Primitive War

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!

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.

Entertaining time, but is about 30 minutes too long. Felt like the actors were doing character studies for their weekly acting class. They did a solid effort with the about the quarter of the budget that Jurassic park had. There were a lot of good scenes that could of made a great movie if they had better writing and acting and budget buy in. The third act had some great scenes as well and some good cinematography. Why does everyone feel the need to rehash old Vietnam tropes in their movies. This would hit the top of the leaderboard up on Netflix for a mindless, fun science fiction action movie. I just wonder what could have been if more people just believed in this movie.

I knew for months, since seeing the first poster for Primitive War, I would see this movie in theaters. It's a real shame the release is so limited - because I could see this appealing to a broader audience.

Vietnam War. 1960s soundtrack. Dinosaurs (and PLENTY of them). Carnage. What more do you want?

Is this an Oscar contender? Maybe not.

Is it a refreshing dinosaur & popcorn flick? Absolutely.

I'll admit, I tempered my expectations and halfway expected some extra campy SyFy movie, but ended up pleasantly surprised.

The script is absurd, the characters are underdeveloped - and there's more implausibility to go around than dry turkey on Thanksgiving, but I don't care. Because tucked away are some great one-liners, a well-bonded "Vulture" team of actors (the core cast is quite good; Aaron Glenane 👀), and some surprising little nuggets of real emotion.

I loved the handful of jump scares and suspense, the score and soundtrack, the gruesome and ruthless details of death by dinosaur, and the dinosaurs! I don't know what the budget for this was, but I can't imagine it had a "Jurassic" pocketbook, yet it looks really solid.

Overall, Primitive War is something I didn't know I wanted. I'll buy it when it's available - and can see myself watching it and appreciating it more later, I'm sure.

It's a keeper!

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.