Customer Reviews

King of the Lost World

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Having just watched the new large screen Peter Jackson remake of King Kong at the theater this past Friday, I was not surprised to find a giant gorilla movie on the shelf at Blockbuster on Saturday. It looked sort of cheesy based on the cover art, which featured a giant gorilla and the word KING in large letters. I stupidly assumed this movie would be centered on a giant gorilla who was the king of his so-called Lost World.

I was quite surprised that this movie was released in 2005; I would have assumed that it had been produced in the early 1990s and shown on the SCI-FI channel after midnight for the last 15 years. "King of the Lost World" is distributed by a company called "The Asylum".

A plane crashes in a remote jungle, presumably in South America, although I'm not sure it was stated as such. There are several survivors despite a large explosion complete with a near mushroom cloud sized fireball. Sadly, the front end of the plane is missing.

Almost immediately we see a woman still strapped in her seat on a piece of wreckage who has just awakened following the crash. Suddenly a giant ape rips her into the air and carries her off. This is sort of where I see the whole "King Kong" aspect of the movie but the part about the girl falling in love with the savage beast never materialized. In fact, I lost track of this woman all together.

Over time, many planes have crashed in the area and the survivors have become some kind of primitive tribe who feed some of the crash victims to flying dragon like monsters as a ritual sacrifice, trying to placate the flying beats? The tribe may be fearful of the flying dragons but they have a much greater fear of the giant gorilla who "brings death" to them. Of course, they can't speak his name. How do they know his name? Who named him? I didn't see any native folks running around in this Amazon jungle, only freaky crash survivors who sit around painting themselves up in war paint and smoking cigars.

After hiking all day these poor LOST survivors (their numbers thinned somewhat) sit down to rest in a cave or something. A girl asks a guy "Want a peanut?" He replies "Peanuts? No. No peanuts. If I never see another bag of god damned gyp joint airline peanuts in my life. My miserable f-king life I'll be just fine. Keep your f-king peanuts." Did I mention the part about how this woman gets a small scratch on her leg at the beginning of the movie? This guy who is horn-dogging on the arguably good looking photographer notices it (he later gets killed by a giant scorpion in a cave when the scorpion puts it's stinger through his chest cavity). The woman blows it off as 'just a scratch'. The next morning it is a wide open, six inch long gash on the front of her lower leg. One of the other women in the group takes a look at it and says "She's infected!" which came out sounding like she had been bitten by a zombie from Dawn of the Dead and would soon be eating the meager brains out of the remaining survivors.

For a stranded person with zero medical resources the easiest fix for a massively infected leg wound is simple -- you simply pack fly larva into the wound in what we call a "Maggot Bandage." The maggots will eat the dead flesh and apparently cure infections. So this enterprising fellow lifts a couple nearby rocks and finds a bunch of squirmy bugs (definitely not maggots) which is proceeds to drop into the wound, complete with a handful of dirt. This is all wrapped tight with a strip of cloth from one of the other survivor's skirts.

For the next half a day in the movie the girl is deathly ill. They make a great show about how they are carrying her all around the jungle. Then, suddenly, they stop because someone spots a plane crashed in the jungle (there are a surprisingly large number of nearly intact planes laying around) and they set the woman down on a rock where she sits for a moment. The next thing you know she's up and running as if nothing ever happened and no further discussion or observation of her wound is necessary.

The very cute, but amazingly stupid, woman in the torn stewardess uniform is the first one to break through the trees and spot the nearby plane. She shouts for everyone to come because she found their plane! At any rate, the plane this woman spotted looked like a fully intact fighter jet not just a cockpit section of a large airliner. The stewardess was very disappointed when it was pointed out that it wasn't their plane, after all. How the hell could she be that stupid? She can't tell the difference between a 727 and a fighter jet? Let's forget that they left their half of a broken plane two days back on the other side of a mountain and that they were searching for the broken off cockpit section OF A HUGE AIRLINER.

In another scene a woman gets her shirt ripped open and another woman is caressing her breasts and licking her face. While this scene was interesting it didn't contribute to the story line. I suppose it was inserted at a strategic point in the film to grab the viewer's attention just when they were planning to hit the eject button.

This movie was full of exceptionally bad script writing, wooden acting, and cheesy not-so-special effects. There really isn't anything I can tell you about this movie that would make you want to see it. In fact, I would urge you NOT to rent this film.
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See A.D. Lawlor's review for a plot synopsis. Having first read guestar57's glowing 5 star review, coupled with the fact that Bruce Boxleitner (one of my favorite TV actors) was one of the stars, lead me to buy this film on DVD. Having a love for most fantasy, monster and horror films for over 50 years, my bottom line review of this film is: I literally threw out the DVD after watching the film (rather than make someone else suffer by buying it used)! The derivative plot and horrible CGI make this the reigning king of the worst lost world movies ever made.

If you're looking for some adventure story with thrilling actions and well-drawn characters like Conan Doyle's classic novel (by which this film is purportedly inspired, judging from its title), avoid this one. "King of the Lost World" which starts like TV series "LOST" has none of them. Probably one episode from the hit TV series would be more entertaining than this 88 minute film.

