.520 --> 0:35:38.120 Oh wow, you have sold me. 0:35:39.000 --> 0:35:43.239 Yeah, so it's worth it's worth coming back to. But 0:35:43.560 --> 0:35:45.960 he also he also wrote nineteen seventy three is Extreme 0:35:46.000 --> 0:35:49.040 Close Up. He directed the nineteen eighty Bert Reynolds movie 0:35:49.040 --> 0:35:51.759 Physical Evidence. He didn't write that one, but that was 0:35:51.800 --> 0:35:57.000 his final directing credit. And yeah, Michael Crichton again, I 0:35:57.000 --> 0:36:00.000 feel like, you know, some of his works may feel 0:36:00.080 --> 0:36:02.680 a bit dated tech wise now, but a lot of 0:36:02.719 --> 0:36:05.680 it still holds up and it's still very enjoyable. But 0:36:05.840 --> 0:36:08.839 he did not write the screenplay. The screenplay credit goes 0:36:08.880 --> 0:36:13.680 to John Patrick Shanley. And this, I don't know if 0:36:13.680 --> 0:36:16.640 this actually played into your expectations of being a serious 0:36:16.760 --> 0:36:19.120 nighted film, but I could see where it might have 0:36:19.840 --> 0:36:21.839 because this is a big name. 0:36:22.520 --> 0:36:25.439 I don't I'm not familiar with it, with his name. 0:36:26.920 --> 0:36:31.560 I'm glad to know that there could have been a 0:36:31.640 --> 0:36:34.880 legitimate reason other than me misunderstanding what I think was 0:36:34.920 --> 0:36:38.920 just a sarcastic joke. So I will take that lifeline 0:36:38.920 --> 0:36:41.359 that you're throwing me, but please tell me. 0:36:41.360 --> 0:36:44.440 More well to just think of it this way. You're 0:36:44.480 --> 0:36:47.960 going into Congo, and you well, especially as a modern 0:36:48.040 --> 0:36:49.920 viewer of Congo or a recent viewer of Congo, you 0:36:50.000 --> 0:36:52.000 might well go into it and think, well, this is 0:36:52.040 --> 0:36:55.719 written by the guy who won an Academy Award for 0:36:56.280 --> 0:36:59.160 writing nineteen eighty seven's moons Truck. This is the guy 0:36:59.160 --> 0:37:02.279 who won both a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a 0:37:02.360 --> 0:37:05.439 Tony Award for Best Play in two thousand and five 0:37:05.560 --> 0:37:09.399 for Doubt a Parable. He Andy also wrote Joe Versus 0:37:09.480 --> 0:37:13.799 the Volcano Alive and the nineteen eighty three animated film 0:37:13.800 --> 0:37:17.279 Were Back a Dinosaur Story. But still a number of 0:37:17.280 --> 0:37:21.000 big films there that, especially when you're when you're looking 0:37:21.040 --> 0:37:23.440 at the credentials here, I could and if if this 0:37:23.520 --> 0:37:25.680 is the only name you recognize going into the film, 0:37:25.719 --> 0:37:27.880 you might think it's going to be more of a 0:37:28.040 --> 0:37:28.760 more of a drama. 0:37:29.000 --> 0:37:31.719 I wonder if they I'll have to go back and look. 0:37:31.760 --> 0:37:33.800 I wonder if they include that, you know how, sometimes 0:37:33.800 --> 0:37:38.160 they'll be like and coming from this award winning writer, 0:37:38.680 --> 0:37:41.000 maybe they did include that, and I was like, ah, 0:37:41.040 --> 0:37:41.560 the proof. 0:37:42.840 --> 0:37:45.279 I think I've seen his name, and I've watched several 0:37:45.280 --> 0:37:47.480 of the trailers and I'm not exactly sure which one 0:37:47.480 --> 0:37:50.000 of them we ended up sourcing here in the episode, 0:37:50.040 --> 0:37:52.080 but at least some of the trailers mentioned him by name, 0:37:52.120 --> 0:37:53.759 so I think they were very much like, Hey, you 0:37:53.840 --> 0:37:57.160 liked Moonstruck, Well, I hope you like Killer Apes because 0:37:57.239 --> 0:37:59.240 Congo is coming to theaters. 0:37:59.480 --> 0:38:03.600 But for a couple like twenty minutes you have to 0:38:03.640 --> 0:38:06.240 wait get a taste in the beginning. 0:38:06.280 --> 0:38:18.680 But otherwise, well, let's get into the cast here, because, 0:38:19.120 --> 0:38:23.879 as we mentioned earlier, our lead here, our lead star, 0:38:24.080 --> 0:38:27.320 as well as the lead character, is doctor Karen Ross, 0:38:27.400 --> 0:38:30.080 played by the fabulous Laura Lenny Yes. 0:38:31.600 --> 0:38:35.959 Who I love and probably and this might be saying 0:38:36.000 --> 0:38:37.640 something about me, I don't know, but I know her 0:38:37.719 --> 0:38:43.360 best from the Mothman Prophecies. Oh really that movie, which 0:38:43.400 --> 0:38:46.319 I know is not. She is a great actor and 0:38:46.360 --> 0:38:49.160 has done like amazing award winning work, and she did 0:38:49.200 --> 0:38:50.960 a great job in that movie. But that is the thing. 0:38:51.000 --> 0:38:52.719 When I was a kid, I loved that movie. I 0:38:52.719 --> 0:38:54.120 w watch it all the time. 0:38:55.160 --> 0:38:57.880 I remember very little that I think that's one that 0:38:57.920 --> 0:38:59.440 was kind of on in the background for me. So 0:38:59.480 --> 0:39:04.640 I just remember scenes of Richard gear like standing in 0:39:04.320 --> 0:39:07.839 the dark, and there was a bridge, and there may 0:39:07.840 --> 0:39:09.799 be being not as much Mothman as I thought there 0:39:09.800 --> 0:39:10.160 would be. 0:39:10.719 --> 0:39:14.480 There is very little moth Man. This is true. I 0:39:14.520 --> 0:39:17.759 am somebody who does enjoy as much as I've been 0:39:17.800 --> 0:39:20.840 making fun of Congo, I actually do really enjoy like 0:39:21.760 --> 0:39:25.920 kind of like mystery. They would do like flashes of Mothman, 0:39:26.000 --> 0:39:28.000 and if you'd like paused at the right time, you'd 0:39:28.000 --> 0:39:30.480 be like, there is Like I liked that kind of 0:39:30.600 --> 0:39:32.960 stuff a lot, so I think it worked for me, 0:39:33.000 --> 0:39:36.440 and it did really scare me. I'm a very imaginative, 0:39:36.880 --> 0:39:39.799 still am person, so I think I got I got 0:39:39.800 --> 0:39:41.400 all up in my head about Mothman. There was a 0:39:41.440 --> 0:39:44.319 screeching owl outside my window, and I was convinced it 0:39:44.360 --> 0:39:48.680 was moth Man like, and yet I do like scary movies, 0:39:48.680 --> 0:39:50.319 so I would watch it over and over again. Even 0:39:50.360 --> 0:39:51.400 though it did scare me. 0:39:52.800 --> 0:39:55.320 Well. At the time of this movie came out, Laara Lenny, 0:39:55.400 --> 0:39:57.880 I think was best known for Tales of the City 0:39:58.600 --> 0:40:02.200 and also some smaller role in various films. But of 0:40:02.200 --> 0:40:03.840 course she's gone on to I mean, I think a 0:40:03.840 --> 0:40:06.520 lot of people now know her for stellar performances in 0:40:06.640 --> 0:40:11.839 series like Ozark, John Adams, the movie Kinsey and many more. 0:40:12.200 --> 0:40:14.600 Like you said, she's she's a terrific actor. She's only 0:40:14.600 --> 0:40:17.799 gotten better as of course, she's gotten better roles because 0:40:17.920 --> 0:40:20.439 I guess when you come down to it, even though 0:40:20.440 --> 0:40:23.640 this is the lead character, this is the she's got 0:40:23.640 --> 0:40:25.560 the starring role here, and she does get a lot 0:40:25.600 --> 0:40:27.759 to do a lot of heroic stuff. But she's a 0:40:27.840 --> 0:40:31.560 she's a tech expert, she's a CIA operative. There. You know, 0:40:31.600 --> 0:40:34.640 she's looking essentially for well not a lost love but 0:40:34.719 --> 0:40:37.960 a former love who is now lost in the jungle 0:40:37.960 --> 0:40:41.960 and possibly dead. So it's not like there's no you know, 0:40:42.040 --> 0:40:45.640 dramatic material to sink her teeth into here. But also 0:40:45.719 --> 0:40:48.160 like how much room does Congo really give her to 0:40:48.160 --> 0:40:48.440 do that? 0:40:49.080 --> 0:40:55.160 Yes, but like I said, I feel that these actors 0:40:55.360 --> 0:40:58.319 really did give it their all and she did, and 0:40:58.360 --> 0:41:05.000 I oh yeah, watching it as a modern viewer who 0:41:05.040 --> 0:41:07.319 didn't really know what this was, but I knew it 0:41:07.360 --> 0:41:10.680 was from nineteen ninety five. And I know we're gonna 0:41:10.680 --> 0:41:12.000 talk about this in the plot because I have a 0:41:12.000 --> 0:41:13.360 lot of thoughts about it. But I did find it 0:41:13.400 --> 0:41:17.960 really fascinating that she was a woman who was an 0:41:18.080 --> 0:41:24.000 XCIA operative, She was badass, she had They like tried 0:41:24.080 --> 0:41:27.319 to make this romance between her and the other like 0:41:27.480 --> 0:41:29.719 main male character that's not Ernie Hudson, who we're gonna 0:41:29.719 --> 0:41:33.120 talk about, but they never tried too hard, which I 0:41:33.160 --> 0:41:38.400 find really interesting and I do. I really do enjoy 0:41:38.440 --> 0:41:42.880 that her Bruce Campbell very brief cameo who was her 0:41:42.960 --> 0:41:45.279 ex fiance. It seems like they still care about each 0:41:45.320 --> 0:41:47.480 other even though they're exes. Like there's just a lot 0:41:47.480 --> 0:41:51.479 of interesting stuff that women, unfortunately in general, don't get, 0:41:53.000 --> 0:41:56.000 especially in the kind of these blockbuster action roles like 0:41:56.960 --> 0:42:00.600 that I did really enjoy, and I I really love 0:42:00.640 --> 0:42:03.520 her and Ernie Hudson together being kind of like we're 0:42:03.600 --> 0:42:07.920 running this whole thing. That's one of my very favorite parts. 0:42:07.920 --> 0:42:12.560 So yeah, the role didn't give her like she can 0:42:12.600 --> 0:42:14.319 do so much more than that, and it was pretty 0:42:14.400 --> 0:42:17.640 limited in terms of what she could do. But I 0:42:17.680 --> 0:42:20.880 did like that she had these pieces and again are 0:42:20.960 --> 0:42:24.360 unfortunately pretty rare for a woman in a role like that, 0:42:24.480 --> 0:42:25.680 especially at this time. 0:42:26.200 --> 0:42:28.880 Now, she does have at least one really nice scene 0:42:29.120 --> 0:42:33.600 with the top build male actor in the film, and 0:42:33.600 --> 0:42:38.200 that's Dylan Walff playing Peter Elliott. He's our primatologist who 0:42:38.320 --> 0:42:42.680 works with Amy, the talking gorilla born nineteen sixty three. 0:42:42.920 --> 0:42:45.040 They do at least have one really nice scene together 0:42:45.120 --> 0:42:47.640 on the airplane where we were sort of we see 0:42:48.440 --> 0:42:53.799 doctor Elliott's whole deal with Amy, and now she's on 0:42:53.840 --> 0:42:57.920 board and Amy is like jealous of her presence, and 0:42:58.000 --> 0:43:00.640 so there's kind of a spat back and forth about 0:43:00.680 --> 0:43:03.840 not only like how we sort of like how we 0:43:03.880 --> 0:43:06.840 treat the natural world and animals, but also like what 0:43:07.040 --> 0:43:09.080 is the purpose of this mission? And it's just a 0:43:09.120 --> 0:43:11.560 nice little scene on the airplane. There's nothing really action 0:43:11.680 --> 0:43:12.399 based going on. 0:43:12.880 --> 0:43:17.239 Yeah, Yeah, I do love the Oh gosh, I can't 0:43:17.239 --> 0:43:19.520 wait to talk about Amy, but I do love this 0:43:19.640 --> 0:43:25.959 kind of jealousy she has around Laura Leni's character doctor 0:43:26.040 --> 0:43:34.959 Ross and just parsing that is a fun thought exercise. 0:43:37.400 --> 0:43:40.480 Now, now, Dylan Walsh, he's fine in this I'm not 0:43:40.480 --> 0:43:42.439 going to knock his performance at all, and in fact, 0:43:42.440 --> 0:43:45.240 it's kind of nice that it's a performance that allows 0:43:45.280 --> 0:43:48.880 this character to fade into the background a bit and 0:43:47.560 --> 0:43:52.560 not feel like he's an action hero that just just 0:43:52.640 --> 0:43:54.680 kind of pushed to the background by the plot. Like 0:43:55.080 --> 0:43:58.680 his role is there as Amy's kind of like father 0:43:58.760 --> 0:44:03.440 figure and fulfills that really well. This is an actor 0:44:03.560 --> 0:44:07.000 mostly of television, including the Hearts and Minds episode of 0:44:07.000 --> 0:44:10.040 the nineties Outer Limits, which I'm not sure I've seen 0:44:10.080 --> 0:44:13.680 but looks rather good. He also appeared in such films 0:44:13.680 --> 0:44:15.840 as the two thousand and nine reboot of The Stepfather 0:44:16.200 --> 0:44:19.279 in two thousand and six's of the Lake House, again 0:44:19.400 --> 0:44:24.120 perfectly likable in this film. Yeah, no complaints, I agree. 0:44:24.440 --> 0:44:29.880 I also think it's I like when we give the 0:44:29.880 --> 0:44:33.279 so called heroes of something where they don't have to 0:44:33.320 --> 0:44:39.200 be physical or like their heroism. Isn't that aspect? So 0:44:39.239 --> 0:44:41.200 I actually, do you really enjoy that he has some 0:44:41.320 --> 0:44:44.280 lines where he delivers them so well in their terrible lines, 0:44:44.680 --> 0:44:48.239 like at one point he says, I'm a primatologist, not 0:44:48.280 --> 0:44:51.360 a pound of sugar, Like there's only so much he 0:44:51.400 --> 0:44:53.800 could have done as well, And I love that line. 0:44:53.840 --> 0:44:56.520 It is very funny to me. But I'm sure as 0:44:56.560 --> 0:44:58.680 an actor, you read. 0:44:58.520 --> 0:45:05.560 That and you're like, who Okay, yeah, it's I guess 0:45:05.600 --> 0:45:07.800 it's kind of a thankless job in some respects, like 0:45:08.040 --> 0:45:10.040 just to have an actor leats who your role is 0:45:10.040 --> 0:45:15.080 to is to at times make challenging lines believable, make 0:45:15.160 --> 0:45:18.440 this character believable, but in doing so, he's inevitably going 0:45:18.480 --> 0:45:21.520 to fade into the background. Compared to the more outrageous 0:45:21.600 --> 0:45:26.800 characters such as Ernie Hudson's Captain Monroe Kelly. Oh, this 0:45:26.800 --> 0:45:29.240 this character, this performance just absolutely rules. 0:45:29.680 --> 0:45:33.160 He delivers every line where you're like, I just want 0:45:33.719 --> 0:45:36.080 I just want you, I just want this whole movie 0:45:36.120 --> 0:45:39.840 to be you. Yeah, does it so well. He's so 0:45:40.120 --> 0:45:46.919 like charming and confident and just like overall unflustered even 0:45:46.920 --> 0:45:49.960 when he is flustered. Like one of his favorite lines 0:45:50.480 --> 0:45:54.440 for me is when he says so to me, hilariously, 0:45:54.960 --> 0:45:59.520 I run away because he runs away from a charity gorilla, 0:46:00.200 --> 0:46:01.960 and I just love that. I love that he kind 0:46:01.960 --> 0:46:04.960 of embraces even after he told Dylan Watch's character like, 0:46:04.960 --> 0:46:07.880 you don't run away, but he did it. I don't know. 0:46:07.920 --> 0:46:10.560 There was a lot of subversions with him that I 0:46:10.800 --> 0:46:13.600 very much enjoyed, and just the way he seemed to 0:46:13.719 --> 0:46:16.840 be having the time of his life with his character, 0:46:19.400 --> 0:46:22.520 it made it very enjoyable to watch this performance. 