Congo (film)
Encyclopedia
Congo is a 1995 action adventure film, based on the novel of the same name
by Michael Crichton
. It was directed by Frank Marshall and stars Laura Linney
, Dylan Walsh
, Tim Curry
, Ernie Hudson
, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
, Grant Heslov
, and Joe Don Baker
. The film was released on June 9, 1995 by Paramount Pictures
. Although the film did well at the box office, it was panned by critics due to the use of costumes and puppetry for the gorillas in the film.
), the ex-fiancé of electronics expert Dr. Karen Ross (Linney
), testing a diamond-powered communications laser in a remote part of the Congo situated on a dormant volcano. Charles' friend Jeffrey is excited over discovering the ruins of an ancient city, but when he enters a cave to retrieve his bag, he is killed and mutilated offscreen. Whatever killed him throws his eyeball at Charles and attacks from off-screen. Several minutes after the attack, Karen, who is waiting in the company's Houston headquarters for Charles to communicate via satellite, activates the video feed on his camera. Karen and her team are shocked to see a destroyed camp and several dead bodies. Before they can see much more, a shadowy animal rushes to the camera and knocks it over, ending the transmission. TraviCom CEO R.B. Travis (Baker
), Charles' father, reveals that the purpose of exploring the Congo is to find a rare blue diamond expected to only exist at volcanic sites to expand his communication technologies. He orders Karen, who's former CIA
, to finish what Charles started, namely to find the diamonds. She makes him promise that he is sending her there for his son, and not simply for the diamonds.
Meanwhile, Dr. Peter Elliott (Walsh
), a young primatologist at the University of California at Berkeley, and his assistant Richard (Heslov
) have devised a way to teach human communication to primates using a gorilla named Amy (voiced by Shayna Fox
). With a special backpack and glove, her sign language
is translated to a digitized voice. Despite the success, however, Peter is concerned over the fact that Amy is having nightmares and psychological problems that have only been partly quelled by constantly painting the same picture of an eye surrounded by trees. Peter figures out that she is painting a jungle and decides to return her to Africa, but the university is reluctant to fund the expedition. Peter is then approached by a Romania
n philanthropist
, Herkermer Homolka (Curry
), who offers to fund the expedition. Karen, hoping to find Charles, joins Peter and provides additional funding for his trip.
Upon arriving in Africa, the group is met by their expert guide, Captain Munro Kelly (Hudson
). However, they are soon captured by the local authorities and questioned by a military leader (Delroy Lindo
) who grants them passage in exchange for a large bribe. As the group boards another plane, Monroe reveals that Homolka has led previous safaris in search of the "Lost City of Zinj", with disastrous results. The group covertly crosses the sealed Zaire
border but must parachute into the jungle after their plane is shot down by Zairean soldiers. They make camp in the jungle and Karen sets up equipment to contact TraviCom via satellite. Just as she begins the video feed to Travis in Houston, Peter and Amy, who were rough-housing nearby, knock over the equipment abruptly. Travis, thinking this meant a second attack identical to the first, quickly sends in a third team. The next morning, members of a ghost tribe enter the camp, claiming to have seen a dead white man with the TraviCom logo on his clothes.
The ghost tribe members lead the team to the man, a member of the original TraviCom expedition, Bob, who is not actually dead but in a catatonic state. As they attempt to revive Bob, he catches a glimpse of Amy and begins to scream uncontrollably, before coughing up blood and dying of shock. Perplexed, the group heads deeper into the jungle by boat, surviving a brutal hippopotamus
attack at night. Along the route, they watch as a large cargo plane streaks across the night sky on fire, shot down by the Zaire military and doomed to crash in the jungle. Munro again presses Homolka about his obsession with the lost city, and Homolka reveals that as a young man, he found a book in Soviet Georgia that contained a detailed drawing of the City of Zinj, where King Solomon was believed to have had a vast diamond mine. The drawing featured a peculiar decoration that resembles an open eye, the same eye that Amy has been painting. Homolka comes to the conclusion that Amy has seen Zinj and can take the group there.