The film's story has little to do with Doyle's "Lost World." The film re-uses the names of the novel's principal characters - Challenger, Summerlee, Malone and Roxton - but that's about it. In this updated version, Challenger (Bruce Boxleitner) becomes a military-type hero with a secret briefcase and he and other survivors of the airplane crush in the Amazon wander in the jungle to search an airborne radio. (The airplane crushes in the beach, but they dare to travel deep into the land while clearly they don't need to.. But let's not talk about it.)

If you expect something like `so-bad-so-good' kind of campy fun, like watching Ed Wood films, you will be disappointed. The film (made by The Asylum which gave us such films as "Way of the Vampire" and "Frankenstein Reborn") is just a run-of-the-mill low-budget action film with bland direction and awful acting from the supporting actors. Bruce Boxleitner is not bad, and Steve Railsback appears as cameo, but Railsback's role is too small, actually almost pointless in the story.

I almost forgot to write about the giant gorilla you might be seeing in the DVD cover. The CGI-created gorilla appears which provides some unintentional fun. Perhaps filmmakers and actors know its cheesiness. There are some nice tongue-in-cheek moments, but they are too brief and come too late.

The SFX are like a video game. The acting is... actually pretty good. The girls where "pants" so short they could be mistaken for a leaf. But, I still love it.

The story basically goes like this: An airplane crashes in the Amazon jungle and a group of survivors go to look for a radio to call for help. But on the way they encounter such beasts as oversized spiders, gigantic scorpions, man-eating vines, unforgiving natives, and a simian beast that stands almost ten stories tall that strangely resembles King Kong. (A coincidence? I think not.)

Although some may be fooled by the amazing graphics on the cover (And I admit they look cooler than the ones on King Kong,) don't expect the same thing during the movie. But even so, it is very enjoyable to watch, and sometimes they can even trick you into thinking it does look real, and that you are watching some sort of video game. And, I'll admit, I do like the SFX, especially considering the budget. These graphices do rival those in other 'popcorn' movies and it suits the movie well.

The acting was very well done and I am actually surprised. B Movies usually have atrocious acting, but I still like it anyway. But, at the beginning, when that girl is injured, she almost seems to be laughing. (Those who have seent he movie will know what I mean.)

A great addition to the disc is that they actually include a very signifigant amount of SPECIAL FEATURES. I am not kidding. Usually I find B movies have no special features, but this disc has a BEHIND THE SCENES FEATURETTE, AN SFX FEATURETTE (Which I laughed through. Again, those who have seen the movie will know what FX are like.) A BLOOPER REEL, and a good amount of TRAILERS. (All the films, of course, are from TheAsylum.)

I am surprised at this movie and I enjoyed it a lot. It is honestly quite fun to watch on a Sunday night with some pals and a huge bowl of popcorn.

I am going to recommend, but only to those who enjoy Popcorn movies, or those who like the Action/Adventure genre.

Fun, and a real joy to watch.

:-)

If you are looking for action and adventure, dinosaurs, a giant ape, or a primeval world, buy "King Kong" or any season of the Australian "Lost World" TV series...AVOID "King of the Lost World"! This cheap update of the Doyle classic keeps a few character names, and apparently blew the microscopic budget casting Bruce Boxleitner, as Challenger. What a waste of his talent!

The plot, such as it is, involves a mysterious plateau in the Amazon basin that emits some kind of energy field that short-circuits aircraft navigational equipment, forcing them to crash. The latest disaster strands a commercial jet's surviving passengers on a long, narrow beach, midst the broken remains of the tail section. Intrepid John Roxton (Rhett Giles), TV news team Ed Malone and Rita Summerlee (Jeff Denton and Sarah Lieving), a couple of cute women, to spice things up (Christina Rosenberg and Amanda Ward), and antisocial, mysterious military officer Lt. Challenger (Boxleitner) decide to search in the jungle beyond the beach for the cockpit, and it's radio. (The fate of those who DON'T make the journey is left unexplained, although one would appear as a sacrificial offering, later in the film).

This being 'The Lost World', our heroes quickly encounter cheesy 'giant' spiders, man-eating plants, and fossilized remains of flying reptiles (but NO dinosaurs). Eventually, the survivors (you may be surprised by one who DOESN'T make it) are captured by an amazingly clean-cut, white tribe (whose only concession to being 'primitives' is face and body paint). In yet another of MANY leaps of logic, Challenger can speak their lingo (which is a turn-on to over-sexed native girl Tianka, played by Boni Yanagisawa), but to no avail. Tossed into a cell with a drugged-out earlier crash victim (Steve Railsback, another good actor, wasted), our heroes learn they are to be sacrificed to the man-eating winged reptiles, who protects the natives from the giant ape on the plateau...and if you are still taking the story seriously, at this point, maybe you SHOULD buy this film!

