King Kong 2 Dino De Laurentiis's sequel is a crap but funny and delightful,great budge but didn't get the target,but l honestly prefer movie like that than made on graphic computer,bad but not forgotten!! Linda Hamilton was a peak of his career and beauty than ever,John Ashton is fantastic as villain and died like a dog!!Resume:First watch: 1988 / How many: 5 / Source: TV-VHS-DVD / Rating: 5

I am surprised that even many kong fans didn't like this movie. It may not be in the same league as King Kong and Godzilla. But it is an entertaining flick all through. It is also the most moving and touching of all kong movies. I watched it in a theater when i was a kid and have fond memories so I may be biased. But it is not as bad as most of the reviews are saying. If you are looking for a Godzilla like stomp city monster destruction flick or Kong climbing a empire state type of monster classic then this is not the film for you. This is just a simple monster movie with fun action and campy acting with some emotional punches thrown in. So overall a good adventure film that makes you nostalgic of your childhood days.

When I was reading scripts and pitching story ideas to Alex De Benedetti (Dino's son-in-law although I wasn't aware of it at the time and future producer of "Evil Dead II", "Pumpkinhead"), I was asked by Alex to pitch a story idea for a sequel to "King Kong". My story had a similar type of resurrection to the one that is used in this movie but from there it changed sharply. The only way I could figure to make a sequel to "Kong" was to include a strong element of satire (which was, to some degree, in the 1976 film as well)and I also wanted to do a bit of a homage to the Japanese monster movies (like "Godzilla" and even the original "King Kong"). They went in a different direction-a horrible different direction."King Kong Lives" has a cheesy charm but the actors look like they are trapped in a film and looking for a way out. It seems Kong didn't die when he fell from the Twin Towers (wow, that's a miracle!); he's in a coma, needs a new heart (yep, they have a giant mechanical heart but Kong needs plasma--of course they find a Lady Kong for a blood transfusion and Kong, naturally, has big ape sex with the lady. Aside from setting up the potential for a family franchise (which didn't happen--"Lives" was a big flop), the ending could only have come from Dino (RIP)who dreamed big even if sometimes big wasn't better.I didn't see "King Kong Lives" until years after it was released (I had no desire really--it sounded kind of dumb)but when I finally did I couldn't believe how bad the film was. Luckily, the writer of this film went on to bigger, better and bolder things (Steven Pressfield who penned the script for "Above the Law" and the novel The Legend of Bagger Vance)but it seemed like this was a career ender for the director John Guillerman.For a chuckle you could watch "King Kong Lives" and you'll realize that what really lives in this film is the spirit of 50's cheesy B-movies on an "A" budget.

KING KONG LIVES is a great example of a big budget yet total ineptness throughout. While schlock directors like Ed Wood, Arch Hall and Al Adamson can make really bad films, their budgets are minuscule. Here, however, with a big budget the producers show that they can produce a film every bit as bad. That's a great great return on your money, folks! This is also one of those films whose concept is so bizarre and dumb you wonder how it ever got made in the first place. First, considering how much of an enormous box office bomb the previous version of KING KONG was, you'd be amazed to see this this is a sequel! Second, the entire idea just makes no sense at all. This sequel begins as you see Kong falling to his death at the end of KING KONG (1976). But, despite falling a bazillion stories AND being machine gunned repeatedly, KING KONG LIVES expects us to accept that the giant ape DID NOT DIE!!! And, here's the weirdest part folks, some evil rich guy has been paying to keep the ape on life support in a warehouse for a decade!!! Why?!? This NEVER is explored in the least. And, after the nasty simian destroys New York, this guy has the idea of trying to revive this beast!?!In contrast to the evil industrialist (and aren't they all in these sort of films?!), you have the dedicated people (the doctor who saved Kong and the man who discovered a female Kong) who want to save the ape and return it to the wild--sort of like that kid from ET. And, when the military comes into the film, you KNOW that they are evil and only want to kill. So, it's the two innocent idiots who have to battle the unfeeling idiots who want to kill Kong and his new lady love (yes, folks, there are now TWO giant apes in this film). So, despite Linda Hamilton (who really seems to have a thing for big hairy guys) and some other jerk armed only with pluck, they are able to sneak past a bazillion idiot soldiers and the forces of the evil idiot rich dude...and save the day. In the process, the cars and trucks of the evil rich dude inexplicably run into each other and instantly explode in flames--thus enabling the apes and the only two who understand and care to escape. One of my favorite awful scenes was right after this when the male and female apes escape. They are now in the wild and are at a place called "Honeymoon Ridge"--at which place, naturally, the now adorable aminals start cooing and falling in love! Oh, this is stupid and I couldn't help but groan...and laugh. And, when the two ape-lovers happen upon them, guy what happens next?! Yes, they, too, are smitten and inspired by the apes' pure and innocent love! A short time later, the evil military mess up this perfect love and manage to gas the female ape to sleep. This works very, very well. So, when Kong shows up a minute later, they barely even try to put him to sleep as well but throw bombs and stuff at him--and really ticking him off in the process. Why didn't they also just put Kong to sleep as well and transport them to a sanctuary or a zoo or to Disney's Animal Kingdom?! So, given that the two lovers are separated, is what happens next really much of a surprise?! However, I was surprised to see that Kong survived by hiding out and eating alligators--and later, even people. The ape appears to be a giant gorilla--and gorillas are vegetarians. Also, the forest where Kong and Mrs. Kong hied out appears to be some place like Idaho or Colorado. Which begs the question "what are giant rubber alligators doing in this part of the United States?!?".Now I noticed that this movie won a Razzie award for its special effects and I actually think this is unfair. The ape suits were not that bad and the special effects are actually the best thing about this terrible film. I do agree with the Razzie book (which I own) that it is a great movie to see because it is so laughably bad, but the award seemed misplaced. To have given an award for writing, directing or even acting would have seemed a lot more appropriate because of the silly lovemaking that occurred between the apes--now THAT was dumb! But the costumes weren't that bad for 1986 (other than Baby Kong's--whose was truly terrible). Also, in the film's defense, while the film was 100% stupid, it looked good--with good camera-work and decent effects. But, at heart, despite this, it was still incredibly dumb. And, speaking of the love of two apes, apparently the two apes can meet, have sex and have a baby all in the space of a day or two. Wow, those giant apes work fast!! And, with no amniotic fluid, placenta or mess whatsoever!! And, oddly, the baby turns out to be about the size of a normal gorilla--making me wonder who the father REALLY was!!! Apparently, Mrs. Kong was quite the slut! By the way, apparently the people inside the Mr. and Mrs. Kong's outfits were both guys. This makes the amazing childbirth scene all the more amazing!!!Oh, and the only good scene in the entire dreadful film involves Kong ripping some dumb redneck in half and then eat another. It's dumb but kinda cool as well. Although, it's pretty sad if this is the BEST thing the film has to offer! It's also interesting because the ape only appears to eat bad people--despite man chances to eat others, it only eats these rednecks who deserved it!