Primitive War

Think "Apocalypse Now" meets "Jurassic Park" for adults and you've got "Primitive War" set in 1968 Vietnam War.

The movie comes out swinging with a troop of Green Berets decimated by prehistoric Dinosaurs...being hunted whilst cool 60's Vietnam soundtrack rocks out of the speakers.

(In this scene Creedence's "Fortunate Son".)

The crack US "Vulture" squad led by their saving Sergeant, Ryan Kwanten, are dropped into this mysterious valley to extract any survivors under highly classified orders from the insane, f-bomb dropping Colonel Jericho (Jeremy Piven "Entourage"/"Rush Hour 2").

Honestly I was expecting low quality VFX, but "Primitive War" impressed this dinosaur fan.

There is plenty of dinosaur action packed into 2 hrs and 15 minutes on a minuscule budget of under 10 million USD and its first class.

They've created more faithful dinosaur designs than Spielberg and his cronies whilst paying homage to lots of Jurassic and War movie tropes.

Throw in a Russian Palaeontologist, Communist Soldiers, Worm Holes and a Nuclear Collider and you've got a party.

This Collider will make a hydrogen bomb look like a soldier lighting one of his farts!

The final battle scene in a South East Asian war zone (actually Gold Coast Hinterland) rivals the latest "Jurassic World: Dominion or Rebirth".

It's balls to the wall insanely good and makes up for some of the earlier lazy character exposition.

Towards the third act I was championing certain characters to survive this horror because I found myself actually engaged with a few of their stories.

They've done so much with so little despite an average script and average acting.

"Primitive War" really sticks it to Michael Crichtons big screen creation.

This is the fun, horror Dinosaur/War movie some of us have been waiting for, despite the crazy Rusky, Asian & American accents and not enough comedy to balance the drama.

Based on Ethan Pettus 2017 book this promises a sequel because there's more material waiting to be mined.

"Primitive War" ain't no walk in the park or run through the jungle, but it's Aussie director Luke Sparke's best film to date.

This was so much fun. Man, I have no complaints. You can tell the director was so passionate about this project, it really shows through. They performed a literal miracle with the budget they had. The dinosaurs look incredible. It's campy and ridiculous and over the top but it freaking works! Ryan Kwanten is the king of B movies and he doesn't let anyone down in this one. I was worried in the first twenty minutes or so because it really felt like they were trying so hard to get you to care about the characters and I really couldn't, they felt flat. But an hour in I cared about all of them. The subplot with how the dinos came to be in Vietnam was also ridiculous but in the best possible way. I don't want to give any spoilers because I think you should just see it in the theater while you have a chance, I don't think it'll be the same watching it at home. A lot of it is also shot very very dark so I can imagine it being difficult to see exactly what's going on watching on a TV screen. Jeremy Piven, say what you want about him, is also hilariously over the top in his performance. You can tell he had a lot of fun with this. There's a specific scene with a tiger that had me actually laugh out loud a little, and then a scene near the end in a helicopter where he's yelling that got me laughing again. That dude has charisma whether you like him or not. I'm going to try to see this again with some more friends before it's gone.

You must go see this movie.

While there are some cheesy moments it still super enjoyable and for once dinosaurs have gotten the horror treatment they deserve.

Once you think that the movie cannot get any more crazy, it does, over and over again. The ending is the most "Hell Yeah" movie endings of all time.

Let me preface this with my husband loves Jurassic Park so when I saw the preview for Primitive War I knew we were going to go. After being letdown by Jurassic Park Rebirth I was apprehensive about taking him to Primitive War, especially since we were driving an hour to the nearest theater that had it. All I can say is WOW I'm glad we did. This movie with, what I assume, is a much smaller budget than any of the big studios, impressed me so much I looked at my husband and said we are buying that one. The beginning of the movie sets the suspense right from the start and it just keeps coming. Is the acting 9/10 no. Is the CGI 9/10 not always. Does it all come together and is better than I expected? Absolutely. Go see it!

I have minor gripes, like the movie feels about 25 minutes too long and takes a minute to get going, but I still had a great time with this. Strong performances from the "Vultures" and some legitimately great dino action (especially for an indie film with this budget) carry this one easily. Definitely recommend.