The group finally discover the lost city of Zinj, while the dormant volcano shows signs of increasing activity. Peter, Karen, Munro, Homolka, and head porter Kahega (Akinnuoye-Agbaje
) enter the ruins while Amy, Richard and the remaining porters wait outside. While the first group searches the city, they see that a certain hieroglyphic keeps repeating itself. Suddenly, a hysterical Richard runs into the city, screaming, blood on his face. He collapses dead and a gray gorilla jumps out of the shadows and throws the severed head of a porter at the group, the gorilla is quickly killed while another claws Monroe, which is chased off by Kahega. Amy, then appears, clearly frightened. That night, they set up a secure camp, but the gray gorillas attack the perimeter after dark and are driven off by automated machine guns set up by Karen. Homolka translates the repeated hieroglyph: "We are watching you." In the morning, Amy is gone.
Back inside the ruins of Zinj, the group finds Solomon's diamond mine. Homolka picks up handfuls of large diamonds but the group is quickly ambushed by the gray gorillas, who guard the mine and its precious minerals. Homolka is quickly killed by the gorillas and the others open fire with machine guns. In a small geode
within the mine, Karen and Peter find Charles' dead body, a large blue diamond in his hand. Kahega and the other porters run out of ammunition and are killed, as gorillas pull Peter away from Karen and Monroe and attack him. However, Amy arrives and fiercely protects the injured Peter from the gray gorillas, giving Karen enough time to load one of the diamonds into her own powerful laser, which she uses as a weapon on the gorillas. The volcano then erupts violently, collapsing the mine into molten lava and giving the three survivors time to escape as the killer gorillas are consumed by the boiling lava.
Upon escaping the collapsing city and the erupting volcano, Karen contacts Travis and informs him that she found the diamond mine, but that Charles is dead. However, when she coldly realizes that Travis only values the diamonds, she programs the laser to target Travicom's multimillion-dollar satellite, destroying it in space. Having found the shot-down cargo plane, Karen has Munro find and set up a hot air balloon, something their own expedition had left behind at the airport. Meanwhile, Peter must say goodbye to Amy. She gives him a flower and sets off into the wild with a group of mountain gorillas. At sunset, Peter, Karen, and Munro set off in the hot air balloon. Karen has Peter throw away the only diamond she managed to save from the mine, and the balloon sails away from the jungle, as Amy looks on.
.
A significant cause of disappointment among fans of the novel was that the "gorillas" were costumed humans and puppets, whereas the 1993 film Jurassic Park
had familiarized audiences with CGI dinosaurs. CGI was originally planned for the gray gorillas, but the technology had not yet been developed to the point where realistic hair could be created. While smooth-skinned dinosaurs were possible, hairy apes would have looked inappropriately cartoonish. Therefore, animatronics, masks and puppetry had to be utilized. The film was met with some positive reviews. Roger Ebert
, of Chicago Sun-Times
, called the movie a splendid example of a genre no longer much in fashion, the jungle adventure story. He gave it 3 out of 4 stars.
It was nominated for seven Razzie Awards in 1996 including Worst Picture, Worst Director (Frank Marshall
), Worst Supporting Actor (Tim Curry
), Worst Supporting Actress ("Amy the Talking Gorilla"), Worst New Star ("Amy the Talking Gorilla"), Worst Screenplay (John Patrick Shanley
) and Worst Original Song (Jerry Goldsmith
and Lebo M
for "(Feel) the Spirit of Africa").
Congo (novel)
Congo is a 1980 science fiction novel by Michael Crichton. The novel centers on an expedition searching for diamonds and inspecting the mysterious deaths of the previous expedition in the dense rain forest of Congo...
by Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton
John Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...
. It was directed by Frank Marshall and stars Laura Linney
Laura Linney
Laura Leggett Linney is an American actress of film, television, and theatre. Linney has won three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been nominated for three times for an Academy Award and once for a BAFTA Award...
