Primeval (2007)

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Great story line better than average monster animation. The main characters are engaging and like able. Orlando Jones stands out for his performance here. As the videographer for the news team covering the attempt to capture Gustave A 30 meter croc. Kreige is the kill crazy hunter who wants the croc dead not captured. And there is a rather believe able love story with some real chemistry between the two reporters in charge of the expedition. In addition to the croc there is a war going on with mass murder. And, unlike some poorly done war films, this one has grit and a real you are there feel. The monsters animation does not detract in any way from the real feel of the film. It moves across the swamp area like a killer with speed that is frightening. Not everyone makes it but the movie is satisfying and well worth watching.

Primeval is a mega-crocodile on the rampage film with political overtures and insulting racial stereotyping.Tim Manfrey (Dominic Purcell) is a disgraced journalist who along with Aviva Masters (Brooke Langton) and Steven Johnson (Orlando Jones) are sent to Burundi to hunt and film a legendary killer crocodile who has just killed a white forensic expert working with the UN who are investigating war crimes.The meet up with a crocodile expert Matt Collins (Gordon Emery) who has plans to capture it alive and grizzled tracker Jacob Krieg (Jurgen Prochnow) and attempt to capture the croc.The group try to bait the croc unsuccessfully but they are soon set upon by the local vicious warlord in the area and among the chaos the croc starts to attack.This is less of a horror film but more of a low rent Jaws rip off with a political message regarding the ongoing war in the Burundi/Rwanda region all undone with almost all the black Africans who are portrayed as savages, killers and rapists.The film actually feels slow as our ill equipped team bicker and seem dysfunctional as they head upon their quest. You get the feeling early on that the provided security personnel will soon turn upon them but the action scenes seems to be oddly patterned with the CGI croc's appearance depends much on the dictates of the script rather than part of any coherent storytelling. The giant crocodile also moves like greased lightning it seems.Orlando Jones is there for comic relief and hopefully he was paid well for that slavery line. This is no Lake Placid.

Attempting to tread a fine line between two different types of film, Primeval is a misguided, but nonetheless kind of fun movie. On the one hand, it wants to be an 'issues' movie, dealing with warlords, child soldiers and western apathy towards violence in central Africa. On the other, it also wants to have a massive great big crocodile running around trying to eat the guy from Prison Break. It's not bad, but while these two separate strands never really gel there's still some entertainment to be had. Provided of course you can look past the incredibly tasteless joke about the slave trade. The film concentrates on Dominic Purcell's news journalist who gets sent off to Burundi to document the search for 'Gustave,' a legendary croc who has chalked up over 300 human victims during his years prowling the river banks. He's accompanied by a British Steve Irwin a-like, Orlando Jones as the "please don't get him" cameraman, a slumming it Jurgen Prochnow, a token female and several dozen expendable locals and together, they trek into the bush to hunt Gustave down. They're also given a few warnings about 'Little Gustave,' a vicious renegade soldier whose private army are responsible for all manner of atrocities in the region. But hey it'll be okay right? They've got a machine gun strapped to the roof...Needless to say, things go badly. There's all manner of carnage to be had as Gustave begins ripping people to shreds and trigger happy teenagers with AK-47s go on the warpath. By the time the credits roll, just as many people have been machine-gunned as eaten by Gustave and Purcell looks like he can't wait to get back to a nice, comfy cell in San Quentin where he only has to deal with corrupt guards and shankings every day. Taken simply as an old-fashioned adventure movie it's not bad and there's certainly fun to be had when the limbs start to get torn loose. The attempts at dealing with the bigger picture though fall flat. It's apparently "inspired by true events," but aside from the fact there genuinely is a crocodile named Gustave in Burundi, that's about as far as the realism goes. Hotel Rwanda this ain't. However if you want a movie where a great big scaly beast eats people every ten minutes you can't go wrong. You'll have a hard time remembering any of the characters names when the time comes to type up the review though.

Primeval starts in New York where TV news producer Tim Manfrey (Dominic Purcell) is in trouble for using false sources for a big story he ran, his boss Roger Sharpe (Patrick Lyster) orders Tim to accompany animal TV presenter Aviva Masters (Brooke Langton) to Burundi in Africa to capture a huge 25 foot long Alligator nicknamed Gustave that has been killing many of the locals & document it on tape for a show. Reluctantly Tim agrees & along with his cameraman Steve (Orlando Jones) & a minor TV 'Crocodile Hunter' is flown out to Burundi which has been ravaged by Civil war for years & is the poorest country on Earth. With limited approval from the Government the team get underway & a local guide takes them to the Rasizi River where Gustave operates, setting traps for the giant Alligator the team soon realise that it is much bigger & smarter than they first thought. Along with a giant man-eating Alligator the local warlords target the team after they catch footage of them killing innocent villagers...Directed by Michael Katleman this bloated Creature Feature about a giant Alligator tries to make a few political points & in the end can't really decide what it wants to be & leaves one slightly unsatisfied on all counts. The script was written by John Brancato & Michael Ferris who were also responsible for the likes of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), the awful Catwoman (2004), Surrogates (2009) & Terminator Salvation (2009) which should give you some idea how far you should lower your expectations, while the Creature Feature aspect of Primeval is pretty uninspiring stuff with a giant Aligator popping up every so often to eat a cast member the constant political overtones become annoying & are fairly clichéd anyway. The script tries to paint Burundi as a dangerous place where the innocent suffer, there's even time for the American news-crew to adopt an African boy & take him back home to the US in a supposed feel good moment that feels so fake it's untrue. There's an obligatory twist at the end which is just thrown in there so one was there, it really makes no major difference to the story or it's outcome. At over an hour & a half Primeval is pretty slow going at times resembling a holiday documentary as there are seemingly infinite numbers of wide shots of the Burundi landscape which just slow things down & get repetitive. Apparently based on a true story I would be very surprised if Primeval resembled reality in any way. The character's are boring, the romance between the two leads is predictable, the comedy relief black guy is irritating while the big game hunter with a grudge is straight out of Jaws (1975). The film feels a little thrown together, it's like there were two separate scripts, one for a giant Alligator Creature Feature & one for a political drama that were both combined. I really didn't think much of it, as either a Creature Feature or a serious political thriller.Generally well made there are a few set-pieces that are ruined by poor lighting & too many quick camera cuts that make it impossible to keep track of what's going on & where everyone is in relation to each other. There's some gore here, there's some bitten off limbs, some blood splatter, people are shot, there's a decapitation & someones head is crushed. The scenery is nice enough I suppose but while the film tries to show off the natural beauty of Africa I admit I wouldn't want to go there, far too isolated for me as I love my cities & mod cons. The special effects are pretty good here, the CGI Alligator looks good as does the puppet one when used.With a fairly poor opening box-office weekend of just over $6 million I doubt we will see a sequel anytime soon, well made with Hollywood style production values & gloss this was actually filmed in South Africa. The acting is alright, I can't say anyone was that bad or that good to be honest.Primeval can't quite make up it's mind what it wants to be & ends up feeling like two films stitched together, this makes for a rather unsatisfying viewing experience. The political message is basic & cheap, the Creature Feature aspect is clichéd & predictable with neither making much of a lasting impression.