0:46:23.200 --> 0:46:26.040 Yeah, this is one of those performances where every little 0:46:26.080 --> 0:46:28.680 thing he does is so entertaining. Like there's this there's 0:46:28.719 --> 0:46:30.919 a scene in the movie where they're just handing out 0:46:31.000 --> 0:46:35.040 little air conditioning units for the tents and he accepts one, 0:46:35.520 --> 0:46:38.400 and it's it's it's great, Like nothing is happening in 0:46:38.440 --> 0:46:42.400 the scene except Captain Monroe Kelly accepted an air conditioning unit, 0:46:42.800 --> 0:46:44.520 and it was it was so charming. 0:46:45.600 --> 0:46:49.800 Yes, yeah, So much of what he did he clearly 0:46:51.400 --> 0:46:54.120 like made the as an actor went through and made 0:46:54.120 --> 0:46:57.600 the like fun decision or the decision like he thought 0:46:57.600 --> 0:47:00.000 about his character. And so there's a lot of time 0:47:00.080 --> 0:47:02.680 times things are you just are like, oh, I pick 0:47:02.719 --> 0:47:04.920 up this air conditioning unit, but he like thought about 0:47:04.960 --> 0:47:07.960 it and acted it and made it fun and memorable. 0:47:08.000 --> 0:47:10.839 Like so much of his character is that. And there's 0:47:10.880 --> 0:47:15.560 so many lines he he has that he delivers in 0:47:15.640 --> 0:47:19.879 a way that is I mean, he just immediately makes 0:47:19.920 --> 0:47:23.560 you blank him like it's just like, oh, this so 0:47:24.520 --> 0:47:28.680 interesting and cool. And I love when Dylan wash Washer's 0:47:28.719 --> 0:47:32.000 character has a leechkiness, which I'm sure we're going to 0:47:32.080 --> 0:47:35.960 talk about, but he's just Captain Monroe Kelly is just 0:47:36.000 --> 0:47:38.040 like you deal with it. It's your leech. 0:47:41.680 --> 0:47:42.680 Cigar cigarette. 0:47:42.920 --> 0:47:46.760 Yes, when he sees Amy, he just immediately is like, sure, 0:47:46.960 --> 0:47:51.560 this gorilla wants something to smoke. Okay, he puts like 0:47:51.600 --> 0:47:53.839 pills in her. There's just something about him that rolls 0:47:53.880 --> 0:47:57.680 with the punches and does it in a way that 0:47:57.840 --> 0:48:00.440 looks very cool, and it's very. 0:48:00.360 --> 0:48:05.160 Charming, very cool, very charming. In Ebert's review, he did 0:48:05.360 --> 0:48:07.239 he seemed to really love this performance as well, and 0:48:07.280 --> 0:48:09.440 he points out that like there's a little bit Clark 0:48:09.480 --> 0:48:12.800 Gable to this performance. There's a little bit Stuart Granger. 0:48:13.400 --> 0:48:17.160 It's a droll performance, and the character has both sardonic 0:48:17.200 --> 0:48:20.720 detachment but also heroic courage. So he's you know, he's, 0:48:21.320 --> 0:48:24.760 he's he's kind of right there in the middle. He's 0:48:24.800 --> 0:48:26.960 he's he's kind of a rogue, but not not to 0:48:27.000 --> 0:48:29.719 the point where you're like, can we trust Captain Monroe Kelly. 0:48:29.760 --> 0:48:34.480 They're not playing that game with this character. And yeah, 0:48:34.640 --> 0:48:37.400 he has he has his flaws, but they're not tragic flaws. 0:48:38.360 --> 0:48:40.560 He just a delight to watch on screen the whole time. 0:48:40.960 --> 0:48:43.880 Yeah, and that is one thing that Congo did that 0:48:43.960 --> 0:48:46.640 I can't really get a grasp on if they did 0:48:47.120 --> 0:48:51.279 intentionally all the time. But they did subvert a lot 0:48:51.320 --> 0:48:55.480 of like action movie tropes in particular. I mean they 0:48:55.560 --> 0:48:56.880 leaned into a lot of it, but a lot of 0:48:56.920 --> 0:48:58.880 it they did. They took things in a way I 0:48:58.920 --> 0:49:04.439 wasn't expecting. So there's this towards the end where very 0:49:04.440 --> 0:49:06.799 reminiscent of Jurassic Park, where Doctor Ross is like, I'm 0:49:06.840 --> 0:49:09.600 going in this temple. I'm going in. Give me a gun, 0:49:09.680 --> 0:49:13.360 give me a radio. I'm going and Monroe Kelly has it. 0:49:13.440 --> 0:49:16.360 He's like, no, no, no, it's not safe, you know, 0:49:16.560 --> 0:49:19.200 implied like for a woman, I'll do it. And then 0:49:19.239 --> 0:49:21.520 he pauses for like a little second, and there's like, 0:49:21.960 --> 0:49:24.960 but I'm also scarce, and he gives me the gun, 0:49:25.080 --> 0:49:27.360 he gets the radio, and they go in together like 0:49:27.400 --> 0:49:28.640 I'm not going in a lot like they have so 0:49:28.719 --> 0:49:32.239 many fun moments like that where you're expecting it to 0:49:32.320 --> 0:49:36.239 go one way and it doesn't. And I think for 0:49:36.600 --> 0:49:39.840 this character where it is there's a little bit of 0:49:39.920 --> 0:49:43.960 confusion about who's supposed to be the traditional hero, and 0:49:44.000 --> 0:49:46.160 he sort of emerges as more of the like strong 0:49:46.280 --> 0:49:51.200 leader that we typically align with hero. I like that 0:49:51.239 --> 0:49:54.319 it's sort of more spread out with these characters, that 0:49:54.360 --> 0:49:57.319 it's not just one. But he does have those kind 0:49:57.320 --> 0:49:59.719 of moments where he's not like, he's like, no, you're 0:49:59.760 --> 0:50:02.080 coming with me, I'm afraid to go in there too. 0:50:02.200 --> 0:50:07.560 Like I like it that he just acknowledges that I 0:50:07.600 --> 0:50:10.799 don't know. It is a very fun performance to watch, 0:50:10.840 --> 0:50:11.240 for sure. 0:50:12.160 --> 0:50:14.719 Now Ernie Hudson's been in just so many things since 0:50:14.840 --> 0:50:16.839 I think the mid nineteen seventies, but of course he's 0:50:16.840 --> 0:50:19.920 probably most famous as being Winston z Moore from the 0:50:19.920 --> 0:50:23.400 Ghostbusters franchise. He was in The Crow, He was in 0:50:23.440 --> 0:50:28.080 such TV series as Oz and The Family Business. But yeah, 0:50:28.080 --> 0:50:29.759 I've seen him point out that this was one of 0:50:29.760 --> 0:50:33.160 his favorite performances, if not his favorite performance that he 0:50:33.239 --> 0:50:33.680 got to give. 0:50:34.040 --> 0:50:34.400 M M. 0:50:35.880 --> 0:50:38.200 All right. Now we've already mentioned him, but we also 0:50:38.320 --> 0:50:45.439 have Tim Curry in this role playing Herkimer Homolka oh Man. 0:50:45.480 --> 0:50:48.600 This is the role that Ebert described as the Peter 0:50:48.719 --> 0:50:52.000 laure role, and I think that's I think it's pretty accurate. 0:50:52.000 --> 0:50:53.799 This is the kind of role Peter Laurie would have 0:50:53.800 --> 0:50:56.880 played in a jungle adventure movie like this, the mysterious 0:50:56.960 --> 0:51:03.120 European figure with suspicious morals and aims, and Curry the 0:51:03.200 --> 0:51:05.840 legend that Tim Curry is. Of course, he just breathed 0:51:05.880 --> 0:51:07.520 so much life into this scoundrel. 0:51:07.920 --> 0:51:12.200 Yes, oh my gosh, I think I have done at 0:51:12.280 --> 0:51:14.960 least one viewing where I just watched Tim Curry the 0:51:15.160 --> 0:51:20.720 entire time, and he is like in the background, acting 0:51:20.800 --> 0:51:24.279 his ass off, Like they're like the scene where they 0:51:24.320 --> 0:51:29.239 first get to Africa and Eddie Ventro, who all talk 0:51:29.320 --> 0:51:32.319 about like is talking about how much Amy is worth. 0:51:32.520 --> 0:51:37.760 He lowers his glasses and has the most like starstruck 0:51:38.239 --> 0:51:41.319 shocked look. I mean he's not even the focus of 0:51:41.360 --> 0:51:44.279 the scene, Like he's just back there doing his thing. 0:51:44.760 --> 0:51:49.840 He's got the most unexplainable accent that he just leans 0:51:49.920 --> 0:51:52.440 into so hard. And he has some of my favorite 0:51:52.440 --> 0:51:55.759 lines where he's like that Gorilla knows where the lost 0:51:55.800 --> 0:52:00.960 City of Zinge is, like he just, oh, there's something 0:52:01.000 --> 0:52:06.960 about it that he elevated a thing, like he was like, 0:52:07.120 --> 0:52:11.200 you know what, I'm gonna really lean into this suspicious 0:52:11.320 --> 0:52:15.600 Romanian philanthropist going around the world and doing good. Who 0:52:15.640 --> 0:52:17.600 really wants to find this los city of Zinge, Like 0:52:18.600 --> 0:52:19.400 it's beautiful. 0:52:20.880 --> 0:52:25.000 Oh yeah, he the accent, yes, is quite a mouthful. 0:52:25.120 --> 0:52:27.960 That's that's definitely worth noting. But but yeah, there's so 0:52:27.960 --> 0:52:30.319 many little moments, but then he gets those big moments too, 0:52:30.360 --> 0:52:32.600 like when they finally enter the Lost City of Zinge 0:52:32.840 --> 0:52:35.800 and he gets to just be star eyed and wonder 0:52:36.400 --> 0:52:37.960 at all. And I think he has a line like 0:52:38.200 --> 0:52:41.040 the myth of the killer the gorilla is true, you know, 0:52:41.160 --> 0:52:42.760 and it's it's so wonderful. 0:52:43.760 --> 0:52:47.280 Yes, oh my gosh. And I do love about him, 0:52:47.640 --> 0:52:54.040 like he's the villain absolutely, but he's also kind of 0:52:54.080 --> 0:52:57.839 the like bumbling, wide eyed, confused villain in a way 0:52:57.880 --> 0:52:59.200 you don't see too often. 0:53:00.400 --> 0:53:02.480 Yeah, Like he's in way over his head. I think 0:53:03.239 --> 0:53:04.480 the key aspects of it. 0:53:04.960 --> 0:53:10.120 He's constantly kind of like wide eyed and confused and 0:53:10.239 --> 0:53:14.560 concerned his money flow is always getting interrupted, which I 0:53:14.680 --> 0:53:18.440 very much enjoyed. There's just something that feels kind of 0:53:18.600 --> 0:53:24.480 unique about his take on this very stereotypical, mysterious European 0:53:24.560 --> 0:53:30.279 villain that is pretty funny. It's funny to see him 0:53:30.400 --> 0:53:33.799 out of his depth, out of his league, and I 0:53:33.840 --> 0:53:35.480 love how everybody knows who he is. 0:53:35.560 --> 0:53:39.279 Everybody's like, oh, this guy, Yeah, don't trust him. 0:53:39.280 --> 0:53:41.799 You can't trust this guy what you're doing. Everyone who 0:53:41.880 --> 0:53:47.840 encounters especially once they get to Africa, everyone there is 0:53:47.880 --> 0:53:53.440 familiar with him, and he does not have a good reputation. No, Now, 0:53:53.840 --> 0:53:55.840 what can we say about Tim Curry? I mean, obviously 0:53:56.120 --> 0:53:59.480 a legend born nineteen forty six. Is probably one of 0:53:59.480 --> 0:54:01.719 his most famous roles is, of Course, doctor Frankenfurter Are 0:54:01.760 --> 0:54:04.560 from the Rocky Horror Picture Show back in nineteen seventy five. 0:54:05.040 --> 0:54:07.239 He was in the original stage version as well. He 0:54:07.360 --> 0:54:10.040 was Wadsworth and eighty five's Clue. He was the demon 0:54:10.200 --> 0:54:15.840 Darkness in nineteen eighty five's Legend. Other memorable films include Annie, 0:54:16.000 --> 0:54:18.399 the nineteen ninety adaptation of Yet, of Course, in which 0:54:18.400 --> 0:54:21.600 he played Pennywise, the dancing clown. And he's also done 0:54:21.600 --> 0:54:23.720 a lot of great voice work over the years, including 0:54:23.760 --> 0:54:26.759 the Pirates of Dark Water and season five and six 0:54:26.920 --> 0:54:29.480 of Star Wars The Clone Wars, in which he took 0:54:29.480 --> 0:54:33.440 over the role of Palpatine slash Darth Sidius after the 0:54:33.480 --> 0:54:37.759 passing of Ian Ambercrombie. Ambercrombie was pretty terrific in that role. 0:54:37.760 --> 0:54:40.400 But Curry he also brought his own level of greatness 0:54:40.400 --> 0:54:41.719 to that voice role as well. 0:54:42.120 --> 0:54:45.480 Yeah, yeah, I think he's really really great at imbuing 0:54:45.960 --> 0:54:50.440 so much character, so with like one line, he can 0:54:50.480 --> 0:54:52.680 do it. So I often joke like, if somebody could 0:54:52.680 --> 0:54:54.680 win an Oscar for one line, I would give it 0:54:54.719 --> 0:54:58.120 to Tim Curry from hobolone two for how he says 0:54:58.239 --> 0:55:02.680 pizza ever pronounced that word before? Because he's that's two 0:55:02.719 --> 0:55:05.240 below him, Like, he does so much of that stuff 0:55:05.239 --> 0:55:08.879 where he expresses so much with his voice and how 0:55:08.880 --> 0:55:09.880 he delivers lines. 0:55:10.560 --> 0:55:13.200 What is he doing in home alone too? I don't 0:55:13.200 --> 0:55:13.840 remember he's. 0:55:13.719 --> 0:55:20.359 The concient He should have won an Oscar for that role. 0:55:20.400 --> 0:55:24.480 I like only half kidding, but he does that. He 0:55:24.480 --> 0:55:26.759 does that so well where he that was a minor role, 0:55:27.239 --> 0:55:29.680 but to me, like, I remember so much of how 0:55:29.680 --> 0:55:33.239 he delivered that line, that one word, and it communicated 0:55:33.320 --> 0:55:38.239 so much about that character. And I also I loved 0:55:38.320 --> 0:55:40.800 him and these are this is a reflection of my childhood. 0:55:40.800 --> 0:55:44.279 I loved him in a Muppet Treasure Island, Yes, and 0:55:44.440 --> 0:55:46.840 Wild Thornberry's. He was a voice in the Wild thorn Berries. 0:55:47.400 --> 0:55:50.680 That's right, Yeah, So He's done a lot, a lot 0:55:50.680 --> 0:55:54.400 of stuff like that, and I just, yeah, there's so 0:55:54.480 --> 0:55:56.600 many Like if if we wanted this episode to be 0:55:57.160 --> 0:55:58.920 basically just as quoting the movie, so much of it 0:55:58.960 --> 0:56:03.719 would just be me like loving Tim Curry's delivery of 0:56:03.880 --> 0:56:10.080 these often very hilarious lines. I love it. I love it. 0:56:10.600 --> 0:56:12.520 Those are some of the main actors involved here. But 0:56:12.560 --> 0:56:13.799 we're going to roll through some of the other ones. 0:56:13.840 --> 0:56:15.200 Maybe it may be a little quicker on some of 0:56:15.200 --> 0:56:18.239 these because there's less to say about them. But I 0:56:18.239 --> 0:56:20.760 thought I was gonna skip over this one. But Richard, 0:56:20.800 --> 0:56:24.640 the secondary primatologist, is played by Grant Heslov born nineteen 0:56:24.680 --> 0:56:27.040 sixty three. He's done a lot of acting over the years, 0:56:27.040 --> 0:56:29.600 but he's primarily known as a producer. He's a long 0:56:29.680 --> 0:56:33.120 time collaborator with George Clooney. Yeah, and he's fine in this, 0:56:33.920 --> 0:56:36.320 no problems there. I think he's killed by guerrilla eventually, 0:56:36.600 --> 0:56:39.279 like most. 0:56:38.040 --> 0:56:39.640 In the film. 0:56:40.120 --> 0:56:43.200 Oh and then we have Jodn Baker in the film. 0:56:43.680 --> 0:56:48.000 Jodn Baker born nineteen thirty six plays RB Travis Baker, 0:56:48.040 --> 0:56:51.960 of course, loud Texan actor who is perfect in this 0:56:52.080 --> 0:56:56.960 as the enraged, just comedically greedy head of a massive 0:56:57.080 --> 0:57:01.240 media corporation to his son. Right, This is like Bruce 0:57:01.239 --> 0:57:05.319 Campbell's character is his son who is suddenly missing and 0:57:05.640 --> 0:57:11.360 presumed murdered by gorillas in the jungle, and all he 0:57:11.520 --> 0:57:13.560 can think about is those diamonds. We got to get 0:57:13.560 --> 0:57:17.280 those diamonds, and I mean that's all and he just 0:57:17.440 --> 0:57:19.720 rages the whole He's not on the screen a lot, 0:57:19.760 --> 0:57:23.200 but when he's there, he's swinging golf gloves at computer screens, 0:57:23.240 --> 0:57:27.040 He's yelling at Laura Lenny. Just a completely hate heable character. 