There was a lot of hype around the Michael Crichton adaptation CONGO when it was released in 1995. This was coming just two years after Steven Spielberg turned a Crichton novel into the awe-inspiring JURASSIC PARK, and even though Spielberg wasn’t involved with this one, some of his frequent collaborators were. CONGO was being produced by JURASSIC PARK producer Kathleen Kennedy, and it was directed by Frank Marshall, who had missed out on being involved with JP but had produced a lot of other Spielberg projects. Expectations were high… and many who ended up seeing CONGO were let down almost immediately.
Word of mouth about this movie was so bad that by the time I watched it I was really only watching it because Bruce Campbell had a small role in it. Once he left the picture, I lost interest.
CONGO definitely lives up to the definition of a “black sheep”, and Lance Vlcek is here to tell us why this is a film that has always worked for him. He believes there is something worth appreciating about CONGO when you set aside the hype and take it on its own terms. Check out the video below to hear Lance’s defense of this black sheep:
