Claw

This is a nice little comedy. It ain't King Lear. It ain't Gone With The Wind. It's a small fun movie, designed to make you smile and laugh and get some cheap flash scares on the way. The acting is just fine, in fact very good for this movie genre.

When you have some time and need to decompress, start this one and see how you like it.

The title CLAW is a synecdoche (a part which represents a whole, just as in JAWS (1975) the title actually refers to a shark). It refers to a prehistoric monster that was genetically re-engineered by a renegade scientist and ends up, for much of the duration of the movie, chasing a pair of comedians who made an involuntary stop at a desert ghost town.

This is brainless but fun entertainment for the right crowd. It takes neither science nor logic nor itself seriously, but that is okay because it is not meant to be a dissertation (a propos dissertation: the monster is referred to as a "raptor", short for "velociraptor", but that is actually a misidentification: none other than Michael Crichton, the author of JURASSIC PARK (1993), started a trend of giving this dinosaur which is closest to the ferocious Deinonychus the name of a Turkey-sized dinosaur, probably because it sounded cooler. Incidentally, whereas "velociraptor" means "swift robber", Deinonychus means "terrible claw"! Oh well).

I am part of the right audience because I like both movies in which people are chased by a monster (some comps I recently saw and liked: HOOKED UP (2013), where two people are chased by a ghost and DASHCAM (2021), where two people are chased by a flying zombie) and I like movies which have a ghost town as a background setting (a recent example: A TOWN FULL OF GHOSTS (2022)).

I am a very analytic person (see writing sample above) but it is good to every once a while let go and just let a silly movie be, as long as it hits the right entertainment notes, and this one does for me, mostly.

The CGI and acting are not top notch but adequate and the progression of events is entertaining, though I would have wished for a little faster pace. The music makes this film stand out from comparable low budget fare: the score is orchestral and gives the movie a little bit of a retro feel.

The ending overdoes the silliness a bit, and the 14-minute slo-mo end credits for this 80 minute movie must be some sort of an inside joke, but overall, it was not bad for a little over an hour entertainment. That is, if you like a movie that is just showing some people being chased by a monster against an unusual setting.

Claw was a decent movie, the rating is below-average, but I don't nessaserily agree, I think with its approach it works quite well, and doesn't do much wrong. The quipps are hit-and-miss, but it doesn't jump and then swim, it takes it's hit and when doesn't work which some don't, then your left with an empty ocean. If they do work, then they swim like Fishes. So let's get into the review.

Both friends are stuck in a deserted and colourless area in a sand heap, unfortunately for them with a Broken car, and nobody in sight, are quirky characters are stuck with a decision. The first 10 minutes is good because it has charm, it has their quirky side, and the dynamic is interesting because they are both completely different. What makes this part good is when the girls dancing and flexing trying to get a ride, the scene is played out well because it's charming and fun. If you explore some negatives then yes you'd think they'd have a spare tyre, but apart from that it seems quite good so far-7

Then the next part has some pacing issues, but the exploration on the farm was interesting and did develop some fears and did have some genuine scares which is what I liked. There's also some surprises along the way, and I am surprised the man getting nudged couldn't wake up, that was a funny scene because you didn't know what he was like, so far a few flaws but mostly good, so stay with me-6.5

Then we get the action scenes, which some are full of surprises, and the Movie completely laughs in your face! And gives you some fun and energetic runs, the girly screams from the man will never not be funny. And if any nit-pics, I wish the guy would have more of an interesting mystery, as it comes across as abit formulaic with him acting mysterious the whole time, and he told a little white lie, it did disappoint slightly but not too bad. 5.5 so far.

Then a year later, the Friends then joke around about how they were in a desolute town and that they had a mysterious old man, I quite liked some of the jokes, like I said not all of them sticked but worth the watch. A fun fulfilled time with a brilliant ending. 5.60 Avg Weighted for me.

I think this film is a 5 Because it has some good action-Sequences and was a good fun time that's laughably dumb. Not bad indeed, I'd say a solid 5/10 worth a one-time-watch, just "One more time, we're gonna celebrate".

As a movie it's bad, it lacks many things but you can't deny that it's entertaining, especially when you have nothing to do... the secret is to watch it without prior judgement, more than one laugh will make you feel, even in the most "terrifying" scene.

I repeat, it is not a masterpiece, but it is entertaining if you want to see something nice. One of the advantages of the movie "Claw" is that it only lasts 1 hour and 8 minutes (Not counting Credits).

Totally recommended for those who like "Low Cost" movies or B movies and the most critical, open your mind to low budget movies, because at some point we could appear in them as extras xd.

A note about my rating system: because I rate on a highly subjective, relativistic scale, virtually any movie can achieve a 10/10 rating with me. After all, nothing prevents even the very cheapest of movies from telling a great story. A limited budget and amateur actors needn't cripple a movie in the hands of enthusiastic and devoted makers. And so on.

Just as uninspired workmanship can flush a giant budget down the toilet, so can talent and enthusiasm carry the day for the poverty-stricken. You'd be surprised how your old aunt Mabel and best pal Cooter can reach for the stars on their Walmart lunch break last Tuesday. A 10/10 is within the grasp of any movie that cares enough to rise above itself and reach for it.

And, sadly, it's precisely because of this truth that CLAW was so disappointing. For about 90% of the movie, CLAW was sailing along, high and proud, and was well on its way to getting at least a 9/10 and had the potential of even a top 10/10.

And then CLAW literally self-destructed right at the finish line. The writer/director (mostly the same person) somehow lost control or simply went insane and CLAW transmogrified back into the moldy pumpkin from whence it came. Somehow, watching the movie, which had been doing so well, suddenly sprout warts out of nowhere was more disturbing than if it had simply been garbage all along.

I can't be certain, of course, but the impression that I got was that the writer/director couldn't figure out how to end the movie. And so we got a cheesy ending feint of a dream sequence followed by an even worse dream-echo sequence where a full-grown Tyrannosaurus rex just shows up out of nowhere and peeks in through the window. Rawr.

For most of the movie, CLAW had a sort of original TREMORS buddy/monster movie kind of vibe going for it. Structurally, it was almost identical to TREMORS where we have an unjustifiably-present monster effectively just thrown on stage (a premise you're just supposed to accept out of goodwill, apparently) and then the bulk of the movie is our unlikely duo attempting to come to terms and survive in a remote location, with no hope of help, while creatively fending off this monster that wants to eat them.

In CLAW, the two leads did a surprisingly high quality acting job and were very engaging/believable. The simple setting, premise and chase-scene sensibilities in combination with engaging and believable leads was working an excellent chemistry, and then, without warning, the whole thing just took a turn for the stupid.

What a shame.