, Dylan Walsh
Dylan Walsh
Dylan Walsh is an American actor. He is best known as Dr. Sean McNamara in the FX television series Nip/Tuck.-Early life:...
, Tim Curry
Tim Curry
Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
, Ernie Hudson
Ernie Hudson
Ernest Lee "Ernie" Hudson is an American actor known for his roles as Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters film series, Sergeant Albrecht in The Crow, and Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's Oz.-Early life:...
, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is a British actor, and former fashion model best known for his roles as Mr. Eko on Lost, Simon Adebisi on Oz and Nykwana Wombosi in The Bourne Identity.-Early life and career:...
, Grant Heslov
Grant Heslov
Grant Heslov is an American actor, film producer, screenwriter and director.-Early life:Heslov was born in Los Angeles, into a Jewish family and was raised in the Palos Verdes area of Los Angeles. He attended Palos Verdes High School, the University of Southern California along with friend Tate...
, and Joe Don Baker
Joe Don Baker
Joe Don Baker is an American film actor, perhaps best known for his roles as a Mafia hitman in Charley Varrick, deputy sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III in Final Justice, real-life Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall, brute force with a badge detective Mitchell in Mitchell, James...
. The film was released on June 9, 1995 by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. Although the film did well at the box office, it was panned by critics due to the use of costumes and puppetry for the gorillas in the film.
Plot
The film begins with TraviCom employee Charles Travis (Bruce CampbellBruce Campbell
Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
), the ex-fiancé of electronics expert Dr. Karen Ross (Linney
Laura Linney
Laura Leggett Linney is an American actress of film, television, and theatre. Linney has won three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been nominated for three times for an Academy Award and once for a BAFTA Award...
), testing a diamond-powered communications laser in a remote part of the Congo situated on a dormant volcano. Charles' friend Jeffrey is excited over discovering the ruins of an ancient city, but when he enters a cave to retrieve his bag, he is killed and mutilated offscreen. Whatever killed him throws his eyeball at Charles and attacks from off-screen. Several minutes after the attack, Karen, who is waiting in the company's Houston headquarters for Charles to communicate via satellite, activates the video feed on his camera. Karen and her team are shocked to see a destroyed camp and several dead bodies. Before they can see much more, a shadowy animal rushes to the camera and knocks it over, ending the transmission. TraviCom CEO R.B. Travis (Baker
Joe Don Baker
Joe Don Baker is an American film actor, perhaps best known for his roles as a Mafia hitman in Charley Varrick, deputy sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III in Final Justice, real-life Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall, brute force with a badge detective Mitchell in Mitchell, James...
), Charles' father, reveals that the purpose of exploring the Congo is to find a rare blue diamond expected to only exist at volcanic sites to expand his communication technologies. He orders Karen, who's former CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
, to finish what Charles started, namely to find the diamonds. She makes him promise that he is sending her there for his son, and not simply for the diamonds.
Meanwhile, Dr. Peter Elliott (Walsh
Dylan Walsh
Dylan Walsh is an American actor. He is best known as Dr. Sean McNamara in the FX television series Nip/Tuck.-Early life:...
), a young primatologist at the University of California at Berkeley, and his assistant Richard (Heslov
Grant Heslov
Grant Heslov is an American actor, film producer, screenwriter and director.-Early life:Heslov was born in Los Angeles, into a Jewish family and was raised in the Palos Verdes area of Los Angeles. He attended Palos Verdes High School, the University of Southern California along with friend Tate...
) have devised a way to teach human communication to primates using a gorilla named Amy (voiced by Shayna Fox
Shayna Fox
Shayna Bracha Fox is a former American voice actress, the voice of Reggie Rocket on Nickelodeon's animated series, Rocket Power. She is also credited as the voice of Savannah on All Grown Up!.-Biography:...