0:57:27.400 --> 0:57:30.440 Yes, he also has many alignments that I'm like, I'm 0:57:30.480 --> 0:57:32.840 impressed with how much you gave this because it's not 0:57:32.920 --> 0:57:34.480 that great of a line. But one of my favorites 0:57:34.600 --> 0:57:41.600 is I can be human later. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:57:40.680 --> 0:57:43.880 Yeah, just just a caricature of a of like a 0:57:43.920 --> 0:57:48.400 media corporation head. But yeah, as a charac caricature, it's 0:57:48.520 --> 0:57:52.000 very well done. Baker, of course, has an impressive filmography 0:57:52.040 --> 0:57:54.000 going all the way back to the mid sixties. He 0:57:54.040 --> 0:57:55.560 did a lot of TV work, but he hit it 0:57:55.640 --> 0:57:58.680 big time in nineteen seventy three. He's Walking Tall. Some 0:57:58.720 --> 0:58:01.240 of his more memorable films and Flu nineteen seventy five's 0:58:01.280 --> 0:58:05.600 Mitchell nineteen eighty four's Final Justice, eighty five's Fletch. Oh, 0:58:05.600 --> 0:58:08.520 then we get into the James Bond era. He's one 0:58:08.520 --> 0:58:12.000 of those guys that has the has the honors of 0:58:12.040 --> 0:58:15.400 playing two different characters in different Bond films. So he 0:58:15.440 --> 0:58:18.000 was in nineteen eighty seven's The Living Daylights, where I 0:58:18.080 --> 0:58:21.160 think he's a villain, but then he's also in both 0:58:21.200 --> 0:58:25.520 GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies playing a different character who's 0:58:25.560 --> 0:58:26.880 on the good guy side of things. 0:58:28.240 --> 0:58:29.320 Yeah, good for him. 0:58:29.520 --> 0:58:32.840 Jodan Baker. Okay, now we've mentioned Amy, the talking gorilla, 0:58:32.880 --> 0:58:37.160 who is just one of the greatest characters certainly in 0:58:37.160 --> 0:58:39.120 this film, and maybe you could make a role for 0:58:39.280 --> 0:58:44.560 like nineteen ninety Cinema as a whole. Oh indeed, Now 0:58:44.560 --> 0:58:46.920 this is a role that, again, like all the gorillas 0:58:46.920 --> 0:58:50.680 in this film, they are brought to life via fabulous 0:58:50.720 --> 0:58:56.160 gorilla costumes but also tremendous physical performances within the costume. 0:58:56.600 --> 0:59:00.480 And I believe they're two different individuals. Credited. One is 0:59:01.280 --> 0:59:04.960 Lola no born nineteen seventy two. Credited is playing Amy, 0:59:05.800 --> 0:59:09.040 the first of two short statured actors credited with the role. 0:59:09.520 --> 0:59:12.720 I think she's been more active as a producer, but 0:59:12.760 --> 0:59:16.560 the other is Misty Rosis born nineteen seventy three, and 0:59:17.280 --> 0:59:20.960 Roses is a wonderful performer responsible for bringing a live 0:59:21.080 --> 0:59:25.200 such characters as cool is It, kol. I can't remember 0:59:25.200 --> 0:59:30.400 this character's name. How I said, quel quel queel? Okay, 0:59:30.200 --> 0:59:32.760 the let's see. What does he keep saying in the 0:59:32.760 --> 0:59:38.080 Mandalorian He's like, I have spoken, I have spoken. Yeah, 0:59:38.120 --> 0:59:41.000 So she is the physical performer. Nick Nolty did the voice, 0:59:41.000 --> 0:59:43.600 of course, but she's the physical performer of that character. 0:59:43.840 --> 0:59:46.600 She was also the physical performer of the frog Lady 0:59:47.160 --> 0:59:48.760 in What the second season? 0:59:49.160 --> 0:59:50.840 Wow, that's awesome. 0:59:51.240 --> 0:59:54.040 So there are a number of Star Wars connections. 0:59:53.480 --> 0:59:55.760 To con Yeah, all. 0:59:55.720 --> 0:59:57.880 Right, this one's a blink and miss it role here. 0:59:57.920 --> 1:00:01.360 But Peter Jason plays a character named mister Janis. He's 1:00:01.400 --> 1:00:03.480 just one of the individuals at the airport before they 1:00:03.560 --> 1:00:07.200 leave for Africa. Born nineteen forty four. Memorable face from 1:00:07.280 --> 1:00:09.720 various films over the decade. He's popped up in things 1:00:09.760 --> 1:00:13.200 like Alien Nation, Prince of Darkness, Dream Skate They Live 1:00:13.840 --> 1:00:16.360 nineteen ninety five is Mortal Kombat and Escape from La 1:00:16.840 --> 1:00:19.240 And another one you might blink and miss is Jimmy 1:00:19.280 --> 1:00:22.560 Buffett shows up in this movie. He plays the pilot 1:00:22.560 --> 1:00:25.680 of the seven to twenty seven they that they bored 1:00:25.840 --> 1:00:28.600 to travel to Africa. So yeah, for some reason, the 1:00:28.680 --> 1:00:32.040 High parod Head himself is presence in Congo, and I 1:00:32.040 --> 1:00:33.680 guess has has blessed Congo. 1:00:34.040 --> 1:00:36.080 Yes, in that way, I mean it feels right for 1:00:36.120 --> 1:00:38.240 some reason. Of course he's there. I don't know. 1:00:38.400 --> 1:00:51.040 Yeah, now, real cool. We mentioned Bruce Campbell's in this, Yes, 1:00:51.160 --> 1:00:54.200 Bruce Campbell's in this. For a hot minute, this is 1:00:54.280 --> 1:00:58.080 of course. Yeah, he's at the very beginning of the film, 1:00:58.320 --> 1:01:01.400 and then he is kind of a spoiler. He is 1:01:01.440 --> 1:01:04.880 assaulted by some sort of killer ape, and the movie 1:01:05.040 --> 1:01:07.640 keeps the hope alive that he will come back. And 1:01:07.680 --> 1:01:10.840 I remember, by the time I saw this movie, I 1:01:10.880 --> 1:01:13.880 had already seen maybe Army of Darkness, so I was 1:01:13.880 --> 1:01:16.640 familiar with his work, even if I hadn't seen the 1:01:16.640 --> 1:01:20.440 Evil Dead movies yet. So I was excited that he 1:01:20.520 --> 1:01:23.240 was in here, and then I was disappointed that he 1:01:23.400 --> 1:01:25.720 was gone, But the movie kept the hope alive that 1:01:25.720 --> 1:01:27.400 we would find him again and he would help fight 1:01:27.440 --> 1:01:30.400 the gorillas, and of course we find out at the 1:01:30.440 --> 1:01:32.160 end he's just he's been dead the whole time. He's 1:01:32.240 --> 1:01:36.160 really dead. But in a way this in the film, 1:01:36.160 --> 1:01:38.720 it ended up kind of subverting expectations as well, because, 1:01:38.920 --> 1:01:41.360 especially as a kid, not knowing maybe how structures of 1:01:41.440 --> 1:01:43.479 these things for likely will work. You think, well, Bruce 1:01:43.520 --> 1:01:45.520 Campbell's in this, well, he's going to show up at 1:01:45.520 --> 1:01:47.480 the end and he's going to chain saw some apes. 1:01:47.840 --> 1:01:49.080 But that's not happened. 1:01:49.640 --> 1:01:53.560 No, we get lasers instead. And I will say a 1:01:53.560 --> 1:01:56.880 lot of the reviews I read from this time people 1:01:56.960 --> 1:01:59.400 seem to that was one of the big critiques people 1:01:59.440 --> 1:02:03.600 had was I guess they felt tricked that he was 1:02:03.640 --> 1:02:06.360 in it and then just never He's in it for 1:02:06.960 --> 1:02:09.600 like I said, maybe a minute, maybe a little more, 1:02:09.640 --> 1:02:12.760 but then he doesn't come back, and people were like, 1:02:12.800 --> 1:02:16.160 this is criminally this is a criminally short cameo. 1:02:17.640 --> 1:02:21.600 Yeah, because Armia Darkness came out ninety two, so it 1:02:21.680 --> 1:02:24.720 had had time to of course not only hit theaters, 1:02:24.760 --> 1:02:27.880 but to really dig into the VHS market in the 1:02:27.880 --> 1:02:31.240 home rental market. So again this is me my sort 1:02:31.280 --> 1:02:35.560 of childhood memory of this, but or junior high memory 1:02:35.560 --> 1:02:38.840 of this or whatever. I remember feeling like the world 1:02:38.920 --> 1:02:44.160 was hot for more Bruce Campbell action and maybe they weren't, 1:02:44.240 --> 1:02:47.439 or maybe the studio system that had not really caught 1:02:47.480 --> 1:02:48.560 wind of the Hunger yet. 1:02:50.800 --> 1:02:52.680 Yeah, I think you were. I think you were picking 1:02:52.720 --> 1:02:55.040 it though. I think people wanted Bruce Campbell, but you know, 1:02:55.160 --> 1:02:56.959 this is what we got. 1:02:57.560 --> 1:03:02.880 We also have Otta walleh Alkanawe Agbaje in this. He 1:03:02.960 --> 1:03:05.280 just plays I think there's one of the many soldier 1:03:05.400 --> 1:03:08.120 characters that sort of populates the background of the film. 1:03:08.320 --> 1:03:11.920 But this is a of course English fashion model turned 1:03:12.000 --> 1:03:14.960 actor born nineteen sixty seven, who had pretty big roles 1:03:15.000 --> 1:03:19.000 on TV's OZ and also Lost, which you mentioned earlier, 1:03:19.440 --> 1:03:21.480 but this was one of his first screen roles. He's 1:03:21.480 --> 1:03:23.480 gone into act in a number of big pictures including 1:03:23.520 --> 1:03:26.439 The Mummy Returns, The Bourne Identity, the remake of The Thing, 1:03:26.960 --> 1:03:31.280 the Second Thor Movie, and Suicide Squad, so he's been 1:03:31.320 --> 1:03:33.160 in quite a few things. He also writes and directs 1:03:33.960 --> 1:03:38.200 Now two, getting into two surprisingly uncredited performances in this. 1:03:38.360 --> 1:03:41.360 The first we have Delroy Lindo pop up in this 1:03:41.520 --> 1:03:45.480 playing Captain Wanta. This is one of This is a 1:03:45.480 --> 1:03:48.720 corrupt military official that they encounter again on the way 1:03:48.880 --> 1:03:51.840 to the Lost City and he like hits him up 1:03:51.880 --> 1:03:56.080 for a bribe and also just talks about how much 1:03:56.120 --> 1:04:01.160 he hates Tim Curry's character. He's really really hard on 1:04:01.400 --> 1:04:03.600 Homolka here, even telling him that he has to stop 1:04:03.640 --> 1:04:08.320 eating the sesame cake in the hotel twice twice. 1:04:11.360 --> 1:04:13.280 One of my favorite articles. And I was the next 1:04:13.360 --> 1:04:14.680 day after I watched this, and I was like, what 1:04:14.720 --> 1:04:18.720 did I just watch? Somebody wrote imagine a script that 1:04:18.760 --> 1:04:22.240 went through rewrites and still had to stop eating my 1:04:22.280 --> 1:04:26.800 sesame cake in there, not once, but twice. 1:04:28.040 --> 1:04:30.720 But Linda makes you believe it. It's a yeah, it's 1:04:30.720 --> 1:04:35.280 a small but memorable little performance here. Mm hmmm, Linda. 1:04:35.320 --> 1:04:38.560 Of course, some of his biggest films have included Malcolm X, 1:04:38.640 --> 1:04:42.680 Get Shorty to Five Bloods, and The Core. He's also 1:04:42.760 --> 1:04:44.960 slated to have a major role in the Blade reboot 1:04:45.000 --> 1:04:47.600 if they ever actually make that movie. I don't know 1:04:47.640 --> 1:04:50.760 what he's going to play in that, but I kind 1:04:50.760 --> 1:04:52.760 of have I'm wondering if he's going to play a 1:04:52.760 --> 1:04:55.760 Whistler character, if he's going to be like the mentor 1:04:55.880 --> 1:04:58.840 to Blade. But we'll see. And then you you mentioned 1:04:58.840 --> 1:05:01.520 this one already, but we this character Eddie Ventro who 1:05:01.560 --> 1:05:05.560 shows up and this is an uncredited performance by Joe Pontaliano. 1:05:05.920 --> 1:05:10.360 Yes, and I was a huge Matrix fan. I had 1:05:10.400 --> 1:05:14.919 an extremely embarrassing email address, which you unfortunately have seen, 1:05:15.560 --> 1:05:19.720 which I've told that story before, but anyway, because I 1:05:19.720 --> 1:05:22.360 had a huge crush on Neo Keanu Reeves from The Matrix, 1:05:22.560 --> 1:05:23.880 but I didn't know he was going to be in 1:05:23.880 --> 1:05:27.200 this movie, and uh when he showed up, that was 1:05:27.200 --> 1:05:28.880 one of the things I shouted to the other room, 1:05:29.000 --> 1:05:34.520 was like, it's Joey Pance, It's Cipher's here. My friend 1:05:34.560 --> 1:05:37.000 was like, what are you talking about. 1:05:37.640 --> 1:05:41.280 Yeah, it's a It's a great, slimy little role that 1:05:41.320 --> 1:05:43.400 he plays like that. I think one of the first 1:05:43.400 --> 1:05:45.680 things that he does is he offers to buy Amy 1:05:45.720 --> 1:05:46.200 the Gorilla. 1:05:46.360 --> 1:05:55.000 Yes, like immediately, immediately, Yeah, so yeah. 1:05:55.120 --> 1:05:57.960 Joe Pantleiano here probably yeah. Best known for playing Cipher 1:05:58.000 --> 1:06:00.920 in nineteen ninety nine Is the Matrix, Caesar in nineteen 1:06:00.960 --> 1:06:03.680 ninety six Is Bound, and he played the character Teddy 1:06:03.720 --> 1:06:07.920 in two thousands Memento. So yeah. A talented character actor 1:06:08.240 --> 1:06:12.360 that often plays kind of slimy, sleazy characters, morally ambiguous 1:06:12.400 --> 1:06:14.680 at past mm hmmm. I think he was also in 1:06:14.680 --> 1:06:16.480 a couple of tales from the Crypt episodes, which, of 1:06:16.520 --> 1:06:19.760 course perfect place to stick somebody with these talents. 1:06:20.080 --> 1:06:22.600 Yes, yes, I do love He has a scene where, 1:06:22.840 --> 1:06:25.640 like the he re emerges after I assumed we would 1:06:25.640 --> 1:06:29.360 never see him again, and he's getting off the plane 1:06:29.440 --> 1:06:31.360 and he has like a head injury and he makes 1:06:31.360 --> 1:06:35.320 the funniest sound to me where he's like, oh, I 1:06:35.360 --> 1:06:37.040 don't know. There's just something about how he did that 1:06:37.040 --> 1:06:38.640 that cracks me up every time I watch this. 1:06:39.160 --> 1:06:41.400 In case I forget it for later. What happens to 1:06:41.480 --> 1:06:43.600 his character in this film? Do we see him killed 1:06:43.600 --> 1:06:45.640 by guerrilla or something, because at some point later in 1:06:45.640 --> 1:06:46.880 the film, I'm like, where did he go? 1:06:47.800 --> 1:06:51.680 He kind of just wanders. He's like, here's your equipment. 1:06:52.000 --> 1:06:54.280 Have fun? He doesn't. He says he doesn't like to 1:06:54.360 --> 1:06:58.560 leave the airport, so I assume he just haunts the airport. 1:06:59.200 --> 1:07:02.920 Okay, m Well, let's get into the plot a bit. 1:07:03.280 --> 1:07:04.960 Yes, Oh gosh, I'm so excited. 