Leofwine_draca KING KONG LIVES is undoubtedly the worst KING KONG movie in existence, a film even worse than the remake which it follows. It's hard to imagine that a director who put out an all-time classic like THE TOWERING INFERNO was capable of making something this bad, but there you go. This film was written by the excellent novelist Steven Pressfield, but he has none of the talent on display that he would bring to a novel like GATES OF FIRE. The cheesy, family-friendly story sees Kong surviving his fall from the World Trade Center before hooking up with a mate, so expect lots of cutesy material and a ton of '80s-era cheese. Linda Hamilton has never looked more attractive than she does here, but she, like the rest of the humour cast, are wasted and merely deliver one trite line after another. The man-in-a-suit special effects look particularly bad given the era while this is the kind of film which just drags on and on with no end in sight. My recommendation? Give it a wide berth.

Stephen Abell It took a long time to make a sequel to the remake of King Kong from 1979... and I can see why... lack of a decent story. And it's the story and ropy special effects that hurt this film.So the movie opens with the ending of the 1979 remake; Kong's fall from the tower. However, he doesn't die. As the years pass the doctors realise his heart is failing and his blood is poisoned. They could fit an artificial heart but without a transfusion, Kong will die. Enter Hank Mitchell (Kerwin), who whilst exploring the African continent comes across a second giant gorilla... phew, just in time to save the plotline... Even better for the plot, the ape is female. Against the lead doctor's advice, Amy Franklin (Hamilton), the college assigned to study Kong ship the female across, instead of just taking her blood. Of course, when you put two giant apes together, of different genders, things are bound to get amorous and frisky. As with humans, love and lust can drive apes to do desperate deeds. However, instead of running amuck, the apes settle down to domestic bliss... which totally upsets Lt Col Nevitt as he has some really expensive weapons to play with... and Goddamnit, he's gonna play with them and so sets out to destroy the happy couple.Okay, so I'm making light of the story plot, but hey, that, in a nutshell, is the story. For a creature feature, there's way too many scenes of Mr & Mrs K sitting around picking racoons off of each other. Also, the fact that it's two men in Gorilla costumes is so evident it's laughable, especially today. This section of the film doesn't wear well after an age. However, it's the other effects that add strength to the action sequences of the film. The fight scenes between apes and army are well done and are paced so well as to actually be exciting.The other thing that carries the film is the acting. Though the leads, Brian Kerwin and Linda Hamilton are very good in their roles, it was John Ashton as Nevitt that made this film for me.I'd not really recommend this film to anybody. To be truthful, the original movie is still superb and better than this, let alone the Peter Jackson Remake and the latest action flick Kong: Skull Island, both of which are superior in every way. Though if you like your monster movies with a heavy dose of cheesiness then maybe you can give this a go... it does have it's good points.

Desertman84 King Kong Lives, also known as King Kong II, is the sequel to the remake of the classic by Dino De Laurentiis. It stars Linda Hamilton and Brian Kerwin.The trouble happens in paradise instead of New York City this time around.King Kong, after being shot down from the World Trade Center, is kept alive in a coma for about 10 years at the Atlanta Institute.He is under the supervision of Dr. Amy Franklin. In order to save his life, she must perform a heart transplant and give him a computer- monitored artificial heart. However, he lost so much blood that a transfusion is badly needed. But things go awry when adventurer Hank "Mitch" Mitchell captures a giant female gorilla and brought her in the institution so her blood can be used for the operation. The transfusion and the heart transplant are a success, but King Kong escapes along with the female ape creates havoc and destruction into the place.After a fair remake in 1976,the sequel becomes one bad movie.It was truly a disaster as the screenplay was thinly written,the characters lack depth,the special effects were mediocre and it was boring from beginning to end.Added to that,we also have a dull cast that had a forgettable performance and the ape even looks bored rather than scary while wreaking havoc and fighting the military.

Movieman Don't get me wrong: I love King Kong. It's my file photo for God's sake. But not killing Kong off after what he had been through for Ann was just unacceptable. May I remind you that Kong just fell off the World Trade Center (Yes, in the 1976 version Kong falls off the Twin Towers)? Kong spends 10 years in hospital and ends up surviving after a blood transplant from a female ape. So the race is on for America to capture Kong and his new bride. This movie features terrible ape costumes (Probably Peter Elliot as Kong). Well that is what you get when you keep a fictional gorilla going on for way to long. So if you like weird spin offs like 'Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan' then this movie is for you!