PRIMEVAL

Directed by Michael Katleman
Written by John Brancato & Michael Ferris
Cinematography John Frizzell
Cast: Dominic Purcell, Orlando Jones, Brooke Langton, Jurgen Prochnow & Gideon Emery

2007/94 mins/Color/Dolby Digital 5.1
2.35:1 anamorphic/English/US/NTSC Region 1

Review from the Hollywood Pictures DVD

Inspired by a true story... right.

An American news crew (Purcell, Jones and Langton) are send to Africa to report, capture and bring back a 25-foot man-eating crocodile by the name of Gustave. Unfortunately for them, and for us, there is much more trouble in that African country of then "just" this carnivorous beast.

Make no mistake about it, while PRIMEVAL doesn't pretend to be anything new, the team of writer could have spared us the usual crap that plagues most of these Hollywood "horror" films. As expected, little is actually seen of the crocodible apart from some second grade cg fx. If only they had watched JAWS, they would have learned that the less is usually the better if done correctly... especially when the budget doesn't allow it. Actually the whole killer croc thing sadly become the sub plot of the film. And I don't know what they were thinking but this is no HOTEL RWANDA.

Another very annoying and predictable thing is the Orlando Bloom character... another black dude telling lame ass jokes everytime he actually open his mouth. And there's the usual annoying scientific dickhead, here portrayed by Emery, which you simply want to see dead. What could have been an enjoyable campy movie turned out a predictably boring film.

This Hollywood Pictures DVD features a very good transfer which rich color saturation, no compression or artifacts... actually just what anyone would expect from a new film. The Dolby Digital 5.1 is loud and clear and makes great uses of the .1 channel. An optional Spanish track is also available along with French and Spanish subtitles.

There's an audio commentary with director Michael Katleman and visual effects supervisor Paul Linden. Its an interesting track as both of them go behind the details on the making of the film. Unfortunately, the movie isn't that good to start with so I guess its a must only if your a fan of PRIMEVAL. 'Crocumentary Bringing Gustave' to life is a 10 minutes featurette on how Gustave the crocodile was created for the film. We also get three deleted scenes with optional commentary by the director. There are also trailers for RATATOUILLE, RENAISSANCE, THE LOOKOUT and APOCALYPTO.

The disc features animated menus, with 16 chapters stops and comes with an inlay card.

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Review by Kim Dubuisson. All Right Reserved. 2007. ©