). With a special backpack and glove, her sign language
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
is translated to a digitized voice. Despite the success, however, Peter is concerned over the fact that Amy is having nightmares and psychological problems that have only been partly quelled by constantly painting the same picture of an eye surrounded by trees. Peter figures out that she is painting a jungle and decides to return her to Africa, but the university is reluctant to fund the expedition. Peter is then approached by a Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n philanthropist
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
, Herkermer Homolka (Curry
Tim Curry
Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
), who offers to fund the expedition. Karen, hoping to find Charles, joins Peter and provides additional funding for his trip.
Upon arriving in Africa, the group is met by their expert guide, Captain Munro Kelly (Hudson
Ernie Hudson
Ernest Lee "Ernie" Hudson is an American actor known for his roles as Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters film series, Sergeant Albrecht in The Crow, and Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's Oz.-Early life:...
). However, they are soon captured by the local authorities and questioned by a military leader (Delroy Lindo
Delroy Lindo
Delroy George Lindo is an English actor and theatre director. Lindo has been nominated for the Tony and Screen Actors Guild awards and has won a Satellite Award...
) who grants them passage in exchange for a large bribe. As the group boards another plane, Monroe reveals that Homolka has led previous safaris in search of the "Lost City of Zinj", with disastrous results. The group covertly crosses the sealed Zaire
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
border but must parachute into the jungle after their plane is shot down by Zairean soldiers. They make camp in the jungle and Karen sets up equipment to contact TraviCom via satellite. Just as she begins the video feed to Travis in Houston, Peter and Amy, who were rough-housing nearby, knock over the equipment abruptly. Travis, thinking this meant a second attack identical to the first, quickly sends in a third team. The next morning, members of a ghost tribe enter the camp, claiming to have seen a dead white man with the TraviCom logo on his clothes.
The ghost tribe members lead the team to the man, a member of the original TraviCom expedition, Bob, who is not actually dead but in a catatonic state. As they attempt to revive Bob, he catches a glimpse of Amy and begins to scream uncontrollably, before coughing up blood and dying of shock. Perplexed, the group heads deeper into the jungle by boat, surviving a brutal hippopotamus
Hippopotamus
The hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...
attack at night. Along the route, they watch as a large cargo plane streaks across the night sky on fire, shot down by the Zaire military and doomed to crash in the jungle. Munro again presses Homolka about his obsession with the lost city, and Homolka reveals that as a young man, he found a book in Soviet Georgia that contained a detailed drawing of the City of Zinj, where King Solomon was believed to have had a vast diamond mine. The drawing featured a peculiar decoration that resembles an open eye, the same eye that Amy has been painting. Homolka comes to the conclusion that Amy has seen Zinj and can take the group there.
The group finally discover the lost city of Zinj, while the dormant volcano shows signs of increasing activity. Peter, Karen, Munro, Homolka, and head porter Kahega (Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is a British actor, and former fashion model best known for his roles as Mr. Eko on Lost, Simon Adebisi on Oz and Nykwana Wombosi in The Bourne Identity.-Early life and career:...
) enter the ruins while Amy, Richard and the remaining porters wait outside. While the first group searches the city, they see that a certain hieroglyphic keeps repeating itself. Suddenly, a hysterical Richard runs into the city, screaming, blood on his face. He collapses dead and a gray gorilla jumps out of the shadows and throws the severed head of a porter at the group, the gorilla is quickly killed while another claws Monroe, which is chased off by Kahega. Amy, then appears, clearly frightened. That night, they set up a secure camp, but the gray gorillas attack the perimeter after dark and are driven off by automated machine guns set up by Karen. Homolka translates the repeated hieroglyph: "We are watching you." In the morning, Amy is gone.
