Primal - Istinto animale

Granted, this is a Nicolas Cage movie, which means that I am already not having any particular high expectations, as he is not among my favorite actors to watch on the screen. But still, my wife enjoys his movies, so I also ended up sitting down watching the 2019 movie "Primal".

And at least I thought that with Famke Janssen in the movie, then there would be something to look forward to. Let me just say right now, that I wasn't aware that she had a heap of plastic surgery done, so I was in for a rude awakening when she appeared on the screen and removed those sunglasses that she wore. Wow, just wow, it was so hard to take my eyes off of that train wreck that was now sitting where Famke's face was before. Oh my god...

Anyway, moving away from botched plastic surgery and back to the movie. "Primal" is actually a watchable movie, as it follows a nice enough formula of how-to-make an Action movie. Now, action and action might be stretching it, as I would say this was more of an action/thriller. Sure, this wasn't an outstanding movie, but it was watchable and enjoyable enough for what it turned out to be, if you can take your focus away from certain abysmal-looking things in the movie.

"Primal" is a movie that definitely is for the fans of Nicolas Cage, and my wife seemed to enjoy it.

What worked for me in "Primal" was Kevin Durand. That guy was just phenomenal in this movie, and he played his character and his part so well here, and I will say that he was the reason why this movie stayed afloat.

As for the storyline, well let's just say it was simplistic. I mean, a dangerous mercenary assassin in captivity that breaks out of imprisonment while being transported aboard a cargo ship, then letting loose a heap of wild animals aboard the enclosed confines of the ship and start to take out the crew one by one... Well, it wasn't rocket science here, people. Nor was it a particular Shakespearian experience.

"Primal" is adequately entertaining for what it turned out to be, but this is hardly a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time, as it wasn't a particularly memorable movie, nor was it good enough to make me want to watch it again. My rating of "Primal" has to land on a very mediocre five out of ten stars.

First things first: Primal is carried entirely by its lead and antagonist. With Kevin Durand performing as his typical unhinged villain, Nicolas Cage channels his best Bogart and proves he still has the chops for an action movie. The remainder of the cast is at best forgettable and at worst irritating, but the script mercifully keeps their screen time brief (before killing most of them off entirely) and reserves the majority of the movie to be carried by Cage and Durand. The tension stays relatively taught despite a couple lulls, and the plot is simple but coherent. About as much as you can ask for from an offering like this. Thankfully Cage maintains his trademark commitment and energy till the end, and Durand makes an entertaining, if recognizable, foil. Plus there is a scene with killer monkeys...Decent late night fare.

Nicolas Cage never fails to entertain & nowadays it's quite easy to set the expectations for his newest pieces just right to get the max out of it. "Primal" is obviously flawed and sometimes quite silly, but it's all good and light fun that sets our beloved Nic Cage versus the uncaged.

"Primal" starts off in the jungle, introduces Frank Walsh as the thick-skinned, smart-mouthed, secretly-actually-a-good-guy hunter who's on a mission of getting his freshest catches (including a vicious one of a kind jaguar) shipped to the American zoos. In other words, characteristically, it's the type of character Cage enjoys and we enjoy it just as much, if not more. So, everybody gets on the ship, including and armada with a big-time prisoner & all goes to hell in two days, making Cage take up a fight against the uncaged, which happen to be both animals and the main villain. The story's pretty straigtforward, but moves at a steady pace, at times barely, but managing to not cross the line of boredom. Among those parts there's some classic type of action sequences, some creature feature thrills & a little bit of healthy Nic Cage comedy. Most of the characters are, well, cliche & sometimes some of them do stupid things, but the quantity of the expendable characters compensates. Acting's either decent or okay-ish, besides Cage the next best thing was Kevin Durand as the villain. I'm happy to say that visually "Primal" was a bit better than I was expecting from another VOD, the cinematography's very standard, but decent & the fx were quite solid. The soundtrack & original score was lacking and barely noticeable.

