7 replies to this topic

[dodge]

The studio's tried hard to sink it: no advance trailers...no screenings for critics...
and a totally misleading, generic ad--referring to a serial killer.

Trust me on this one. Forget, for just this once, all of your misgivings about films not screened for critics. Ignore the lying ad about a serial killer. This is a killer film about a giant killer crocodile.

I know, I know. You're groaning. Wait. Forget about Anaconda, Snakes on a Plane, Pirhanna and every other ripoff that's sent you from the theater snorting in disgust.

To keep this free of spoilers, I'll just spell out the reasons to see it and let you decide:
1) Fine script with a nailbiting twist: the characters are pursued not just by the beastie but by some very bad men.
2) Fine directing: we have a junior Spielberg here. This guy, whoever he is, is that good.
3) Fine CGI work: as convincing, at the least, as King Kong or Jurassic Park, though on a lesser budget. This croc is not a crock. Lightning fast, mean as hell, and equally lethal in water and on land.
4) Interesting setting: the African Burundi, the real thing and not a back lot.
5) A strong, very solid cast: no star turns here, as in Jaws. But the cast is uniformly good: including Dominic Purcell from Prison Break.
6) A theme that is potent and moving, without being heavy-handed.

I gambled on this movie for one reason only: I wanted to know if a film had a chance of being any good if it wasn't screened in advance.

Let me put it this way: if Jaws is a 5-star film, this one is four, even four and a half.
Check it out. Primeval rocks!

[doublenoughtspy]

I'm glad to hear that you liked it.

I was very curious about it after seeing the trailer and looked it up on the wikipedia to find out I had been misled and that it was actually about a croc and not a human.

[marktmurphy]

There's a Dr Who-clone on ITV1 coming up soon in the UK going by the same name. Thought it was worth mentioning!

[DamnCoffee]

Giant Killer Crocodile? I've seen Lake Placid

[FullMetalJacket]

I was very tempted after reading your review, but then I saw the staggeringly low rating it was given on imdb: http://www.imdb.com/...772193/#comment

Apart from a few notable exceptions, I generally agree with the ratings on that site. But I donno. Maybe I'll catch the DVD.

[dodge]

Giant Killer Crocodile? I've seen Lake Placid

Yeah, I forgot to mention that as one of the ones to forget that you'd seen! Primeval will rid you of the bitter aftertaste and help you feel less 'stinged'.

I was very tempted after reading your review, but then I saw the staggeringly low rating it was given on imdb: http://www.imdb.com/...772193/#comment

Apart from a few notable exceptions, I generally agree with the ratings on that site. But I donno. Maybe I'll catch the DVD.

What can I tell you? In the currency of intelligence, that critic's clearly strapped for cash.

[DamnCoffee]

Just watched the trailer on youtube, it looks pretty misleading but still cool i might as well chack it out.

[dodge]

It's probably as difficult for most critics to keep an open mind with an unscreened film like this one as it for editors to look at unsolicited manuscripts that end up in their 'slush piles'. With films, the consensus is that a film must be bad if it isn't screened. With editors, the consensus is that if a writer's any good s/he will have an agent. Agents themselves reject, they say, over 95% of the queriesthat come across their desks. Years ago a writer named Jerzy Kosinski set out to show how tough the game is: he re-submitted his award-winning novel to his own publisher, with a different title, using a pen name. The same firm that had published it rejected it as 'unpublishable'!