KONGA TNT

 

I’ve read several reviews of Brett Kelly’s 2020 movie Konga TNT and every one has been brutal. My theory is that these reviewers are all humorless snobs. True, this movie looks like it was made on a budget of $700 and a case of beer, but that didn’t keep me from enjoying myself during its 73-minute running time. Before I share my reactions, here’s the usual IMDb summary:

After becoming injected with a formula derived from an alien ship, a lab gorilla escapes from his containment and befriends two young boys. The alien formula causes the gorilla to grow to gargantuan size and rampage throughout the city and the boys must find a way to save their simian friend before the army takes him down.

SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
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SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD

Konga TNT started out as a short meant to occupy Chance and Grayson Kelly, the director’s young sons, during the Covid-19 pandemic. They’re adorable and at least as good as the adult actors in the movie. I especially like the scene where one of them has dressed up like a hot dog to lure Konga to safety. Cute kids making comedy fun? If you don’t get a kick out of that, then you’re the monster.

Konga is “played” by an stuffed toy, some sort of puppet, a man in a gorilla suit that looks like the gorilla suit from Trading Places and perhaps a smidgen of CGI. Honestly, I wasn’t paying that close attention to the mechanics. I was too impressed by the audacity of Kelly and the cast, and how much I was enjoying this silly little movie.

I really got into the “silly” elements of this movie. A conniving Indiana Jones knockoff and his comely assistant. A tribe of women warriors in the Amazon jungles. A mad scientist and a mad general, both played by the same actor. That actor, John Migliore, also wore the gorilla suit. Jennie Russo as the “Fay Wray-type blonde” whose “stunt double” was a Barbie doll. A whole lot of stock footage. Off-color jokes. Characters and events of import kept off screen during “key” scenes. I flat-out reveled in this movie’s courageous acceptance of its low budget.

A highlight for me was the very brief scene of Janet Hetherington,  my dear friend of many decades, playing “Scared Woman” and running away from an off-screen Konga. She could play scared convincingly because she’s worked in the comics industry.

[NOTE TO SELF: Write a horror/monster movie set in the comic-book industry. Think of all the horrible comics people I could parody in such a script.]

Konga TNT isn’t a great movie. It’s probably not even a good movie. But it’s definitely a fun movie and what the heck’s wrong with that as we navigate the second year of a pandemic?

SPOILERS OVER
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Konga TNT was written by Trevor Payer, who also played the “Major Bummier” character. The opening credits state the film was “loosely inspired by the public domain Konga books by Charlton Comics.” That is an exaggeration, but not completely so. Charlton comics writer Joe Gill could get pretty silly with his Konga scripts and artists Steve Ditko and others weren’t adverse to taking that plunge with him. The results were always hilarious.

So count me as recommending Konga TNT to those of you with a good sense of the absurd. Life is too damn serious in 2021. You know what kind of ride this is. Just enjoy it.

© 2021 Tony Isabella