15/06/2017

Congo

                 
Something that starts as a your predictable evil monkey horror film takes an odd turn halfway through the first act as it starts introducing new character after new character (first the scientist and his talking ape, then the creepy European adventurer, Ernie Hudson, the list goes on). The result is a convoluted mess that lurches from action sequence to action sequence without much actual story.
              
              
The characters were laughably two dimensional. You're lucky if you get a cliché outline, basically, and then there's no development to speak of (even for the leads). The same goes for the depiction of the host of central African countries featured, which are made light of is a simplistic and vaguely offensive way throughout.
There are way too many unrelated dangers brought on one after the other, and the whole thing is played way too goofy. If it was self-serious and the budget was a little lower it could have fit into the “so bad it's good” category, but as it was it was too unintentionally cringey to be enjoyable. A full description would sound far more fun than the actual film turned out to be. It carried itself along at a decent pace, but that's just about all that can be said for it.
                 
Congo: 27.6