1:07:06.640 --> 1:07:10.240 So we open in sub Saharan Africa, presumably the Congo 1:07:10.440 --> 1:07:13.200 given the name of the film. We have Bruce Campbell's 1:07:13.280 --> 1:07:17.880 character Charlie, leading a team into the wild surrounding Mount Muchino, 1:07:18.080 --> 1:07:21.439 who we're told here some sort of volcanic mountain, and 1:07:21.720 --> 1:07:23.920 almost right away we see he's packing heat, like we 1:07:23.960 --> 1:07:28.320 see him holding the pistol there, and I guess this 1:07:28.360 --> 1:07:30.880 is all kind of nice subversion because they really kind 1:07:30.880 --> 1:07:33.240 of present him as like, this is our star, right, 1:07:33.280 --> 1:07:35.600 this is the action hero. This is the guy who's 1:07:35.600 --> 1:07:37.360 going to take us through the movie, right. 1:07:37.280 --> 1:07:39.800 And I do want to before we move on again. 1:07:39.840 --> 1:07:43.160 I love when you can watch a movie and be like, oh, 1:07:43.240 --> 1:07:48.040 this is the nineties or whatever. The Congo title is 1:07:48.280 --> 1:07:53.160 done in the most glorious like gold word art if 1:07:53.160 --> 1:07:55.960 you remember what that was, So it's like a fading 1:07:56.000 --> 1:07:58.200 of gold to orange, and then it has a blue 1:07:58.680 --> 1:08:04.560 drop shadow glow and that's like this nineties, Oh my gosh. 1:08:04.720 --> 1:08:06.800 So I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. But yeah, 1:08:07.040 --> 1:08:10.120 I do think you know, if you have started watching 1:08:10.160 --> 1:08:14.400 this and you're like, I guess this is our hero, 1:08:14.560 --> 1:08:16.160 and then it doesn't really turn out to be what 1:08:16.200 --> 1:08:18.120 you think it's going to be at all. 1:08:18.600 --> 1:08:20.400 Right, Well, for one thing, it's like we're very much 1:08:20.400 --> 1:08:23.160 in sort of Indiana Jones territory, and then we cut 1:08:23.200 --> 1:08:26.520 to space. We're in orbits and we see this satellite, 1:08:26.520 --> 1:08:29.320 which this is one of the moments where the effects 1:08:29.360 --> 1:08:32.559 feel rather dated because it's like a very dated CGI 1:08:32.760 --> 1:08:37.640 satellite orbiting the Earth. And this, of course is going 1:08:37.680 --> 1:08:39.360 to be an important part of the plot. This is 1:08:39.400 --> 1:08:43.960 what is enabling him to communicate without any lag at 1:08:44.000 --> 1:08:46.479 all with a Houston Control center. That's where we go 1:08:46.560 --> 1:08:50.639 to next, and here we meet Laura Lenny as our 1:08:50.680 --> 1:08:55.679 former CIAgent, doctor Karen Ross, and they initiate a satellite 1:08:55.760 --> 1:08:59.640 call to Bruce Campbell's team around the volcano and they 1:08:59.640 --> 1:09:01.400 start to talking about blue diamonds. 1:09:01.840 --> 1:09:04.559 Yes, And as much as I make fun of the script, 1:09:04.600 --> 1:09:06.439 and I do, I will say they accomplish a lot 1:09:06.760 --> 1:09:09.360 pretty quickly. So when you first see Laura Lenni she's 1:09:09.400 --> 1:09:11.280 walking in with a colleague of hers who has a 1:09:11.360 --> 1:09:14.840 very hilarious password which is just his name Rudy, Rudy 1:09:14.920 --> 1:09:19.639 Rudy to get in. But it like immediately establishes that 1:09:20.960 --> 1:09:25.040 the character we're about to meet, who is Bruce Campbell's father, Travis, 1:09:25.960 --> 1:09:30.799 is paranoid. He's very very paranoid and he doesn't trust people. 1:09:33.040 --> 1:09:36.479 But yeah, I love to how quickly there's so much 1:09:36.479 --> 1:09:39.360 whiplash in this movie where you're like, oh, diamonds, oh, 1:09:39.400 --> 1:09:41.240 but for satellites. 1:09:42.760 --> 1:09:46.080 And of course, Bruce Campbell's character has brought a functional 1:09:46.160 --> 1:09:49.639 laser gun into the wild with him and immediately loads 1:09:49.720 --> 1:09:52.519 up one of these blue diamonds and test fires. It's 1:09:52.520 --> 1:09:55.360 starting a small fire behind him, and we're like, okay, 1:09:55.880 --> 1:09:58.640 I'm not completely clear on how all this works, but 1:09:59.240 --> 1:10:03.960 blue diamond and apparently works. Blue diamond lasers are important, 1:10:04.200 --> 1:10:07.400 and back in Houston, they're very pleased with how this 1:10:07.520 --> 1:10:08.400 is all shaping up. 1:10:09.000 --> 1:10:12.760 Yes, yes, I love how they don't bother to explain it. 1:10:12.840 --> 1:10:15.040 I like, legitimately love that when movies are like, you 1:10:15.040 --> 1:10:16.840 know what, we're not really about this part of it, 1:10:17.080 --> 1:10:20.640 so I can explain it. But he even makes a 1:10:20.720 --> 1:10:23.639 mention of like it's this isn't a good enough diamond, essentially, 1:10:23.640 --> 1:10:27.200 like we need a better diamond and then we'll really 1:10:27.240 --> 1:10:28.000 be in business. 1:10:28.439 --> 1:10:29.320 Yeah. 1:10:29.640 --> 1:10:31.920 So at this point, one of the other members of 1:10:32.800 --> 1:10:36.000 Bruce Campbell's characters, Charlie's team, calls him over and says, hey, 1:10:36.040 --> 1:10:38.439 I found something. Jump into this water here and swim 1:10:38.479 --> 1:10:41.639 under these ruins with me. And he's like, okay, I'll 1:10:41.680 --> 1:10:45.120 do that, and so they jump in and lo and behold, 1:10:45.200 --> 1:10:48.799 they discover a lost city hidden beneath the jungle canopy 1:10:49.479 --> 1:10:52.960 and the other guy character that will not be around 1:10:53.000 --> 1:10:55.080 for long, but we find out he'll be back actually, 1:10:55.120 --> 1:10:57.240 but then not be around for long. A guy named 1:10:57.280 --> 1:11:00.679 Jeffrey stresses that this is a big find, this is amazing, 1:11:00.920 --> 1:11:03.759 and he's telling him all this. They're standing in front 1:11:03.760 --> 1:11:08.320 of this ominous stone gorilla statue. They're sinister music playing. 1:11:08.600 --> 1:11:10.840 We can already tell nothing good it's gonna happen here. 1:11:11.280 --> 1:11:14.280 Yeah, it really ramps up pretty quickly. You're like, oh wow, 1:11:14.439 --> 1:11:20.200 something is just about to go wrong. And this has 1:11:20.240 --> 1:11:24.519 one of my very favorite like horror elements where one 1:11:24.560 --> 1:11:27.800 of them goes missing. Jeffrey goes missing. Bruce Campbell's kind 1:11:27.800 --> 1:11:30.759 of staring off in the distance, maybe getting you know, wind, 1:11:30.880 --> 1:11:37.439 something's not right, calls from his friend eyeball just out 1:11:37.479 --> 1:11:41.679 of nowhere. Here is a human eyeball in front of him. 1:11:42.080 --> 1:11:44.360 Yeah, and then we get we cut to the monster POV. 1:11:44.720 --> 1:11:47.400 There's this growl and then we get the shot of 1:11:47.560 --> 1:11:52.040 Bruce Campbell screaming, and it's kind of interesting to think 1:11:52.080 --> 1:11:54.200 like that, you try to put yourself in the mind 1:11:54.200 --> 1:11:57.799 of the monster here. So the grey gorilla, after brutally 1:11:57.880 --> 1:12:01.639 murdering the other guy. Pop is to pluck eyeballs out 1:12:01.720 --> 1:12:04.559 and then sort of mess with Charlie here, like just 1:12:04.800 --> 1:12:07.160 chunk a few eyeballs at him, get his attention, and 1:12:07.200 --> 1:12:09.920 then kill him. So very very twisted on the part 1:12:09.920 --> 1:12:15.679 of our our ape adversaries here. So back in Houston, 1:12:15.680 --> 1:12:18.439 they try and call back on the video chat. They 1:12:18.439 --> 1:12:21.720 see everyone is dead, something is running around, and Ape 1:12:21.720 --> 1:12:24.240 attacks the camera. They get kind of this freeze frame 1:12:24.320 --> 1:12:26.320 that they're gonna have to figure out later. So things 1:12:26.320 --> 1:12:28.800 get a little bit event horizon here. They've got some 1:12:29.080 --> 1:12:31.639 footage that they're going to have to tinker with later. 1:12:32.280 --> 1:12:34.360 It seems like there was a this was a thing 1:12:34.400 --> 1:12:37.080 for a while in cinema. There's always a situation where 1:12:37.080 --> 1:12:40.479 you have some strange footage and there's something computery you 1:12:40.520 --> 1:12:43.440 could do to it, and you could get everything enhanced 1:12:43.479 --> 1:12:44.599 and figured out later on. 1:12:45.160 --> 1:12:47.920 Yes, Yes, and there's a lot to there's a lot 1:12:47.960 --> 1:12:50.320 that I love about this part number one. This was 1:12:50.360 --> 1:12:52.120 such a trope in the nineties. I don't know if 1:12:52.160 --> 1:12:54.240 you ever saw the Mary Kate and Ashley movie. It 1:12:54.280 --> 1:12:57.760 takes two, but there was such a trope in the 1:12:57.840 --> 1:13:02.880 nineties that, like, if you could contray role communications like 1:13:02.960 --> 1:13:06.120 cell phones or new technology. You could control everything, and 1:13:06.160 --> 1:13:09.360 it was such like a evil villain trope. And I 1:13:09.400 --> 1:13:13.360 love how Travis immediately when you meet this character, who's like, yeah, 1:13:13.400 --> 1:13:16.960 the most over the top evil business corrupt capitalist guy. 1:13:17.600 --> 1:13:20.840 Is it like that he's going to dominate the communications 1:13:20.880 --> 1:13:24.800 industry with this diamond And all of this is interspersed 1:13:24.840 --> 1:13:28.120 with like the most nineties graphics and the most ninety 1:13:28.240 --> 1:13:30.559 sound effects to that, like camera that they're looking in 1:13:30.640 --> 1:13:34.880 on the campsite with. It is just there's something about 1:13:34.920 --> 1:13:37.880 it that feels so from that time that it's like 1:13:38.320 --> 1:13:40.760 a whole, a full body experience for me, like, oh, yes, 1:13:40.800 --> 1:13:41.839 this is nineties. 1:13:42.800 --> 1:13:45.760 Yeah. I think Tomorrow Never Dies one of the Bond 1:13:45.760 --> 1:13:48.360 film we referenced earlier. I think that the villain in 1:13:48.400 --> 1:13:50.840 that one, played by Jonathan Price, is also some sort 1:13:50.880 --> 1:13:52.679 of a media mobile type character. 1:13:53.000 --> 1:13:57.000 Yeah, it was such a thing, and I do love 1:13:57.280 --> 1:13:59.439 that he This is when his line I mentioned earlier 1:13:59.439 --> 1:14:01.439 of like I can be human later comes up like 1:14:01.560 --> 1:14:06.880 he's like immediately an overtop caricature. I love how Laurlanie's 1:14:06.960 --> 1:14:09.960 character literally she says to him, are you for real? 1:14:11.120 --> 1:14:14.160 And she's in the most nineties Khakis invest too, by 1:14:14.200 --> 1:14:17.439 the way, and this is when you kind of find 1:14:17.439 --> 1:14:20.680 out like she was dating Bruce Campbell. They were going 1:14:20.720 --> 1:14:22.599 to get married and then they broke up for whatever reason, 1:14:22.640 --> 1:14:24.800 but she still obviously cares about him. And she has 1:14:24.800 --> 1:14:27.400 this confrontation with Travis like, I'm not going in there 1:14:27.479 --> 1:14:29.800 unless you promised me you're doing it for your son. 1:14:29.840 --> 1:14:32.519 If you're doing it for Charlie, i'll go. But if 1:14:32.560 --> 1:14:36.000 I get one hint that this isn't for him, I'm 1:14:36.000 --> 1:14:37.760 gonna make you sorry. 1:14:37.760 --> 1:14:42.080 She says, yeah, I love that he does calm down 1:14:42.120 --> 1:14:44.080 a little bit, and he's like like, yeah, I'm doing 1:14:44.080 --> 1:14:46.440 it for him. I did not find it very believable, 1:14:47.160 --> 1:14:51.040 but it's good enough for her. She's like, Okay, all right, Yes, 1:14:51.720 --> 1:14:54.559 I believe you enough to go out and try and 1:14:54.600 --> 1:14:55.439 find him in the wild. 1:14:55.840 --> 1:14:59.280 Yes. And I also love one of my favorite parts, 1:14:59.720 --> 1:15:02.519 which like right before it he said something pretty offensive, 1:15:02.560 --> 1:15:06.120 which just like maybe it was locals, but then he's 1:15:06.200 --> 1:15:10.799 like or a rival company, Like there's just something about 1:15:10.880 --> 1:15:17.960 him that's so he's so paranoid. He's so so paranoid. 1:15:18.360 --> 1:15:21.280 I also agree that she perhaps believed him too readily. 1:15:21.320 --> 1:15:24.400 But I also think she wanted to go, Like she 1:15:24.400 --> 1:15:29.280 she does still care about Charlie. But yeah, he's not 1:15:29.400 --> 1:15:32.479 very believable at all, but maybe that's just his constant 1:15:32.560 --> 1:15:35.240 vibe is just this level of anger. 1:15:35.720 --> 1:15:37.880 So yeah, and I think I think you're right. I 1:15:37.920 --> 1:15:41.000 think like she she wanted to go. She wants to 1:15:41.000 --> 1:15:43.360 to try and find Charlie. And so it's not that 1:15:43.400 --> 1:15:46.519 she's saying I'm not going unless like she's not really 1:15:46.560 --> 1:15:50.200 looking for an affirmation from him. She's just trying to 1:15:50.360 --> 1:15:53.160 encourage the human side of him, like like, Okay, I'll 1:15:53.200 --> 1:15:54.840 do this, but I want to see it like some 1:15:54.920 --> 1:15:58.479 acknowledgment that part of this is because you love your son. 1:15:58.760 --> 1:16:03.680 Right exactly and uh not you know, not sending me 1:16:03.760 --> 1:16:16.559 off to get killed to get well that time is Yeah, 1:16:16.600 --> 1:16:18.080 but this is one of my This is when I 1:16:18.160 --> 1:16:22.679 was watching the movie, this cut that happens now, Oh whoa, 1:16:23.439 --> 1:16:27.160 this is what am I watching right now? And this 1:16:27.200 --> 1:16:28.960 is when we get introduced to Amy. 1:16:29.400 --> 1:16:33.240 That's right, we cut to our gorilla expert. This is 1:16:33.320 --> 1:16:37.599 we meet our primatologist characters and we meet Amy the gorilla, 1:16:38.000 --> 1:16:40.960 and Amy is doing art, Amy is is making things. 1:16:40.960 --> 1:16:43.880 But also we quickly learned that. Well, I guess we 1:16:44.120 --> 1:16:46.040 kind of build up to this, right because we meet 1:16:46.080 --> 1:16:49.600 Amy and she's great and she's totally believable as a 1:16:49.439 --> 1:16:52.840 as a younger female gorilla. I guess I don't know. 1:16:52.920 --> 1:16:55.439 I went back and forth on how old Amy is, 1:16:55.520 --> 1:16:58.679 because early on there is very much like a childlike 1:16:58.720 --> 1:17:01.599 aspect to Amy that we like to but she's also 1:17:01.760 --> 1:17:06.160 she drinks, she's drinking martini, she's smoking cigars and spoiler 1:17:06.200 --> 1:17:07.720 but at the end of the movie she goes off 1:17:07.720 --> 1:17:11.320 and marries a silver bag, so she's like, she's an 1:17:11.360 --> 1:17:14.000 adult woman gorilla too, and we shouldn't take that away 1:17:14.000 --> 1:17:14.320 from her. 1:17:14.439 --> 1:17:16.599 No, absolutely not. I mean those are some of our 1:17:16.680 --> 1:17:21.559 favorite parts of Amy. Amy is multifaceted, and I think 1:17:23.240 --> 1:17:26.040 I just I need people to watch this if they 1:17:26.040 --> 1:17:29.280 haven't seen it, because you're watching it and you're like, oh, 1:17:29.280 --> 1:17:32.320 here's this gorilla. This gorilla is drawing all these pictures 1:17:32.320 --> 1:17:36.800 that look very similar. And I believe this is what 1:17:36.880 --> 1:17:39.080 they introduce the stuffed animal named Lovey. 