HTF REVIEW: PRIMEVAL

A killer monster on the loose: yes, you can go back to the silent days of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and then find representative films in every decade since that classic 1919 German expressionistic masterwork. Primeval doesn’t break any new ground, and in many ways, it’s so derivative of thrillers like Jaws and Tremors that you’ll marvel there weren’t copyright suits in the works once this film premiered back in January. Had it been more of a hit, perhaps there would have been.

Reports of a monstrous killer crocodile have been circulating from the African province of Burundi since 1909, and it’s no myth (the film is based on true incidents), so an American TV news service sends its best reporter and cameraman (Dominic Purcell, Orlando Jones) along with additional crew to help track it down. The objective’s a simple one: find the killer croc (named Gustave by the natives) and trap it in a forged steel cage. (Haven’t these people ever seen King Kong in any of its incarnations? Human reliance on technology and artillery didn’t work so well there either. Despite its being a fictional film, the lesson is apt: hubris will get you in trouble every time when you begin dealing with nature.) Adding to the problem of locating and trapping this killer croc are the constant states of civil war and genocide in that area of Africa and the constant threats from a local warlord known as "Little Gustave" who doesn’t like nosy reporters trespassing on what he considers his territory.

It’s strictly terror-by-the-numbers filmmaking here as we see evidence of the giant reptile’s kills long before we get a good glimpse of it (shades of Jaws). A female reporter/potential love interest (Brooke Langton) is along for the ride along with a plucky local youngster JoJo (Gabriel Malema) with a never-say-die attitude (right out of all three Jurassic Park films), and two adversarial team members, one a naturalist (Gideon Emery) and one a tracker (Jurgen Prochnow), whose squabbling is there to distract us from the imminent danger around every twist of the trail or turn in the river.

The creature is a complete CGI creation, and depending on the size of your monitor or viewing screen, its realism for you may vary. I found most of the special effects work very well done, but I also found the scares far too telegraphed and predictable. Worse, there’s no chemistry at all between Purcell and Langton, and the film becomes a rather tedious guessing game of who’s going to get picked off next, either by the monster or by the warring natives. Having the ongoing civil war butchery as a secondary plot to the film does give the movie some uniqueness, but it ultimately devolves into just another set of attackers our heroes must try to escape from. Director Michael Katleman keeps things chugging along at a fairly even clip, and in the film’s favor is its relatively brief running time. Unlike the people in Spielberg’s monster thrillers, the paper thin characters here just couldn’t hope to sustain a film much longer than 90 minutes.



The film’s 2.35:1 original theatrical aspect ratio is presented here in anamorphic video. The sharpness is well above average, and while the color is very rich, a distinct golden sheen has been added to the daylight scenes in Africa that make colors oversaturated a bit but restricts black levels and limits shadow detail thereby robbing the transfer of some depth it might otherwise have had. The transfer is free of any artifacts as it should be for a film so recently released though an occasional edge halo is present. The film has been divided into 16 chapters.



The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is certainly immersive and on many occasions uses the available channels for a stunning surround experience. However, I found it surprising that during some of the gunfire sequences in the picture, the sound field, particularly in the rear channels, is not utilized to its fullest.



The special features are rather rudimentary, too. The running commentary by director Michael Katleman and special effects chief Paul Linden is engaging as they swap stories on all aspects of the picture. Rather than merely narrate what we’re seeing, the pair does offer amusing and interesting anecdotes on the film’s production.

There is a 9½ minute “croc-umentary” on the creation of the creature that’s of moderate interest. It’s presented in anamorphic widescreen featuring the initial crude computer generated effects that lead to the more polished results we see in the movie. There’s not much depth to the feature, but it’s nice to see once.

The DVD offers three deleted scenes in non-anamorphic letterbox, all of which feature commentary by the director and visual effects supervisor. There is no way to turn off their commentary and enjoy the scenes for themselves, a poor decision.

As with almost all Buena Vista DVD releases, the disc begins and also allows access in the main menu to trailers from various Disney company offerings. Included on this disc, among others, are trailers for Apocalypto, Ratatouille, and Renaissance. The trailer for Primeval is not provided.



As a thriller, it’s no more than average, but if your cinematic bloodlust is insatiable, you might find Primeval to your liking.


Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC