SpecialsTarget
Disturbing yet enthralling
Brennan Camacho
Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
Rosie Searle
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Paul Magne Haakonsen
"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.
Bloodwank
Films like Primeval frustrate me. More so than truly poor films, more so even that Sci-Fi Channel originals where interesting beasts turn into useless CGI. Films like Primeval frustrate me because they waste potential with poor direction and inept editing, leaving themselves wastelands. The story here is of a disgraced journalist embarking on a mission to catch a legendary crocodile in Africa. Once there he becomes embroiled in human tragedy, rediscovers a social conscience and ends up against both the crocodile and the forces of a ruthless local warlord. Dominic Purcell is effectively cool and laconic as the hero, cynicism slowly turning to genuine care, he brings fair emotion and force to the role. Brooke Langton is a suitably pleasant if bland love interest, while Orlando Jones is an amusing wise cracking camera-man. Jurgen Prochnow brings some gravitas as a vengeful guide and hunter, while Gideon Emery does his best with a horribly irritating conservationist character. Everyone basically works as well as they can with the material, but the material itself is deeply flawed. Caught between creature feature, jungle action and socially conscious drama it ends up unable to really satisfy on any of those levels. The flippant writing and potentially offensive stereotypes combine with the silliness of some of the action to stop the film from working on a serious level and the pretensions of seriousness derail its potential fun as both action and horror, as does the pointlessly frenetic editing and overtly tight direction, with several potentially exciting scenes lost in a speedy blur of close ups. Occasionally the film does rise above its problems to become exciting, but it isn't too often. The crocodile here is CGI, it isn't especially convincing but is at least just above Sci-Fi Channel levels. Sadly the film misses out on its potential for gore, though there are a few chewed up corpses and bits of CGI blood splatter. Though I criticise it, I did just about have a good time with this film, it manages to be misbegotten enough to be amusing and it has a few fun ideas, plus an effortless pace and fine cinematography when scenes aren't botched in the editing room. I get the impression that this might have originally been longer, there are scenes that seem cut short and moments where the action seems incoherent above and beyond the call of duty, I wonder if perhaps the producers realised the film was going wrong and got it finished quickly before piecing it together with what they had, or maybe they simply thought it was do long and did a number on it to make it more appealing to the masses. Or maybe the film-makers were simply inept, its hard to know for certain. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this in any fashion, but for bad movie aficionados it offers enough stupidity (occasionally at a mind boggling level) to stay relatively entertaining. 4/10 from me
kirk-246
Gustave is a 30 foot crocodile who has killed hundreds of people in Africa.A news team is willing to help some people lure and capture the killer croc before it gets them.Basically, that's the movie's plot, and it didn't disappoint me.Many people didn't like this movie because they thought the movie was just about a killer and not a killer crocodile when they watched the trailer.If you get past the major differences between the trailers and the movie itself, you may actually enjoy this movie.There's also some pretty good special effects and a boatload of graphic violence and gore.Give this movie a shot if you can handle the brutality of the violence and the fact that the movie is not revolved around a human.It's revolved around a giant crocodile, so get used to it.Orlando Jones is also in this movie, and his character was quite pleasing.
mckjam
"Primeval" can only be regarded as a minor classic of the "true suspense" genre. Unfortunately, upon its release, it was publicized as a straight up horror film. That it isn't. Actually, it has a lot more going on than most - and offers much more of a payoff as a result. Dominic Purcell leads an impressive cast (including Orlando Jones and Brooke Langton) in a "true" story of the search for a killer crocodile in war-torn Burundi, an African country besieged by warlords and destructive civil unrest. Impressive direction raises the bar for this thriller, which I found to be very effective in both suspense and social relevancy. In fact, as Film Appreciation instructor at a state university, I showed the film to my students and we broke it down to its constituent elements. All agreed that it was a well directed, well acted addition to the suspense-thriller genre and unfairly overlooked upon its release. Yes, the studio should have sold it as something other than a "horror" film, but one cannot fault the film itself for a misleading advertising campaign.