1:17:39.640 --> 1:17:42.160 Oh yes, she because yeah, and this is another thing 1:17:42.160 --> 1:17:44.840 that builds up the sort of childlike nature because she 1:17:44.880 --> 1:17:47.639 has her love right, she has the little stuffed animal 1:17:47.640 --> 1:17:48.600 that she's carrying. 1:17:48.280 --> 1:17:52.599 Around, right, So they're very much prompting you to believe, yeah, 1:17:52.640 --> 1:17:57.400 she's this, you know, more childlike gorilla and those other 1:17:57.439 --> 1:17:59.679 things which I can't wait to talk about more detail 1:17:59.680 --> 1:18:02.880 at the Martini and whatnot come later. But right in 1:18:02.920 --> 1:18:08.799 the beginning, okay, seems like a young sweet gorilla. 1:18:09.640 --> 1:18:12.720 Yes, but of course we keep talking about Amy, the 1:18:12.760 --> 1:18:16.479 talking gorilla, and to get there again, the movie really 1:18:16.640 --> 1:18:18.559 doesn't waste a lot of time. We like cut to 1:18:18.840 --> 1:18:21.400 essentially like a ted talk thing that doctor Elliot's doing 1:18:21.400 --> 1:18:24.559 at Berkeley. He's talking about language, he's talking about sign language, 1:18:24.560 --> 1:18:27.799 he's talking about virtual reality technology, and then he cuts 1:18:27.840 --> 1:18:30.400 to the real meat of everything. They have created a 1:18:30.439 --> 1:18:35.000 real time sign language audible translator with power glove that 1:18:35.120 --> 1:18:40.560 allows sign language literate animals like Amy allow them to 1:18:41.000 --> 1:18:43.400 actually speak out loud. She wears a little power glove, 1:18:43.640 --> 1:18:47.200 she does the signs, and this enables her to speak 1:18:47.240 --> 1:18:49.840 and say things like Amy, good gorilla. 1:18:49.960 --> 1:18:52.360 And this is one of my very favorite parts, because 1:18:53.200 --> 1:18:56.240 I mean this is when it in one way really 1:18:56.280 --> 1:18:58.439 goes off the rails, at least when I was watching it. 1:18:59.600 --> 1:19:04.440 But it has the funniest scene. It's like the funniest 1:19:04.439 --> 1:19:07.200 cut to the audience scene I've ever I think I've 1:19:07.200 --> 1:19:10.080 ever witnessed, because people are watching. He's talking. Yeah, he's 1:19:10.080 --> 1:19:12.400 talking about virtual reality. He's talking about all of this 1:19:12.479 --> 1:19:16.799 like really high tech stuff. And then he calls out Amy, 1:19:17.880 --> 1:19:20.880 and people, you know, turn and gasp and they see 1:19:20.920 --> 1:19:23.800 this gorilla coming down the aisle. It's just like a 1:19:23.920 --> 1:19:25.280 you know, where you would go to see a talk 1:19:25.280 --> 1:19:28.920 out of college or something. And Amy comes up and 1:19:28.920 --> 1:19:30.800 there's this guy and I don't know the actor's name, 1:19:30.840 --> 1:19:34.160 but he's kind of like bored flipping through the pamphlet 1:19:34.439 --> 1:19:37.880 and he looks up and then Amy says, yeah, you know, Amy, 1:19:37.880 --> 1:19:42.800 good Gorilla, Amy good Gorilla, And he kind of like 1:19:42.920 --> 1:19:46.840 is staring ahead in horror and an awe, and he 1:19:46.920 --> 1:19:53.280 says that gorilla is talking. It's so funny. It's such 1:19:53.320 --> 1:19:55.559 a great stand in for the audience, Like it really 1:19:55.640 --> 1:19:59.160 is because you're like having a similar reaction. But I 1:19:59.240 --> 1:20:04.360 love the cut to him of what this girl is donking. 1:20:05.840 --> 1:20:09.000 And then we also cut to Homolka there played by 1:20:09.120 --> 1:20:12.600 Jim Curry. He's in the audience and he's watching creepily 1:20:12.720 --> 1:20:15.439 and he has a ring with this kind of like 1:20:15.560 --> 1:20:18.960 I on it and we suddenly get this very mid 1:20:19.080 --> 1:20:23.960 nineties flash. Then of suddenly there's like scenes from Amy's dreams, 1:20:24.000 --> 1:20:26.599 something with a jungle and a flash of a gray 1:20:26.680 --> 1:20:30.240 monster a jumping across it, and uh, we're kind of left. 1:20:30.680 --> 1:20:33.120 I was left wondering like, well, what happened? Where did 1:20:33.120 --> 1:20:35.559 this come from? Did that happen? Because I looked into 1:20:35.600 --> 1:20:41.479 the ring because was that in in? Yeah? Did I'm cursed? 1:20:41.520 --> 1:20:44.280 Is that in his mind? Or is this Amy's dreams? 1:20:44.960 --> 1:20:49.040 But then we cut we cut ahead and we basically 1:20:49.080 --> 1:20:51.519 find out that well, she she doesn't seem to be sleeping. Well, 1:20:51.880 --> 1:20:55.000 Peter is worried that she's deteriorating mentally because she's not 1:20:55.120 --> 1:20:56.960 in the jungle. She needs to be in the jungle. 1:20:57.320 --> 1:20:59.439 He meets with the Dane and he's like, we need 1:20:59.479 --> 1:21:02.320 to raise a bunch of money to send our star 1:21:02.479 --> 1:21:05.120 talking gorilla back to the jungle. And the Dean's like, 1:21:05.360 --> 1:21:06.400 nobody's gonna pay for that. 1:21:06.680 --> 1:21:08.920 Yes, which I am of two minds about I think 1:21:09.120 --> 1:21:12.200 I can see. But you know, also these he believes 1:21:12.240 --> 1:21:14.080 these paintings are from the jungle, like this is what 1:21:14.120 --> 1:21:20.839 she's been doing. But enter Herkima Harmolka former Romanian traveling 1:21:20.880 --> 1:21:23.599 around the world and doing good. And guess what, I've 1:21:23.640 --> 1:21:25.000 got a lot of money, and I want to fund 1:21:25.040 --> 1:21:28.719 your trip to take this gorilla back to the jungle. 1:21:29.160 --> 1:21:32.040 Yeah, he's like, I have no ulterior motive. I just 1:21:32.080 --> 1:21:36.200 want to see Amy return to jungle. Yes, just sound 1:21:36.320 --> 1:21:42.240 like really like he's basically doing a Abella Lagosi Dracula character here. 1:21:43.720 --> 1:21:45.880 It's even more that than it is Peter Lourie. 1:21:46.439 --> 1:21:50.639 Yes, And the accent is so immediately you can't think 1:21:50.680 --> 1:21:55.400 of anything else. And I love like, for the audience, 1:21:55.400 --> 1:21:57.280 at least you've gotten all these hints that he's up 1:21:57.320 --> 1:21:59.120 to no good or he's got an ulterior motive, as 1:21:59.160 --> 1:22:03.400 you said. But it cuts to immediately from that scene 1:22:03.479 --> 1:22:07.400 to doctor Elliott being like, yes, his name's herker Mahomolka. 1:22:07.400 --> 1:22:09.599 I don't see the problem. He's gonna fund us to 1:22:09.320 --> 1:22:09.680 do this. 1:22:10.640 --> 1:22:11.880 I trust everyone. 1:22:12.080 --> 1:22:15.679 Yeah, yes, I love it. I love it. He's just like, yeah, 1:22:15.720 --> 1:22:18.439 I don't see any reason why we need to wonder 1:22:18.479 --> 1:22:19.760 about this anymore. 1:22:20.600 --> 1:22:21.960 And of course Amy's on board. 1:22:22.240 --> 1:22:24.160 Yes, we get Amy into three D glasses. 1:22:24.320 --> 1:22:27.160 Yeah, Yeah, a sweet scene where there they were in 1:22:27.200 --> 1:22:29.360 their three D glasses looking at a book. So another 1:22:29.479 --> 1:22:31.400 scene with a lot of childlike wonder for Amy. 1:22:31.800 --> 1:22:33.559 Mm hm. This is when she asked to be tickled 1:22:33.600 --> 1:22:34.080 the first time. 1:22:34.120 --> 1:22:37.960 I think, oh, yes, yes, hmmm mm hmmm. And so 1:22:38.040 --> 1:22:40.080 at this point, it seems like, okay, the expedition is 1:22:40.120 --> 1:22:42.960 ready to go. They get to the airport. Kamulka's like, 1:22:43.040 --> 1:22:46.160 everything seems good. They seems like they're loading the plane. 1:22:46.160 --> 1:22:50.040 But then uh oh they're unloading the plane. Uh and 1:22:50.280 --> 1:22:52.759 uh So there's this scene out there on the tarmac. 1:22:52.800 --> 1:22:55.439 I'm on the big the mid the crates. Everyone's a 1:22:55.479 --> 1:22:57.559 little stressed. Amy just wants to be tickled. She doesn't 1:22:57.600 --> 1:23:00.599 know what's going on. But then doctor Rossa up and 1:23:00.600 --> 1:23:03.760 she's like, hey, let my company pay for some of 1:23:03.800 --> 1:23:06.160 your trip and just let me bring my team along. 1:23:06.439 --> 1:23:10.759 Yeah. Basically, they need like she needs almost like a visa. 1:23:10.800 --> 1:23:12.640 She needs a reason why she's going. She has to 1:23:12.720 --> 1:23:17.160 join their expedition to get in because I guess if 1:23:17.200 --> 1:23:19.880 they report what's happened, like, they're not going to be 1:23:19.880 --> 1:23:22.920 able to get across the border to investigate what happened. 1:23:23.640 --> 1:23:26.240 So she's trying very very hard, has been for a 1:23:26.240 --> 1:23:29.000 long time. This is where I get my line that 1:23:29.040 --> 1:23:31.880 I said earlier, I'm a primatologist, not a pound of sugar. 1:23:33.680 --> 1:23:38.040 And we also see the beginnings of Amy being jealous 1:23:38.040 --> 1:23:43.439 of doctor Russ because Peter is like, oh, it's not me, 1:23:43.600 --> 1:23:47.160 it's Amy. You can't come because Amy doesn't like you. 1:23:48.320 --> 1:23:51.360 But yeah, they start unloading stuff off the plane and 1:23:52.320 --> 1:23:56.160 her molka, I love this. What does he say? There's 1:23:56.200 --> 1:24:01.200 been an interruption in my cash floor or something? And 1:24:01.240 --> 1:24:03.559 then doctor Ross knows like, ooh, I got you. You 1:24:03.640 --> 1:24:03.960 need me. 1:24:04.400 --> 1:24:06.439 Yeah, he can't pay for the fuel for the plane, 1:24:06.479 --> 1:24:09.840 but her company certainly can. And so basically we cut 1:24:09.920 --> 1:24:13.599 to everyone's on board the plane flying to Africa, and 1:24:13.640 --> 1:24:15.439 this is where we have that wonderful scene where we 1:24:15.479 --> 1:24:20.840 get some scenes where Amy is upset with Karen and 1:24:20.840 --> 1:24:23.360 and the primatologist and Karen have a nice back and 1:24:23.400 --> 1:24:25.639 forth about like what what is the trip is about? 1:24:25.720 --> 1:24:28.799 And what is what is the human relationship to animals 1:24:28.800 --> 1:24:29.320 and so forth. 1:24:29.439 --> 1:24:32.320 Yeah, because she's very curious and can't quite pin down 1:24:32.439 --> 1:24:34.960 why he did it, and he kind of gives like 1:24:35.000 --> 1:24:38.719 why did he train Amy to be able to speak? Essentially, 1:24:40.040 --> 1:24:43.479 and he says he gives her some quotes about you know, 1:24:43.560 --> 1:24:45.920 the face of the teacher and like why not and 1:24:45.960 --> 1:24:48.320 all this kind of stuff. But this is also when 1:24:48.360 --> 1:24:51.080 we get the infamous and I dare you to find 1:24:51.160 --> 1:24:55.560 any review who doesn't mention it scene where Amy is 1:24:55.600 --> 1:24:59.679 a nervous flyer. Yeah, she wants her rain drop juice. Yes, 1:25:00.120 --> 1:25:04.080 And it turns out that rain drop juice is a 1:25:04.160 --> 1:25:08.880 martine Yes. Yes, So we get a scene in a 1:25:08.920 --> 1:25:13.920 film where a gorilla is drinking a martini and looks 1:25:14.120 --> 1:25:15.360 very happy about it. 1:25:15.840 --> 1:25:19.759 Yeah, and totally totally believable scene too, I mean, aside 1:25:20.080 --> 1:25:22.840 from the ridiculousness of it, like you buy Amy the 1:25:23.000 --> 1:25:26.519 talking gorilla as a real individual who just likes a 1:25:26.640 --> 1:25:31.120 nice drink to take the edge off during a fly Well, yeah, 1:25:31.160 --> 1:25:31.679 of course. 1:25:31.920 --> 1:25:34.720 And I mean she she had been tense because she 1:25:34.720 --> 1:25:37.599 had also just thrown an egg at Karen. 1:25:38.360 --> 1:25:42.200 Yeah, she's called her an ugly woman and yeah, there's 1:25:42.240 --> 1:25:43.920 an egg at her. So then things are off to 1:25:43.920 --> 1:25:46.040 a rocky start between Karen and Amy. 1:25:46.320 --> 1:25:48.720 Yes. And this is also when like they have a 1:25:48.720 --> 1:25:51.080 discussion around the myth of the killer ape and like 1:25:51.200 --> 1:25:56.160 King Kong all of that stuff, so kind of you 1:25:56.160 --> 1:26:00.240 can see her Molcha starting to show his hand that 1:26:00.280 --> 1:26:03.559 he's interested in this, like he's got, he's got more 1:26:04.360 --> 1:26:07.880 than he's letting on and what he wants to get 1:26:07.880 --> 1:26:08.679 out of this trip. 1:26:09.160 --> 1:26:12.040 Now I'm gonna, I guess try and skip some of 1:26:12.080 --> 1:26:15.360 what happened. Like basically, they land in in Africa. They 1:26:15.640 --> 1:26:17.240 they land in one country, they need to go into 1:26:17.280 --> 1:26:21.759 another country, but already things are in a destabilized state. 1:26:21.880 --> 1:26:27.479 Here we meet Joe Pantoliano's character Eddie Ventro. He's immediately like, hey, 1:26:28.040 --> 1:26:30.879 can I buy that ape off you? And they're soldiers 1:26:30.920 --> 1:26:33.720 running around. Something blows up on the airfield in the 1:26:33.760 --> 1:26:37.320 back in the in the background, and and Elliott's like 1:26:37.360 --> 1:26:39.800 asking around for the guy that they hired. But that 1:26:39.840 --> 1:26:42.280 guy's know where to be seen because no looks like 1:26:42.360 --> 1:26:46.479 Big Media has paid for the best guide available, and 1:26:46.520 --> 1:26:49.760 that is Captain Monroe Kelly. And he's up and he's 1:26:49.800 --> 1:26:52.880 you know, he's suave. You know, he's very laid back 1:26:52.920 --> 1:26:55.840 about everything. But he basically saves all of them and 1:26:55.960 --> 1:26:57.720 he's working on getting them where he needs to go. 1:26:57.880 --> 1:27:01.040 He's he's all action and solutions. He piles everybody in 1:27:01.040 --> 1:27:02.840 the back of the military truck and they're on their 1:27:02.880 --> 1:27:03.320 way out. 1:27:03.760 --> 1:27:07.439 Yes, And one of my favorite things about this scene 1:27:07.880 --> 1:27:09.920 is we get two instances of seeing people being I 1:27:09.920 --> 1:27:12.759 guess totally on board and completely okay with a talking gorilla. 1:27:12.840 --> 1:27:18.280 But when Amy talks, Captain Monroe is just like, yeah, sure, 1:27:18.720 --> 1:27:21.439 and here's a smoke. Amy like, I guess that's what 1:27:21.520 --> 1:27:25.759 you want. But he immediately takes control of the situation 1:27:25.800 --> 1:27:30.439 and seems to immediately clock like one Hermolka is no good. 1:27:30.840 --> 1:27:33.280 He's one of the characters that's like, oh, I remember you. 1:27:33.760 --> 1:27:37.000 And then two that Karen is very competent and like 1:27:37.040 --> 1:27:40.360 that they will be working together to kind of lead 1:27:40.479 --> 1:27:43.920 this expedition. But also I guess three that everybody's in 1:27:43.960 --> 1:27:47.400 there for a different reason, and nobody's being completely honest 1:27:47.520 --> 1:27:48.439 except for maybe Peter. 