You may find yourself asking why the 'chosen' women are stripped, drugged, and then clad in skimpy outfits, while the men get to remain in their own clothes, tattooed but undrugged...why a crashed fighter jet would be armed with a low-yield NUCLEAR weapon with a destructive range of ONLY 300 YARDS (uh-huh!)...why, if the region is a recognized 'dead zone' (which Challenger knows, as it's why he's there), ANY aircraft are permitted to fly through it...and don't miss the finale fight between the poorly-rendered CGI flying reptiles (you can SEE through them!), and the guy in an ape suit pretending to be King Kong! DUH!

Need I say any more?

This movie is atrocious. The acting is bad, the plot is bad, but the thing I cant forgive is the absence of the gorilla. I love killer gorilla movies so much, I recorded it on my dvr. But when watching it, I found the absence of the gorilla dissapointing. And, when in the 15 minutes the gorilla appears, it looks horrible. I've seen and played video games from 1999 with better graphics. I instantly deleted the film, but the King of the lost world will forever leave a stench on the memory drive of my dvr. The king is the loser in this film which trys to be King Kong and the Lost World at the same time. Dont ever but this movie.

This movie is horrible. I bought it as an impluse buy (lesson, never buy on impulse) and I thought, "How bad can this be?" Not expecting much I popped in my DVD player early one Sunday to check it out. Now, I won't go into details since many other reviewers already gave the basic plot. This movie looked like it was made by drunk college students. Like many sci-fi lovers, I sometimes like a good 'bad' movie. This was waaaaay beyond bad. Save your cash. Like a previous reviewer I won't even sell this to another person. The 1976 KING KONG is a gem compared to this trash. Do yourself a favor and don't waste 85 minutes of your life.

Production company Asylum has the "mockbuster" ingredients down to a science: conflate a popular film (King Kong) with a television show (Lost) and throw in the veneer of respectability by basing it off of a vaguely familiar but respectable piece of literature (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World). Toss it in a blender and you get King of the Lost World.

Having watched more B-movie monster movies than any sane person should voluntarily subject themselves to, I've come to appreciate what makes a film with a monster centerpiece worth watching.

To start with, the monster should be interesting, even if the audience thinks they know all about it. This is why films about bugs and reptiles and dinosaurs are so much fun - there's always a twist. The raptors are MUTANT raptors that are crazed by the scent of blood; the spider is a MUTANT spider that evolves a poisonous stinger; the snake a MUTANT snake that...you get the idea. This movie has no twist, because it has no signature monster. The "King" is barely in evidence. There are, however, giant spiders, killer vines, giant scorpions, and terribly animated komodo dragons with wings.

Another important feature is the grudge match between protagonist and beast. Aliens, Jaws, and Predator laid the framework for showdowns between humans and monsters. The giant ape in this movie is more a force of nature. He is opposed on the island by aforementioned awful-CGI lizards, who theoretically keep him at bay.

As protagonists go, we don't have much. There's the hot chick that runs through most of the movie with a smirk on her face, other hot chicks that run through most of the movie screaming, some manly men who die in a manly fashion, and poor Bruce Boxleitner wondering if his paycheck was really worth it. He's arguably the most interesting character saddled with a mysterious briefcase that contains: cigars, a pistol, and a detonator...

Sorry, what? You want to know why old Brucie has a detonator in his briefcase? Because his secret mission it to disarm the nuclear payload of a spy plane that went down on the mysterious island. What's that? Why would someone sent to disarm a nuclear device have a detonator - in essence, the exact opposite of his proclaimed purpose?

There are a few possibilities: 1) Bruce is a liar, 2) Bruce is insane, 3) Director Leigh Scott wants to have a climactic moment when the bomb will go off, preferably when Kong - I mean King - is a ground zero. Three guesses as to which one it is and the first two don't count. There is of course an arbitrary restriction like, "you have to be within three hundred yards of to use the detonator." Of course. Because that's movie logic for you.

Lost World lacks direction. It lacks plot. But most unforgivably, it lacks interesting monsters.

"King of the Lost World" looks and feels similar to the "Lost" television show. The giant gorilla makes as much sense as the giant spider, the mysterious survivors-become-tribesmen, and the airplane dead zone. And the carnivorous vines. And the flying dragons. If any of this sounds appealing, then watch this movie.

"Buts" . . . Bruce Boxleitner's character is one-dimensional. Some of the other characters become two-dimensional, almost three-dimensional, but most are interchangeable. The special effects are rushed but really don't make the movie any worse. The DVD extras add to the movie, but the movie tries to be too many things to be successful.

And, yet, it deserves two-stars for effort. KotLW is not as bad as it sounds, and it is much better than many Asylum movies.

Fair B movie put out by the SciFi channel. An airplane crashes in a remote area of the Amazon. The passengers must try to survive giant spiders, scorpions, natives, and other giant creatures. Bruce Boxleitner plays a suspicious passenger with a gun and a briefcase he won't give up. How does he know how to disassemble a missile on an old jet fighter? Why are the natives white men? Decent acting, effects, and sets make this a fun couple of hours if you enjoy B movies. If you enjoyed this catch Pterodactyl.

CA Luster