Back inside the ruins of Zinj, the group finds Solomon's diamond mine. Homolka picks up handfuls of large diamonds but the group is quickly ambushed by the gray gorillas, who guard the mine and its precious minerals. Homolka is quickly killed by the gorillas and the others open fire with machine guns. In a small geode
Geode
Geodes are geological secondary sedimentary structures which occur in sedimentary and certain volcanic rocks. Geodes are essentially spherical masses of mineral matter that were deposited sygenetically within the rock formations they are found in. Geodes have a Chalcedony shell containing...
within the mine, Karen and Peter find Charles' dead body, a large blue diamond in his hand. Kahega and the other porters run out of ammunition and are killed, as gorillas pull Peter away from Karen and Monroe and attack him. However, Amy arrives and fiercely protects the injured Peter from the gray gorillas, giving Karen enough time to load one of the diamonds into her own powerful laser, which she uses as a weapon on the gorillas. The volcano then erupts violently, collapsing the mine into molten lava and giving the three survivors time to escape as the killer gorillas are consumed by the boiling lava.
Upon escaping the collapsing city and the erupting volcano, Karen contacts Travis and informs him that she found the diamond mine, but that Charles is dead. However, when she coldly realizes that Travis only values the diamonds, she programs the laser to target Travicom's multimillion-dollar satellite, destroying it in space. Having found the shot-down cargo plane, Karen has Munro find and set up a hot air balloon, something their own expedition had left behind at the airport. Meanwhile, Peter must say goodbye to Amy. She gives him a flower and sets off into the wild with a group of mountain gorillas. At sunset, Peter, Karen, and Munro set off in the hot air balloon. Karen has Peter throw away the only diamond she managed to save from the mine, and the balloon sails away from the jungle, as Amy looks on.
Cast
- Laura LinneyLaura LinneyLaura Leggett Linney is an American actress of film, television, and theatre. Linney has won three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been nominated for three times for an Academy Award and once for a BAFTA Award...
as Dr. Karen Ross, an electronics expert for TraviCom, and a former CIA operative, who hopes to find her ex-fiancé lost in a previous expedition to the Congo.
- Dylan WalshDylan WalshDylan Walsh is an American actor. He is best known as Dr. Sean McNamara in the FX television series Nip/Tuck.-Early life:...
as Dr. Peter Elliott, a primatologist of BerkeleyBerkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
who wants to return his gorilla, Amy, to her birthplace in the Virunga region of the Congo.
- Ernie HudsonErnie HudsonErnest Lee "Ernie" Hudson is an American actor known for his roles as Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters film series, Sergeant Albrecht in The Crow, and Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's Oz.-Early life:...
as Captain Munro Kelly, the "Great White Hunter" and mercenary who leads the group.
- Lorene Noh, Misty Rosas, and the voice of Shayna FoxShayna FoxShayna Bracha Fox is a former American voice actress, the voice of Reggie Rocket on Nickelodeon's animated series, Rocket Power. She is also credited as the voice of Savannah on All Grown Up!.-Biography:...
as Amy, a female mountain gorillaMountain GorillaThe Mountain Gorilla is one of the two subspecies of the Eastern Gorilla. There are two populations. One is found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Central Africa, within three National Parks: Mgahinga, in south-west Uganda; Volcanoes, in north-west Rwanda; and Virunga in the eastern Democratic...
, born in the VirungaVirunga MountainsThe Virunga Mountains are a chain of volcanoes in East Africa, along the northern border of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The mountain range is a branch of the Albertine Rift, a part of the Great Rift Valley. They are located between Lake Edward and Lake Kivu...
region, who is studied by Peter in the United States. She likes to draw scenes from her dreams, in which the Lost City of Zinj often appears.
- Tim CurryTim CurryTimothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
as Herkermer Homolka, a supposedly-rich man from RomaniaRomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
who offers to finance the expedition. He poses as a philanthropistPhilanthropyPhilanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
, but it is soon revealed that he is not at all wealthy and his real aim is to find the mythical Lost City of ZinjZinjZinj may refer to:*Paranthropus boisei, nicknamed "Zinj" for its former name Zinjanthropus boisei*Zinj, Bahrain, a place*Zinj, alternate spelling of Zanj, a medieval area of the East African coast...
, where he lost another expedition some years before.
- Grant HeslovGrant HeslovGrant Heslov is an American actor, film producer, screenwriter and director.-Early life:Heslov was born in Los Angeles, into a Jewish family and was raised in the Palos Verdes area of Los Angeles. He attended Palos Verdes High School, the University of Southern California along with friend Tate...
as Richard, Peter's research assistant.
- Joe Don BakerJoe Don BakerJoe Don Baker is an American film actor, perhaps best known for his roles as a Mafia hitman in Charley Varrick, deputy sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III in Final Justice, real-life Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall, brute force with a badge detective Mitchell in Mitchell, James...
as R.B. Travis, the CEO of TraviCom, Charles' father and Karen's boss. He wants to find the diamond mines to finance and expand his satellite technologies.
- Adewale Akinnuoye-AgbajeAdewale Akinnuoye-AgbajeAdewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is a British actor, and former fashion model best known for his roles as Mr. Eko on Lost, Simon Adebisi on Oz and Nykwana Wombosi in The Bourne Identity.-Early life and career:...
as Kahega: Monroe's second-in-command and leader of the African porters in the expedition.
- Bruce CampbellBruce CampbellBruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
as Charles "Charlie" Travis, Karen's ex-fiance and R.B.'s son.
- Joe PantolianoJoe PantolianoJoseph Peter "Joe" Pantoliano is an American film and television actor. He played the character of Ralph Cifaretto on The Sopranos, Bob Keane in La Bamba, Cypher in The Matrix, Teddy in Memento, Francis Fratelli in The Goonies, Guido "the Killer Pimp" in Risky Business, and Jennifer Tilly's...
as Eddie Ventro, an American living in Central Africa who hires Monroe, and organizes the group's transportation and materials.
- Delroy LindoDelroy LindoDelroy George Lindo is an English actor and theatre director. Lindo has been nominated for the Tony and Screen Actors Guild awards and has won a Satellite Award...
as Captain Wanta, a corrupt African military officer who offers safe passage through his country (and a few humorous words) for a price.
- Frank WelkerFrank WelkerFranklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
provided the vocal effects for gorillas.
Box office
Congo opened with a weekend total of $24,642,539, eventually going on to gross $152,022,101 worldwide ($81,022,101 domestic) theatrically versus a $50,000,000 budget.Critics
Despite solid box-office returns, the critical reaction to the film was less successful. It has a 21% rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
A significant cause of disappointment among fans of the novel was that the "gorillas" were costumed humans and puppets, whereas the 1993 film Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park (film)
Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...
had familiarized audiences with CGI dinosaurs. CGI was originally planned for the gray gorillas, but the technology had not yet been developed to the point where realistic hair could be created. While smooth-skinned dinosaurs were possible, hairy apes would have looked inappropriately cartoonish. Therefore, animatronics, masks and puppetry had to be utilized. The film was met with some positive reviews. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, of Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, called the movie a splendid example of a genre no longer much in fashion, the jungle adventure story. He gave it 3 out of 4 stars.
It was nominated for seven Razzie Awards in 1996 including Worst Picture, Worst Director (Frank Marshall
Frank Marshall
Frank James Marshall , was the U.S. Chess Champion from 1909–1936, and was one of the world's strongest chess players in the early part of the 20th century.-Chess career:...
), Worst Supporting Actor (Tim Curry
Tim Curry
Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
), Worst Supporting Actress ("Amy the Talking Gorilla"), Worst New Star ("Amy the Talking Gorilla"), Worst Screenplay (John Patrick Shanley
John Patrick Shanley
John Patrick Shanley is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He also contributed articles on the performing arts to The New York Times among other publications.-Life and career:...
) and Worst Original Song (Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
and Lebo M
Lebo M
Lebohang “Lebo M.” Morake, known professionally as Lebo M, is a South African composer most famous for arranging and performing music for the Lion King movies and stage productions. He was recommended to Disney by Hans Zimmer, the score composer of The Lion King, and was later hired to form and...
for "(Feel) the Spirit of Africa").