1:27:48.960 --> 1:27:54.559 Right. Even Captain Kelly here is being a He's kind 1:27:54.560 --> 1:27:56.559 of he's a little uncertain as well, like you don't 1:27:56.600 --> 1:27:58.720 distrust him. But there's that part where one of the 1:27:58.800 --> 1:28:00.640 characters ask him, are you some kind a criminal? And 1:28:00.640 --> 1:28:03.559 he just says, aren't we all? And it's just another 1:28:03.600 --> 1:28:09.080 great Captain Monroe Kelly moment. We get some it sounds 1:28:09.080 --> 1:28:11.960 like Kelly is perhaps also an arms dealer. We're not 1:28:12.200 --> 1:28:15.640 entirely sure. I guess what he's he's involved in, but 1:28:15.680 --> 1:28:18.479 it also seems like he's the best, most expensive hope 1:28:18.479 --> 1:28:22.080 for them. He's hired by the tech company, but they 1:28:22.080 --> 1:28:24.320 don't get very far before the military stops them and 1:28:24.360 --> 1:28:27.679 like arrest everybody and says, look, nobody can go to Zaire, 1:28:28.080 --> 1:28:30.040 so you're all stuck in this hotel here. And this 1:28:30.120 --> 1:28:33.560 is where we get Captain Wanta played by del Roy Lindo. 1:28:33.720 --> 1:28:37.920 He shows up and people were interrogated and he does 1:28:37.960 --> 1:28:40.599 not seem to have good intentions and almost immediately hits 1:28:40.640 --> 1:28:42.240 them up for a massive bribe. 1:28:42.640 --> 1:28:47.240 Yes, and he receives it. And this is when we 1:28:47.320 --> 1:28:51.839 get the infamous stop eating my sesame cake line twice 1:28:52.760 --> 1:28:57.160 because Tim Curry is back there kind of nervously nibbling 1:28:58.080 --> 1:29:01.280 the sesame cake and when he sees the money, like 1:29:01.280 --> 1:29:04.519 his mouth drops open. Like his expressions during this whole scene, 1:29:04.600 --> 1:29:08.320 he is just like a befuddled, terrified, out of his 1:29:08.479 --> 1:29:14.320 league villain who gets called out yeah by Delroy Lindo. 1:29:14.600 --> 1:29:17.599 He's like, oh, this piece of trash, Like we don't 1:29:17.760 --> 1:29:22.720 work with him. He's terrible, And it's just one of 1:29:22.760 --> 1:29:25.439 those things where you're watching it, you're like, wow, I mean, 1:29:25.479 --> 1:29:27.800 these performances are amazing, But how in the world did 1:29:27.840 --> 1:29:29.679 this get made? 1:29:31.000 --> 1:29:34.720 So Captain Wanta has up with this bribe and and 1:29:34.800 --> 1:29:37.599 Karen pays it like she basically has just an enormous 1:29:37.600 --> 1:29:40.000 amount of cash on her. There's this nice scene where 1:29:40.000 --> 1:29:43.680 Captain Wanta is then stapling the brown sack that he 1:29:43.720 --> 1:29:46.559 put the money into shut and he tells them that 1:29:46.640 --> 1:29:48.599 it's the gorilla that's going to get them across the border, 1:29:48.600 --> 1:29:51.920 because no one wants to be seen in Western media 1:29:51.960 --> 1:29:54.800 being cruel to the gorilla. And so it looks like 1:29:54.800 --> 1:29:55.879 they're going to get to continue. 1:29:56.160 --> 1:30:01.479 Yes, yes, So this brings us to like another plane trip. 1:30:02.880 --> 1:30:05.920 A lot of jokes about uh, doctor Elliott and Amy 1:30:05.960 --> 1:30:08.400 being a husband and wife, which I think we've already 1:30:08.439 --> 1:30:11.280 had some of those two, but people witnessing their interactions 1:30:13.640 --> 1:30:19.240 and some of the funniest, least believable parts of the 1:30:19.240 --> 1:30:24.680 movie I think take place in this section because they 1:30:24.760 --> 1:30:27.960 get shot at while they're in a plane. In this plane, 1:30:28.120 --> 1:30:31.800 after Amy has been fed some kind of drug in 1:30:31.840 --> 1:30:37.599 a banana to calm her down, by the way, and Laura, 1:30:37.680 --> 1:30:40.759 Lenny badass that she is, gets a flare gun, kicks 1:30:40.800 --> 1:30:46.160 open the door to the airplane and uses the flare 1:30:46.160 --> 1:30:50.400 gun too, I guess distract to send the heat seeking 1:30:50.439 --> 1:30:53.080 missiles that way, which I don't think is how it works. 1:30:56.920 --> 1:30:59.880 But it's quickly joined by Monroe Kelly's like, yeah, this 1:30:59.920 --> 1:31:02.080 is a good idea. We're going to help you. It's 1:31:02.080 --> 1:31:06.800 a really cool, like badass scene. I just questioned legitimacy. 1:31:07.200 --> 1:31:08.240 That's how it works. 1:31:08.800 --> 1:31:12.040 Yeah, So yeah, they fire off these flares. They're able 1:31:12.080 --> 1:31:15.880 to redirect the heat seeking ground to air missiles that 1:31:15.880 --> 1:31:19.200 are being fired at them by the military. But it 1:31:19.240 --> 1:31:21.000 looks like the plane's been hit. Everyone's gonna have to 1:31:21.040 --> 1:31:25.759 parachute anyway. So we get some shenanigans here where Homolka 1:31:25.840 --> 1:31:28.000 of course is cowardly and has to be booted out 1:31:28.000 --> 1:31:32.679 of the plane Monroe Kelly. He grabs a drugged Amy. 1:31:32.760 --> 1:31:34.759 Amy has been given the I think they later referred 1:31:34.760 --> 1:31:36.320 to it as the banana with the dope in it, 1:31:36.720 --> 1:31:39.240 so she has she's already had her dope banana. So 1:31:39.280 --> 1:31:42.599 he scoops her up and jumps out. Gear is being 1:31:42.680 --> 1:31:46.000 dropped as well, and uh yeah, then we're in the 1:31:46.120 --> 1:31:48.439 jungle proper at this point, and. 1:31:48.400 --> 1:31:50.559 I think this is when we start getting answers about 1:31:50.640 --> 1:31:52.640 what some of the characters are up to. So we 1:31:52.800 --> 1:31:56.479 hear a little bit about, you know, the city of Solomon, 1:31:56.520 --> 1:32:00.160 the last city of Zinge Monroe. Kelly reveals he as 1:32:00.200 --> 1:32:03.400 a past history of a terrible expedition that went wrong 1:32:03.439 --> 1:32:07.320 with hermoca and caring them out at the jungle. We 1:32:07.360 --> 1:32:12.320 also learn a bit more about Laura Lenni's character and 1:32:12.360 --> 1:32:14.439 what she's looking for because she has this what she says, 1:32:14.560 --> 1:32:19.679 is a gadget that has features like you know, her 1:32:19.840 --> 1:32:23.439 ex Cia past is kind of talked about. So we're 1:32:23.439 --> 1:32:26.800 getting at some of these answers, these character answers about 1:32:27.880 --> 1:32:30.880 what people are looking into. And also I would like 1:32:30.880 --> 1:32:32.720 to point out this is when I was like, oh, 1:32:32.800 --> 1:32:36.360 this is a volcanoo as well. Good to know. 1:32:37.800 --> 1:32:40.840 Yeah, and it's it's like what you bring a cannon 1:32:40.920 --> 1:32:43.840 on stage, right, you bring a volcano on into the picture. 1:32:43.920 --> 1:32:45.800 You know that volcano is erupting at the end of 1:32:45.800 --> 1:32:48.519 the film. Yes, so, but we'll get we'll get to 1:32:48.600 --> 1:32:50.439 that part. So and An you're right, Yeah, they set 1:32:50.520 --> 1:32:54.000 up camp. The tents are great, the AC units are 1:32:54.000 --> 1:32:56.800 passed out. We already talked about that. We get more. 1:32:57.920 --> 1:33:01.519 They spill more details about the Las city of Karen 1:33:01.560 --> 1:33:04.000 gets satellite gear set up, she checks in with Texas. 1:33:04.360 --> 1:33:06.559 They send her the creature analysis. They're like, we've we've 1:33:06.600 --> 1:33:09.320 done some work on the footage. It is gorilla alike, 1:33:09.560 --> 1:33:11.760 but maybe not a gorilla. And oh, by the way, 1:33:11.800 --> 1:33:14.439 that volcano is probably gonna blow up. And she's like, 1:33:14.520 --> 1:33:17.559 all right, fine, we can we can handle it. But 1:33:17.800 --> 1:33:20.240 they're not even able to finish the call because then 1:33:20.640 --> 1:33:25.040 Amy and Elliott come racing through the camp like children. 1:33:25.080 --> 1:33:28.120 They knock over the satellite gear and destroy it, like 1:33:28.160 --> 1:33:29.520 it's no longer functional. 1:33:29.880 --> 1:33:36.200 Yep, yep, just destroy her equipment. And this is also 1:33:36.240 --> 1:33:38.320 when the scene you mentioned when we see kind of 1:33:38.400 --> 1:33:42.640 this gear kind of overkill perhaps that Karen bought with 1:33:42.760 --> 1:33:47.519 the ac and the tents setting up with that. But yeah, 1:33:47.560 --> 1:33:54.240 now so now they're cut off from that and they've 1:33:54.280 --> 1:33:56.200 got to check through the jungle and they've got this 1:33:56.280 --> 1:34:01.000 volcano threat looming over them and a miss serious creature 1:34:01.080 --> 1:34:03.040 that is not a gorilla but close. 1:34:03.640 --> 1:34:06.559 Yeah, so we we get a fun scene at night 1:34:06.640 --> 1:34:09.280 where there are all these monkey sounds in the forests 1:34:09.400 --> 1:34:13.080 and everyone's a little wigged out except for Captain Monroe Kelly, 1:34:13.760 --> 1:34:15.800 and he has some some fun lines there, but then 1:34:15.840 --> 1:34:19.040 it rains, it mud slides. There's a ridiculous scene where 1:34:19.040 --> 1:34:21.680 somebody sees a snake and they're scary music and they 1:34:21.760 --> 1:34:24.479 chop the snake with a machete, a scene that serves 1:34:24.479 --> 1:34:27.040 no purpose in the film, just to say that, like, oh, 1:34:27.080 --> 1:34:29.920 and they're also snakes, but don't worry, they don't factor. 1:34:29.680 --> 1:34:32.080 Into the plot, right. And this is also where we 1:34:32.120 --> 1:34:37.840 get the leach scene on the penis. This is kind 1:34:37.880 --> 1:34:40.960 of like a montage of all of the stuff, the 1:34:41.080 --> 1:34:47.160 terrain and environment they're having to deal with. Inexplicable singing 1:34:47.240 --> 1:34:49.160 scene where they all start singing is also in this 1:34:49.280 --> 1:34:49.800 kind of section. 1:34:50.040 --> 1:34:55.840 Yell California. Also, Yeah, we also get members of a 1:34:55.920 --> 1:34:59.240 native tribe show up, the Ghost tribe they describe them 1:34:59.280 --> 1:35:03.320 as and they're like, hey, they they're doctor Monroquel, I 1:35:03.320 --> 1:35:05.800 mean Captain Monroe. Kelly can speak their language, so he 1:35:05.800 --> 1:35:07.960 speaks with them and he's like, hey, they have a 1:35:08.600 --> 1:35:10.760 they have a dead man or a nearly dead man, 1:35:11.880 --> 1:35:13.960 and they want us to see him. They he has 1:35:14.040 --> 1:35:17.479 this TC symbol on his clothing. Karen quickly realizes, well, 1:35:17.479 --> 1:35:19.600 that's my company. We need to see what this is 1:35:19.640 --> 1:35:23.120 all about. And they check in on this kind of 1:35:23.160 --> 1:35:26.519 like tribal ceremony that some sort of a funeral rite. 1:35:27.280 --> 1:35:30.080 It seems like it's maybe patterned after a scene from Baraka. 1:35:30.680 --> 1:35:33.400 I'm not sure on that, but it's it's it's impressive 1:35:33.400 --> 1:35:36.120 to watch and then they realize, Okay, is this man Charles. No, 1:35:36.200 --> 1:35:39.040 it's not. It's Bob, someone else from that group. He 1:35:39.120 --> 1:35:42.760 wakes up, he sees Amy the gorilla and immediately just 1:35:42.800 --> 1:35:44.000 freaks out to death. 1:35:44.160 --> 1:35:46.920 Which is classic classic scene if you know, being scared 1:35:46.920 --> 1:35:49.320 to death of something. I do think this is one 1:35:49.439 --> 1:35:53.120 scene that did a disservice to the like payoff, And 1:35:53.200 --> 1:35:55.639 I know they wanted the final product to be really scary, 1:35:55.680 --> 1:35:58.320 but they just weren't that scary. So like the fact 1:35:58.320 --> 1:36:01.320 that he sees Amy and is like it just really 1:36:01.360 --> 1:36:02.720 it was like it built it up and you're like, 1:36:02.760 --> 1:36:05.320 oh my gosh, this must be terrifying. It killed him, 1:36:05.320 --> 1:36:08.719 It scared him to death. I mean it was really 1:36:08.760 --> 1:36:12.599 it was effective. It served a lot in terms of 1:36:12.680 --> 1:36:17.120 building your fear and anxiety around whatever it is they're 1:36:17.160 --> 1:36:19.639 going to eventually face, so they keep going. 1:36:19.640 --> 1:36:21.360 They're not going to be deterred by this. There are 1:36:21.360 --> 1:36:26.400 more zing revelations King Solomon's legendary Diamond mine and the Congo. 1:36:27.080 --> 1:36:30.200 Others have sought it, none have come back, and Hamolka 1:36:30.200 --> 1:36:33.400 insists that Amy knows where the city is the open 1:36:33.439 --> 1:36:36.840 Eye symbol. She saw it in her dream. So they 1:36:36.960 --> 1:36:40.120 keep going and eventually they're traveling by boat at night 1:36:40.520 --> 1:36:45.760 and this is like straight up Disney Jungle cruise adventure here, 1:36:45.800 --> 1:36:48.479 but we get this terrifying hippo attack where the hippos 1:36:48.479 --> 1:36:51.519 are attacking the boat and then a plane is shot 1:36:51.600 --> 1:36:54.720 down in the night. It crashes and they're like, well, 1:36:55.200 --> 1:36:57.720 I don't know what that's about. That's bad. They reach 1:36:57.800 --> 1:37:01.880 the volcano, they two orders have run away. Amy wants 1:37:01.880 --> 1:37:05.160 her glove and at this point navigation is becoming difficult, 1:37:05.280 --> 1:37:09.840 like her little multipurpose device isn't really working, and Homolko says, well, 1:37:09.840 --> 1:37:14.280 we should let Amy lead us. Let Amy lead the expedition, 1:37:14.600 --> 1:37:16.599 and everyone's like, you know, he's right, we should let 1:37:16.640 --> 1:37:17.120 Amy leave. 1:37:18.360 --> 1:37:21.439 That's Gorilla knows where it is. I love that line 1:37:21.479 --> 1:37:24.880 so much. Yeah, so they're all like, yeah, let's follow, 1:37:25.320 --> 1:37:29.040 Let's follow Amy. And this leads us to another one 1:37:29.040 --> 1:37:31.240 of my very favorite scenes. This is when they meet 1:37:31.600 --> 1:37:35.120 at big silver back gorilla. And this is after they 1:37:35.200 --> 1:37:37.960 kind of transverse what seems to be straight up a volcano. 1:37:38.360 --> 1:37:40.120 I don't know that their path makes a lot of sense, 1:37:40.120 --> 1:37:44.479 but anyway, they meet this big silver back gorilla. Monroe 1:37:44.520 --> 1:37:50.200 tells Peter like, don't run gorillas as a challenge, and yes, 1:37:50.680 --> 1:37:53.679 he doesn't run. The gorilla backs away, and that's when 1:37:53.720 --> 1:37:57.120 Monroe realizes, like, oh, he did run away, and then 1:37:57.479 --> 1:38:00.080 I love this. Amy tries to communicate with the grill 1:38:00.280 --> 1:38:02.320 and they look at her and they're like nah, and 1:38:02.360 --> 1:38:03.280 they walk away. 1:38:04.479 --> 1:38:06.920 But it's it's sad. You watch it and you're like, oh, 1:38:07.200 --> 1:38:09.600 he was trying to communicate with the gorillas and she 1:38:09.680 --> 1:38:12.040 can't because she's been trained in this new system, and 1:38:12.720 --> 1:38:15.840 it's it's it's sad, it is, but we're holding out hope. 1:38:15.840 --> 1:38:18.160 We feel like she'll probably get another shot at this. 1:38:28.880 --> 1:38:31.680 So they press on, and it should come as no 1:38:31.760 --> 1:38:34.479 surprise they do find the lost city of Zinge. We 1:38:34.520 --> 1:38:38.559 see this fabulous looking, ruinous lost city with a big 1:38:39.120 --> 1:38:42.759 We see this like this head statue with these big eyes, 1:38:43.080 --> 1:38:46.320 and Homolka is just in tears. Uh. The eye on 1:38:46.400 --> 1:38:50.200 his ring matches the great statue. These amber eyes, and 1:38:50.240 --> 1:38:53.000 we get some just wonderful scene showing by Tim Curry here. 1:38:53.240 --> 1:38:55.920 Yeah, because he really does have an emotional moment and 1:38:55.960 --> 1:38:59.760 for all the cowardice he has and I'm this is 1:38:59.800 --> 1:39:02.080 big you're telling of his character, because he's still a 1:39:02.160 --> 1:39:06.280 huge coward. But he says I must go because he 1:39:06.280 --> 1:39:09.840 wants to go in. He wants to find these diamonds. 