All in all it's undeniable that without Nic Cage "Primal" would be an even lesser movie, because if there's one thing I might remember from this flick is him and his line "I got a real nice cage for you". While the movie itself is very average, I do recommend it strongly for all the Cage fans out there. My rating: 5/10.

I watched this movie because of Nicolas Cage and Famke Janssen, nevertheless its a lowbudget movie and it shows, average cinematography and some average VFX. Kevin Durand as a villian is okay but overall i have seen much better performances of all the actors in other productions. The plot is very thin, but thats not really the movies problem, just the execution and whole pacing doesnt feel right. If you really need to watch a movie that plays on a boat with some lurking threat i highly suggest "Deep Rising" from 1998, its without Cage but with Janssen, much better pacing and much more entertaining to watch.

I just spent ten months in the jungle, and this all smells like cat crapto me.

Films where animals mess with the protagonists' life. There are a lot of those movies. Only recently you could see in "Crawl" how alligators tried to outwit a father and daughter with their immense mouths full of razor-sharp, meat-tearing teeth. In "A quiet place" there were creatures with such a developed hearing that they can locate any human sound and quickly go there to tear the source of the noise to pieces. Birds, dogs, cats, crocodiles, tarantulas, grizzly bears, monkeys, ants, snakes, and sharks. An entire segment of the animal kingdom has already been used. This movie "Primal" immediately reminded me of a movie I saw years ago. Namely "Burning Bright". In this last film, too, it was a tiger chasing two innocent people. Only it took place in a kind of Pippi-Longstocking-house. In "Primal", on the other hand, it's a cargo ship that serves as a hunting ground. And Nicolas Cage is also present. Maybe that's why it's worthwhile to give this film a chance.

Nicolas Cage. Man, I admire this actor enormously. He's a phenomenon. I'm sure he's aiming to reach a specific goal in his life. And that's being able to announce on his deathbed that he broke the world record of "Actor with most appearances in feature films". The man (known for his phenomenal roles in "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Joe") did his utmost best in recent years. Every year he appeared in no fewer than six films. Of course, they aren't all masterpieces. But La Cage seems to have an enormous endurance. I think he accepts every offer he gets. Apparently, his love for acting is infinite.

The crucial question you can ask yourself is of course: "Is this movie worth watching or is it completely rubbish?". Well, the truth is actually somewhere in the middle. When Frank Walsh (Nicolas Cage) embarks on board a container ship, together with a whole load of exotic animals, he soon notices that he's not the only one with a unique, life-threatening specimen. Frank earns his living by catching exotic animals, which he then resells to the highest bidder. And the white jaguar ("white jag" as Frank repeatedly pronounces) is a lottery ticket for him. A million to one shot and the guarantee he'll own some real estate in Pine Lake. And suddenly the American authorities show up with a highly dangerous mercenary (Kevin Durand) in chains, a battalion of soldiers armed to the teeth and a personal female doctor (Famke Janssen) to ensure that the mercenary survives the trip. It has something to do with a brain abnormality and atmospheric pressure. A side issue afterward. You can already guess what's going to happen. Soon Frank realizes he has to use his hunting instincts to hunt both the white jaguar and the perilous Richard Loffler.

The film never really gets exciting. It looks more like a long version of playing "hide and seek". The accompanying soldiers are systematically liquidated easily. That kind of looked ridiculous. Also, after a certain period, Dr. Ellen Taylor no longer had a real function. Famke Janssen restricts herself to some annoying protests about catching endangered species. She looks like a feministic environmental activist, who's about to pull up a protest sign with slogans about animal rights. Even the jaguar only managed to convince in the opening scene. Afterward, the jaguar was nothing more than a sneaking shadow. Only the two characters Cage and Durand played, caused some excitement. Kevin Durand managed to play a psychopathic character convincingly. And Cage visibly had fun here. And to be honest, compared to "A score to settle", "Kill Chain", and "Running with the devil" (I shamelessly fell asleep while watching this last one), this Cage-B-film isn't that bad. Are you a Nicolas Cage fan? Well, you can safely add it to your list of "Must See Cage-Movie".

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