Primeval

I'm sure that I'm the only person here who really isn't going to bash on this film. Of course, I already knew it was a crocodile in stead of a serial killer. I mean c'mon, if you looked around on the internet you would of known, and the trailer made it apparent. Still I agree that it was a cheesy scam to call this killer croc "the world's most prolific serial killer". Aside from that, the movie had a simple (if not too simple) story line. Croc kills important person, team sent to catch it, croc is smarter then them, they try to survive. If you've seen Lake Placid, then this is generally the same idea. Just subtract one croc, set it in Africa, and put a really funny black guy in. Yeah, Orlando Jones does an exceptional job as Steve and makes you laugh more then once. Unfortunately, the other actors are so-so at best. The croc's animation was decent, but I felt he needed a better design. He just looked like a really big croc rather then anything original. And the gore was disappointing. The animated blood in the raining scenes was laughably bad. Overall, it might be worth a rent when it comes out on DVD, but it isn't going to ever be a vintage horror film. If you've seen Lake Placid, no need to apply here, except that this is the better Lake Placid.

When I realized about 10 minutes into the film that I had paid to see a crocodile movie and not one about a serial killer as advertised, I was mad as h*ll!. For the first time I was about to demand my money back. However, I gave the movie a chance. I did end up enjoying it, but not enough to forgive being duped into paying the price. It is a pretty fun movie, but it's the same thing we've seen before on Sci-Fi Channel for a fraction of the price. To the distributors credit, they knew what they were doing. No one wants to pay to see a run-of-the-mill crocodile movie when they can see an giant reptile, insect, or animal/human hybrid film on cable each weekend. I love "Lake Placid", but if I knew this movie was about a croc I would not have gone to see it. It was a fun film, so if you want to pay to see Sci-Fi fare, you'll enjoy it.

I have no idea why, but from the cover and short summary in back, I thought that Primevil might have been an entertaining horror film. I'm not really into crocodile stories, they usually don't work, but for some reason this one looked very promising. When I started watching it, I kept checking the cover just to make sure I was on track, but the story just seemed to get lost somewhere. Now I don't mind different stories, but the cover promised something else and I wasn't even really that entertained or moved by the story.

Basically there is a killer crocodile in Africa, apparently he is a big one to be very frightened of. So an American crew of reporters wish to capture the beast or get him on film so they can help these villages and become famous more so. But there is another major problem that takes the story to a completely different place, where there is a huge war going on and starts to terrorize these reporters and one by one they are killed off before the crocodile gets to them.

Primevil would have had good potential for a horror movie, but it just went in an intense turn where you had no idea where the film would take you. The script was also in some ways done in poor taste and wasn't well thought out, like I'm not offended easily usually when it comes to racial jokes, but Orlando going on about slavery in Africa went a little too far and was ridiculous. The acting is so so, not the worst I've seen, but the effects are not that impressive, a warning in advance. But if you would like to check out this film, please feel free, but I wouldn't really recommend it.

3/10

"Primeval" doesn't really bring anything new to the man-eater genre that hasn't already been seen in movies such as "Crocodile" or "Alligator", or "Jaws" for that matter.

The storyline is simple and straight forward; a group of people go looking for a massive crocodile named Gustave in Africa. But nature being as nature is, the roles quickly turn and the people find themselves to be preyed upon by the crocodile they set out to find.

While the movie is entertaining enough, it just didn't stand out from so many other movies in the same genre. And as such, it was but a mere mediocre movie experience.

As for the acting, well then I am not a fan of Dominic Purcell, not even by a long shot. So it didn't go well with me that he was in the lead. Jürgen Prochnow, however, is always a treat to have in a movie.

The cutting and editing of the movie could have been much better, and many scenes with the crocodile were just abruptly cut and then jumped on to the next scene.

If you enjoy man-eater movies, then "Primeval" is adequate entertainment, just don't get your hopes up too high.

Based on a true story? No. It's an action B movie about an American TV crew hunting for a huge crocodile for a TV program. The plot is frankly exactly what I seek in a movie. I like these simple to-the-point stories with cool action, attractive women, cool guys, nasty bad guys, and a huge monster. It's simple and something I, as a dude, just enjoy watching even though it can get very stupid and silly. But unfortunately even I, who this movie is basically made for, really dislike the movie. The plot works, but the editing and camera work is horrible. Scenes are shown by short 1 second shots. Then we get 20 new shots, each lasting a second each with a new weird angle. Shot from the ground up or with the camera angled to the side. And it just rushes at you and never shows the full picture of the event. When they are packing the huge cage in the boat we only see part of the cage for a few seconds. We don't see the full scenery. It's so irritating. I was enjoying the story about the crocodile hunting people and the bad guys in Africa killing people who went against them. All that is really cool. It's just pathetically badly edited. It's an unwatchable mess. Even the shots of the crocodile only last seconds at most. The director never cares to stay in any one scene or shot so you don't get to see anything.

Of course the decisions taken in this movie are completely stupid too. At one point they are attacked by the crocodile that then kills a man. Instead of driving away or hiding they go to a hut that is built on top of the lake where the crocodile lives. Why are they trying to get themselves killed? That's never clear. The script writer just needed them there so now they are there. No real person would go to the most dangerous place you could find. Of course more people die. And even after it happens they still stay there.

There is also a scene with the cameraman standing maybe 2 meters from the shore. Instead of calmly walking out of the water he stays in the lake and looks for the crocodile alone until he spots it. Why is he trying to spot it after seeing it kill people? It's never explained. He just seems to not want to leave the lake. Of course the crocodile finds him and hunts him. Like, what are these people thinking?

There is also a scene where the female journalist instead of fleeing away in a car goes into the lake again to take a small dog with her. The dog is actually not in any danger as such at that moment, but you know the crocodile eats people so once she jumps into the lake she knows it's coming. This is after tons of people have died in front of her and she was nearly killed tens of times. This are the decisions made in this movie. They are really stupid, but I could have tolerated them at some level if I could actually see them. But the editing messed that all up.