1:39:09.920 --> 1:39:12.880 And it's just like the culmination of everything he's been 1:39:12.920 --> 1:39:15.880 talking about. And he does have a line where I'm 1:39:15.960 --> 1:39:17.400 kind of like, I don't believe this at all, but 1:39:17.439 --> 1:39:21.400 he says we can all share, we can all share 1:39:21.520 --> 1:39:23.680 the loops of the diamonds if we go in. 1:39:26.520 --> 1:39:28.639 So at this point we are here in the last 1:39:28.640 --> 1:39:32.559 city of Zine. Obviously we have reached the final portion 1:39:32.640 --> 1:39:35.599 of the film, last thirty minutes of the film, and 1:39:35.680 --> 1:39:40.120 everything is about to just get really wild. So for Starters, 1:39:40.400 --> 1:39:43.120 the guns are out now killing his team or inspecting everything. 1:39:43.120 --> 1:39:47.439 They're wisely on guard because they realize some serious violence 1:39:47.479 --> 1:39:50.280 has gone down around here and they don't entirely know 1:39:50.320 --> 1:39:54.519 what's behind it. And Homolka tells them this story about 1:39:54.760 --> 1:39:59.920 the establishment of Solomon's mine here and the city around it, 1:40:00.080 --> 1:40:02.680 about how the savageness of the guards was famous, and 1:40:02.720 --> 1:40:05.360 then about how this it fell into ruin. But when 1:40:05.400 --> 1:40:06.880 they perhap press and they're like, why did it fall 1:40:06.920 --> 1:40:10.200 into ruin, He's like, nobody knows. But they're like, okay, 1:40:10.280 --> 1:40:12.639 let's go in and explore. So we're in full blown 1:40:12.840 --> 1:40:17.679 ruin exploration mode. And some of these scenes are effectively creepy, 1:40:17.760 --> 1:40:20.560 like the lighting is just right, you know, it's the 1:40:20.600 --> 1:40:22.799 typical shots you have in films like this of people 1:40:23.040 --> 1:40:29.560 pointing their flashlights at hieroglyphics and checking out hallways and 1:40:30.320 --> 1:40:32.559 you're just expecting something to jump out at any moment. 1:40:33.000 --> 1:40:36.360 Yes, and that's built by the fact that Amy was 1:40:36.760 --> 1:40:39.200 not feeling it. She did not want to come in, 1:40:40.479 --> 1:40:43.240 so some of them, some of the members of the 1:40:43.280 --> 1:40:48.360 group stayed outside. Amy stayed outside. And then there are 1:40:48.439 --> 1:40:54.800 these hieroglyphics on the wall that doctor Elliott translates and 1:40:55.520 --> 1:41:00.559 it basically boils down to they trained these gorillas to 1:41:00.680 --> 1:41:05.320 guard the mines on a volcano whose activity is getting 1:41:05.360 --> 1:41:08.960 more intense by the way, to guard the diamonds, and 1:41:09.000 --> 1:41:12.320 then the gorillas turned on the people there, and I 1:41:12.320 --> 1:41:16.479 guess have just been living there guarding the diamonds. Getting 1:41:17.360 --> 1:41:19.040 more and more violins. 1:41:20.280 --> 1:41:24.640 Yeah, and perhaps like imbread like it's a very small population. 1:41:24.800 --> 1:41:24.920 Yea. 1:41:25.360 --> 1:41:28.160 Every time we see the gray gorillas like they do 1:41:28.240 --> 1:41:30.640 look diseased. And I don't know how much of this 1:41:30.840 --> 1:41:33.479 is like seriously trying to figure out, like what is 1:41:33.479 --> 1:41:37.360 the genetic decline of a small population of primates's going 1:41:37.400 --> 1:41:39.280 to look like? And then how much of it is 1:41:40.080 --> 1:41:42.759 like notes coming back or the or from the stiff 1:41:42.760 --> 1:41:46.080 from the studio or just the effects team looking at it, like, well, 1:41:46.080 --> 1:41:49.479 how scary can we make these gorillas? And you look 1:41:49.479 --> 1:41:50.880 at when you look at them, like the sort of 1:41:50.920 --> 1:41:53.400 freeze frame of the of the grays that they look. 1:41:53.439 --> 1:41:55.559 They look very frightening. They did a great job making 1:41:55.640 --> 1:41:59.719 monstrous gorillas. It's just when it comes to actually seeing 1:41:59.760 --> 1:42:03.080 them moving around, I don't know. I think it probably 1:42:03.120 --> 1:42:04.920 does come back to the lighting and just some of 1:42:04.960 --> 1:42:09.679 the you know that perhaps you can imagine these costumes 1:42:09.760 --> 1:42:11.000 being better utilized. 1:42:11.040 --> 1:42:15.479 I don't know, Yes, absolutely, And there they were trying 1:42:15.520 --> 1:42:19.160 to do a lot of things I will say in 1:42:19.200 --> 1:42:23.040 this movie with special effects and technology, and one of 1:42:23.080 --> 1:42:27.599 the most bizarre and jarring ones is in this section. 1:42:27.800 --> 1:42:33.120 Because so Richard had stayed outside with Amy, and then 1:42:33.439 --> 1:42:40.840 he runs in screaming and is killed by this big, 1:42:41.600 --> 1:42:49.080 angry killer gorilla. And the group you know, tries to 1:42:49.080 --> 1:42:53.200 to shoot at this gorilla and it's like inexplicable stop 1:42:53.360 --> 1:42:58.040 motion camera work, like it's out of nowhere. They don't 1:42:58.080 --> 1:43:02.000 do it again. It just felt like, oh, let's let's 1:43:02.040 --> 1:43:04.920 experiment with this, and I do again. I go. That 1:43:05.040 --> 1:43:07.559 makes me wonder how much of it was, Oh, this 1:43:07.600 --> 1:43:09.479 is new technology we could try, but also how much 1:43:09.520 --> 1:43:13.360 of it was these costumes aren't working out like we thought, 1:43:13.479 --> 1:43:14.479 or like maybe yeah. 1:43:14.400 --> 1:43:17.000 Or at least the resulting footage was not as scary 1:43:17.000 --> 1:43:19.120 as we thought what it might be. What can we do, 1:43:19.240 --> 1:43:22.920 Let's tinker with it until we have something that creates 1:43:22.920 --> 1:43:24.120 more of an emotional response. 1:43:24.520 --> 1:43:27.559 Yes, absolutely, I feel like that's another thing every review 1:43:27.560 --> 1:43:30.799 mentions is that, like where did that come from? 1:43:31.160 --> 1:43:34.160 Yeah? But at this point, like everybody's basically in the 1:43:34.200 --> 1:43:35.599 mode of like, Okay, I guess we need to get 1:43:35.640 --> 1:43:38.360 out of here because gorillas are attacking us. Amy shows 1:43:38.439 --> 1:43:42.000 up for a nice jump scare. One great gorilla has 1:43:42.000 --> 1:43:44.719 been taken down, but there are more. They leave the ruins, 1:43:44.720 --> 1:43:49.160 they find more bodies. Hamolka thinks this is whine the 1:43:49.240 --> 1:43:51.880 mines had to close down in ancient times. I guess 1:43:52.000 --> 1:43:54.679 makes sense. Killer gorillas. So they go back to camp 1:43:55.320 --> 1:43:58.360 and it's tech time because Amy gloves up and starts 1:43:58.360 --> 1:44:01.080 talking about the bad gorillas. And then in one of 1:44:01.120 --> 1:44:03.439 the I can't even honestly remember if this was in 1:44:03.439 --> 1:44:05.080 the book or not. I think it might have been, 1:44:05.479 --> 1:44:08.720 but at this point the team Karen and or the 1:44:08.720 --> 1:44:12.000 team remember, oh yeah, amid the gear that we have, 1:44:12.280 --> 1:44:15.479 we have automated machine gun drones that we can set 1:44:15.560 --> 1:44:19.240 up that use lasers to detect movement and will fire 1:44:19.320 --> 1:44:23.240 at anything. And they set this up around the perimeter 1:44:23.320 --> 1:44:28.200 of the camp. And I remember loving this in the 1:44:28.240 --> 1:44:30.120 film and perhaps in the book if it was in 1:44:30.160 --> 1:44:33.320 the book when I was younger, but especially now, you like, 1:44:33.439 --> 1:44:36.720 this is just so ridiculous. This is just ludicrous that 1:44:36.800 --> 1:44:40.560 they brought automated machine gun Like what was the original 1:44:41.240 --> 1:44:44.080 like rationale behind this was that just killer gorillas may 1:44:44.080 --> 1:44:46.599 show up in the hundreds, we will need machine gun 1:44:46.720 --> 1:44:49.840 drones because otherwise, it's, like you were, these are like 1:44:49.880 --> 1:44:54.200 weapons of war you're bringing into this other country, right. 1:44:54.000 --> 1:44:56.759 And people could have shown up, like anything could have happened, 1:44:58.840 --> 1:45:01.960 and they also have so Laura Lenny is cool as 1:45:01.960 --> 1:45:04.400 a cucumber during this part, by the way, and they 1:45:04.439 --> 1:45:07.559 set up a laptop, an old laptop, and she can 1:45:07.640 --> 1:45:10.160 like see their shapes on it, like see where they 1:45:10.200 --> 1:45:14.800 are and how many of them are. But it I mean, again, 1:45:15.040 --> 1:45:16.880 I think the lighting didn't really work in the scene. 1:45:16.880 --> 1:45:19.479 But it could have been really scary because you would 1:45:19.520 --> 1:45:22.800 just see like the guns turn shoot at something. The 1:45:22.880 --> 1:45:26.320 lasers were kind of goofy, but like the seeing this turn. 1:45:26.439 --> 1:45:30.600 You couldn't really necessarily see where the gorillas were, but 1:45:30.640 --> 1:45:34.120 they were all around. Like it ended up feeling very 1:45:36.040 --> 1:45:38.479 humorous and over the top where I think it could 1:45:38.520 --> 1:45:41.280 have been scary. I'm not sure that this movie ever 1:45:41.320 --> 1:45:45.400 succeeds really it being scary. I think it's much more 1:45:45.439 --> 1:45:47.240 a fun action romp. So I don't know that it 1:45:47.240 --> 1:45:50.920 would have worked anyway given the rest of what we've 1:45:50.960 --> 1:45:57.320 seen already. But yeah, it's like fireworks and lasers, guns 1:45:57.360 --> 1:45:58.440 and chiller rapes. 1:45:58.640 --> 1:46:00.960 It feels kind of like like this is Hongo the Ride, 1:46:02.080 --> 1:46:04.160 which isn't too much of a knock because what is 1:46:04.200 --> 1:46:06.400 a blockbuster film? Like, it's kind of like the approach 1:46:06.479 --> 1:46:10.080 to a big like Disneyland ride or a Blockbuster film. 1:46:10.120 --> 1:46:12.360 It's kind of the same energy, so I guess it's 1:46:12.360 --> 1:46:14.800 fine that they feel it feels much the same here. 1:46:15.080 --> 1:46:19.400 Yes, and then it's buttoned with Hermolka saying I've translated 1:46:19.600 --> 1:46:23.559 this phrase and it says we are watching you. So 1:46:23.600 --> 1:46:26.800 it's kind of this like goofy action set piece and 1:46:26.880 --> 1:46:31.000 then oh wait, go back to scary stuff. 1:46:32.080 --> 1:46:32.320 Yeah. 1:46:33.000 --> 1:46:34.320 Yeah. 1:46:34.439 --> 1:46:37.759 So the next morning, people are missing, including Amy and Homolka. 1:46:38.600 --> 1:46:42.040 Amy's out wandering. She encounters the other gorillas again. They 1:46:42.080 --> 1:46:45.400 acknowledge her this time, but they're they're standoffish, so it 1:46:45.439 --> 1:46:52.280 seems like some progress is being made in Amy gorilla relations. Meanwhile, 1:46:52.320 --> 1:46:54.439 the team heads back into the ruins and they're just 1:46:54.600 --> 1:46:56.680 armed to the teeth. They just just bringing all the 1:46:56.720 --> 1:47:00.719 guns this time, and they find evidence on the walls. 1:47:00.720 --> 1:47:03.240 They find more not hieroglyphics this time, but more like 1:47:03.280 --> 1:47:08.320 actual images that are te like sequential art, and it 1:47:08.400 --> 1:47:13.280 seems that the gorillas were bred using gorillas and humans apparently, 1:47:14.040 --> 1:47:16.680 and to serve as guardians for the mines, but they 1:47:16.680 --> 1:47:19.559 eventually turned on their masters, and they find the bones 1:47:19.600 --> 1:47:22.280 of normal gorillas with crushed skulls. 1:47:22.360 --> 1:47:25.920 Yes, quite a few. Yeah, and this is when we 1:47:26.000 --> 1:47:30.719 see Amy, who's like the volcano it's shaking, it's about 1:47:30.760 --> 1:47:34.120 to go off. Some of the building collapses. So Amy 1:47:34.800 --> 1:47:37.800 is determined to help our human friends to fight these 1:47:37.840 --> 1:47:42.559 bad gorillas, grabs her asl gear and makes her way 1:47:43.360 --> 1:47:45.400 to the temple to the building. 1:47:45.479 --> 1:47:48.720 And so here we are the team. Eventually they have 1:47:48.760 --> 1:47:50.960 some trouble. It seems like they're the mines may be 1:47:51.080 --> 1:47:53.599 closed off, and then of course there's seismic activity and 1:47:53.760 --> 1:47:55.840 there are cave ins, and so they just keep going, 1:47:55.880 --> 1:47:59.040 you know, very very dungeons and dragons at this point like, okay, 1:47:59.080 --> 1:48:01.040 we got we got to keep the party moving deeper 1:48:01.080 --> 1:48:05.639 into the dungeon here and then they emerge into well 1:48:06.439 --> 1:48:08.240 dungeons and dragging theons wives. This would be when the 1:48:08.320 --> 1:48:11.320 dungeon master would pull out the feature map where the 1:48:11.320 --> 1:48:13.920 big battle is going to take place. It's this is 1:48:13.920 --> 1:48:16.640 apparently the mine. It's kind of this little valley with 1:48:17.040 --> 1:48:21.040 the stream going through it. They're all these like alcoves 1:48:21.160 --> 1:48:24.680 or cave openings in the walls, and the ground is 1:48:24.760 --> 1:48:28.120 just filthy with blue diamonds, like they're just poking up 1:48:28.120 --> 1:48:31.360 out of the ground like like big diamond baseballs. 1:48:31.640 --> 1:48:33.400 Yeah, you're right, that is very d and d like, 1:48:33.520 --> 1:48:37.920 look at these shiny things. I know you want them, 1:48:38.320 --> 1:48:41.519 no problem here, and Harmocha he can't resist. He's like 1:48:41.600 --> 1:48:45.080 immediately just shoving these diamonds into his bag. 1:48:45.760 --> 1:48:50.400 Yes, oh yeah, he kisses one of them. And meanwhile, 1:48:50.400 --> 1:48:53.400 the great gorillas are starting to file out there. It 1:48:53.479 --> 1:48:54.960 is kind of creepy at first because they are in 1:48:55.000 --> 1:48:58.000 the shadows a bit, but then they're they're they're actively 1:48:58.040 --> 1:49:01.240 coming out. They're like, okay, we're on this is what 1:49:01.280 --> 1:49:04.360 we were trained for. We did kill all of our trainers, 1:49:04.360 --> 1:49:08.360 but this is why we live here. And so yeah, 1:49:08.400 --> 1:49:10.840 great shots of great gorillas creeping in the dark. We 1:49:10.880 --> 1:49:15.479 see some flashes of their monster faces. And now Homolka 1:49:15.520 --> 1:49:18.400 has gone too far. He realizes too late that he 1:49:18.520 --> 1:49:21.559 was too concerned with scooping up diamonds and that death 1:49:21.640 --> 1:49:22.679 is all around him now. 1:49:23.240 --> 1:49:27.360 Yeah, and he does have probably the most one of 1:49:27.400 --> 1:49:31.760 the most violent doths we see on the screen, because no, 1:49:31.800 --> 1:49:37.280 the killer gorillas are not happy about this, and they 1:49:38.320 --> 1:49:42.640 they kill him quite violently. And this is when the 1:49:42.640 --> 1:49:45.400 rest of the party is like, oh wow, there are 1:49:45.400 --> 1:49:48.080 a lot of these killer gorillas they're going to kill 1:49:48.160 --> 1:49:53.040 us all. So they all start getting out their weapons. 1:49:53.800 --> 1:49:58.519 They discover a geode, a giant diamond, and they also 1:49:58.720 --> 1:50:00.640 as they're kind of running away trying to find a 1:50:00.640 --> 1:50:04.719 way out, they find Karen's ex Charlie, amongst a bunch 1:50:04.760 --> 1:50:07.760 of like other bones and stuff, and she takes his 1:50:07.840 --> 1:50:11.000 satellite gun thing and puts a diamond in it. 1:50:11.479 --> 1:50:13.439 Right, Yeah, she has a laser gun. 1:50:13.760 --> 1:50:15.280 And now she has a laser gun. 1:50:15.560 --> 1:50:19.000 Yeah, so the battle, Yeah, the battle continues to rage here. 1:50:19.479 --> 1:50:24.000 It's soldiers and party members versus killer Greg gorillas. Looks 1:50:24.040 --> 1:50:27.720 like they're deaths on both sides, and you know, we 1:50:27.840 --> 1:50:31.240 found Charlie, and it seems like the gorillas are are 1:50:31.280 --> 1:50:34.280 gaining ground. They're they're killing left and right, and it 1:50:34.320 --> 1:50:37.760 looks like they're moving in to kill Elliott. And then 1:50:37.800 --> 1:50:41.160 Amy jumps into the rescue and she says, ugly gorillas, 1:50:41.280 --> 1:50:44.320 Ugly go away. And this is a nice moment because 1:50:44.320 --> 1:50:47.960 you kind of expect when this happens, you're like, oh, no, Amy, 1:50:48.000 --> 1:50:49.760 they don't know what you're saying. They're not going to 1:50:49.840 --> 1:50:52.360 listen to you. But the Greg Gorillas are thrown off 1:50:52.360 --> 1:50:54.519 on this. They're like, whoa wait, this is a gorilla. Guys, 1:50:54.560 --> 1:50:56.360 we've got to at least hear her out, or they're 1:50:56.360 --> 1:50:57.400 at least confused by it. 1:50:57.560 --> 1:50:59.360 Yeah, I think that's what. I think. It's inn rosa. 1:50:59.400 --> 1:51:01.120 It's like they don't know what to make. They don't 1:51:01.120 --> 1:51:05.000 know what to make. They're just confused. And here in 1:51:05.080 --> 1:51:09.679 comes one of the best lines because Laurel Annie doctor 1:51:09.760 --> 1:51:13.519 Karen Ras shows up with this laser gun and she 1:51:13.680 --> 1:51:16.800 says of the like great killer apes, put them on 1:51:16.840 --> 1:51:20.479 the endangered species list, and then starts shooting them with 1:51:20.560 --> 1:51:23.960 a beam of blue laser, just like arms flying off. 1:51:24.560 --> 1:51:29.960 Body's getting cut in half, and when asked what she's using, 1:51:30.000 --> 1:51:36.040 she calls it the latest thing in communication. It's just 1:51:36.280 --> 1:51:42.160 wild and ludicrous and absurd. Just this killer gorilla is 1:51:42.160 --> 1:51:45.720 getting just decimated by a laser. 1:51:46.320 --> 1:51:48.639 Yeah, just straight up cut in half by this thing. 1:51:49.040 --> 1:51:51.600 And then we cut to the outside and the volcano 1:51:51.800 --> 1:51:55.640 is erupting, and it's I think I laughed at this 1:51:55.720 --> 1:52:00.160 point because the footage or the or the sequence we 1:52:00.200 --> 1:52:03.719 see from Afar of the volcano erupting is so intense 1:52:03.800 --> 1:52:05.880 that I felt like, well, there's no way everyone would 1:52:05.920 --> 1:52:08.599 just be killed instantly by this thing. They're like inside 1:52:08.600 --> 1:52:12.080 this volcano or inside the mountain when this level of 1:52:12.080 --> 1:52:15.599 a volcanic event is taking place. But it's a movie volcano, 1:52:15.680 --> 1:52:17.400 so the rules are a little different, like lava is 1:52:17.439 --> 1:52:20.960 not actually hot unless you're in it, and other rules 1:52:21.000 --> 1:52:21.599 like that apply. 1:52:22.040 --> 1:52:25.920 Yes, and I do think it is a rule in 1:52:25.960 --> 1:52:28.719 these action adventure movies you got to have your classic 1:52:28.840 --> 1:52:31.040 like the set is falling apart at the end, like 1:52:31.560 --> 1:52:34.000 everything is collapsing and you've got to get out. And 1:52:34.040 --> 1:52:36.200 so that's what this scene is is very much like 1:52:36.560 --> 1:52:41.160 you know, ground, the ground is falling, pieces of like stone, 1:52:41.439 --> 1:52:45.240 all these structures are falling. We get to see another 1:52:45.840 --> 1:52:49.600 odd scene of like gorillas jumping in the lava. The 1:52:49.640 --> 1:52:53.000 killer Gorilla's jumping in to the lava and dying. But yeah, 1:52:53.040 --> 1:52:55.559 this is very much that, like, oh, we're in the 1:52:55.640 --> 1:52:59.680 end game now the entire set is collapsing. 1:53:00.560 --> 1:53:00.880 Yep. 1:53:01.439 --> 1:53:03.240 We also get us sing. They make it out of 1:53:03.280 --> 1:53:06.040 the mountain and of course the ground opens up. There's 1:53:06.080 --> 1:53:09.080 this huge chasm that opens in the earth, and so 1:53:09.240 --> 1:53:11.400 Karen whips out that laser gun again use it to 1:53:11.400 --> 1:53:14.200 cut down a tree to make a bridge that they 1:53:14.200 --> 1:53:16.840 all escape over. And meanwhile, the city of Zene is 1:53:16.920 --> 1:53:18.639 just crumbling into ruin behind them. 1:53:18.960 --> 1:53:23.519 Oh inge, yes, and this brings us to one of 1:53:23.560 --> 1:53:25.800 my very very favorite things, because I can't stress enough. 1:53:26.280 --> 1:53:30.000 They escape via a hot air balloon. Yeah, and on 1:53:30.040 --> 1:53:35.400 my rewatch one too many rewatches, they do hint at 1:53:35.400 --> 1:53:38.840 this hot air balloon throughout Yeah, yeah, because earlier on 1:53:39.400 --> 1:53:41.760 they kind of joked with doctor Ross like do you 1:53:41.800 --> 1:53:43.479 really need a hot air balloon and she said no, 1:53:45.280 --> 1:53:47.519 well here they are. 1:53:49.520 --> 1:53:52.000 And but before that happens, though, she does check back 1:53:52.000 --> 1:53:54.679 in with Houston though. Remember she she gets some gear 1:53:54.720 --> 1:53:57.559 off of that crash that second plane, she fixes her 1:53:57.600 --> 1:54:01.479 satellite system, calls back, and this is a nice little 1:54:01.479 --> 1:54:05.719 sequence where she touches base with Travis and she tells 1:54:05.800 --> 1:54:09.360 him about his son. She's like, yeah, Charles's dad, I 1:54:09.600 --> 1:54:13.760 have to confirm this. And of course does Travis say, 1:54:13.560 --> 1:54:15.680 take a moment to reflect on this. No, He's like, 1:54:15.760 --> 1:54:18.560 tell me about those diamonds. I want those blue diamonds. 1:54:18.840 --> 1:54:22.640 Yes, And I mean he doesn't even ask about the 1:54:22.680 --> 1:54:25.200 crew because everybody on that plane was working for him, Like, yeah, 1:54:25.479 --> 1:54:28.920 there's a blind earlier where Laurelinni is like, this is 1:54:28.960 --> 1:54:31.519 such needless loss of life. But yeah, He's immediately like, 1:54:32.040 --> 1:54:34.720 did you get the diamond? And she Laurel Nnie, She's 1:54:34.720 --> 1:54:39.680 got a good cold, like calculated face, is realizing this 1:54:40.280 --> 1:54:43.000 and she says, you remember what I told you. If 1:54:43.080 --> 1:54:44.880 I ever got the hint that you sent me out 1:54:44.920 --> 1:54:47.080 here for anything other than Charlie, I would make you sorry. 1:54:47.200 --> 1:54:49.120 And then she does a bunch of technobabble that doesn't 1:54:49.160 --> 1:54:51.720 make any sense. I'm convinced, but she puts it in 1:54:51.760 --> 1:54:55.320 the coordinates of the satellite into this diamond laser gun 1:54:56.200 --> 1:55:01.200 and then Presto blows up his very fancy satellite. 1:55:01.520 --> 1:55:07.800 She blows up a satellite. Yeah, yes, yes, yeah, and 1:55:07.840 --> 1:55:11.520 then she's like yeah in transmission obviously, and moves on 1:55:11.600 --> 1:55:14.240 for then may bust out the balloon. They get in 1:55:14.240 --> 1:55:15.960 the balloon and at this point, yeah, it's just what 1:55:16.520 --> 1:55:18.680 it's Ross Elliott and Kelly. 1:55:18.720 --> 1:55:18.880 Oh. 1:55:18.880 --> 1:55:20.920 But before that, Amy goes off into the wild. We 1:55:20.960 --> 1:55:25.000 finally gets a third try. Will the gorillas accept me? 1:55:26.000 --> 1:55:30.080 Will the silverback gorilla potentially marry me? And yeah, she 1:55:30.200 --> 1:55:32.520 goes They say yeah, come on, and so she moves 1:55:32.560 --> 1:55:34.840 on to be with the silverback gorilla and is like 1:55:34.920 --> 1:55:35.720 three other wives. 1:55:36.040 --> 1:55:38.560 Yes, it is a very touch and good vibe between Peter, 1:55:38.760 --> 1:55:41.760 doctor Elliott, and Amy, who he had been adamant throughout, 1:55:41.760 --> 1:55:43.360 like this is where she belongs, even though she'd have 1:55:43.520 --> 1:55:46.400 these clear signs that it was gonna be difficult for 1:55:46.400 --> 1:55:48.280 her to adapt, and even her mocal was like, this 1:55:48.400 --> 1:55:54.080 is not gonna work. But he they have this fawn farewell. 1:55:54.840 --> 1:55:56.560 This is also a very funny part to me where 1:55:56.560 --> 1:56:00.520 suddenly his shirt is like wide open and I'm like, 1:56:00.640 --> 1:56:04.360 you were trying. You guys were really trying, very very nineties. 1:56:04.400 --> 1:56:08.640 But yeah, now it's the three. It's Karen, Monroe and 1:56:08.680 --> 1:56:13.360 Peter in his hot air balloon floating off. Karen asked 1:56:13.360 --> 1:56:17.560 Peter to throw away the diamond, which he does, and 1:56:17.760 --> 1:56:21.240 Roe is not happy about that. I did find it 1:56:21.280 --> 1:56:23.800 interesting that they kind of have this like lovely escape 1:56:23.800 --> 1:56:25.840 in hot air balloon, but like their plane had been 1:56:25.880 --> 1:56:28.600 shot down, like two planes had been shot down. I 1:56:28.640 --> 1:56:32.800 don't know, maybe these are not questions I should be asking, 1:56:34.400 --> 1:56:37.760 but yeah, that's I mean, the hot air balloon is 1:56:37.760 --> 1:56:40.720 what really got me. I was not anticipating that. And 1:56:40.720 --> 1:56:42.240 there's a lot of things. There was a lot of 1:56:42.240 --> 1:56:44.200 build up of like, oh wow, there's a talking gorilla, 1:56:44.240 --> 1:56:45.720 Oh wow, she drinks, Martine. There was a lot of 1:56:45.760 --> 1:56:47.840 things I could never have anticipated, to be honest, but 1:56:47.920 --> 1:56:49.840 that was the final thing where I was like, Wow, 1:56:49.920 --> 1:56:52.320 they are escaping. They a hot air balloon. 1:56:53.400 --> 1:56:56.520 Yeah. Yeah, they take off and they look at the 1:56:56.560 --> 1:56:58.960 diamond one last time and then they throw it over 1:56:59.000 --> 1:56:59.879 the side. 1:57:00.520 --> 1:57:02.520 Yes, and I think we get another We get one 1:57:02.560 --> 1:57:06.320 more shot of Amy who looks happy in her new Yes, 1:57:06.720 --> 1:57:08.680 her new crew. She looks like she's going to live 1:57:08.680 --> 1:57:09.320 a good life. 1:57:09.520 --> 1:57:11.120 And that's the end of the movie. That's Congo. 1:57:12.440 --> 1:57:16.840 What a ride? All right? 1:57:16.960 --> 1:57:19.720 Well, Annie, thanks for joining me here on this episode 1:57:19.720 --> 1:57:22.800 of Weird House. This was a lot of fun rewatching 1:57:23.840 --> 1:57:25.560 Congo and then discussing it with you here. 1:57:25.800 --> 1:57:27.960 Yes, thank you, thank you, Thank you so much for 1:57:28.000 --> 1:57:29.400 having me. It was so fun. 1:57:30.240 --> 1:57:35.600 Absolutely so again. Your your podcasts are stuff Mom never 1:57:35.640 --> 1:57:38.600 told you and Savor people can find those wherever you 1:57:38.600 --> 1:57:41.400 get your podcasts. Have have you done any movie related 1:57:41.400 --> 1:57:43.360 episodes of either of the shows recently? 1:57:44.080 --> 1:57:46.120 Well, we do once a month. We do Feminist Movie 1:57:46.160 --> 1:57:50.480 Friday and sometimes Spoiled Saturdays on stuff I've never told you. 1:57:50.520 --> 1:57:53.919 We just did for Savior, we just did Pans Labyrinth. 1:57:54.320 --> 1:57:57.320 It's kind of like a nice Halloween because it's her savor. 1:57:57.400 --> 1:58:01.880 We do like foods in fictional proper, so I would 1:58:01.880 --> 1:58:02.840 recommend that for sure. 1:58:03.120 --> 1:58:07.320 Excellent. All right, well, yeah, you can find those shows 1:58:07.320 --> 1:58:10.040 wherever you get your podcast everyone, And just a reminder 1:58:10.040 --> 1:58:14.040 that Weird House Cinema is a show on Fridays and 1:58:14.040 --> 1:58:16.200 the Stuff to Blow your Mind podcast feed. We're primarily 1:58:16.240 --> 1:58:18.680 a science podcast, but on Fridays we set aside most 1:58:18.680 --> 1:58:21.640 serious concerns to just talk about a weird film. If 1:58:21.680 --> 1:58:24.360 you want to follow the films that we've covered here, 1:58:24.440 --> 1:58:27.280 I blog about them at simmutamusic dot com. But also 1:58:27.400 --> 1:58:30.080 we have a letterboxed account that's l E T T 1:58:30.240 --> 1:58:32.560 E R b o x d dot com. You can 1:58:32.600 --> 1:58:35.640 look us up. Our username is weird House and there's 1:58:35.680 --> 1:58:37.120 a list there and you can see all the films 1:58:37.160 --> 1:58:40.800 we've done in order, and also include links to where 1:58:40.840 --> 1:58:43.240 you can listen to them, and also sometimes go ahead 1:58:43.360 --> 1:58:45.400 and give you a preview of what's coming up next. 1:58:45.800 --> 1:58:49.200 Thanks as always to Seth Nicholas Johnson for producing the 1:58:49.240 --> 1:58:52.240 show here and stitching everything together. And if you would 1:58:52.280 --> 1:58:54.720 like to reach out and if you have anything to 1:58:54.760 --> 1:58:58.320 say about Congo, if you have suggestions, for the future. Well, 1:58:58.400 --> 1:59:00.800 you can email us at contact had Stuff to Blow 1:59:00.840 --> 1:59:09.040 Your Mind dot com. 1:59:09.200 --> 1:59:12.120 Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 1:59:12.200 --> 1:59:16.040 more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 1:59:16.120 --> 1:59:17.920 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.