Primeval (R-2007)

This may be the worst advertised movie ever. When it first came out, the ads and posters all boasted of a film about the most notorious serial killer of all time. Pictures of piles of bones adorned the posters. Only after it came out, did they come clean with the fact that this "serial killer" they referred to was a crocodile. Based on an actual crocodile in Africa, the movie is actually not bad. It follows the story of an American television crew sent to look for an file a report on this legendary crocodile, called "Gustave" by the locals. "Prison Break"'s Dominic Purcell heads the cast with Orlando Jones as the comic relief. The film actually follows two plotlines simultaneously. In the region where the crocodile is hunting, a civil war is going on, headed by a ruthless warlord, who calls himself "Little Gustave" (also based on a real person). Both stories are equally interesting and mesh together well. The crocodile itself is a little over the top: too big, too smart, etc. The movie mixes elements of "King Kong", "Jurassic Park" and, of course, "Jaws". While Orlando Jones' performance is fine, his character has way too many "funny lines" throughout the script. This is very similar to how Jeff Goldblum was used in "Jurassic Park 2". In the first one, Goldblum was the quirky guy who did not take himself too seriously. In the second, they decided he needed to have a funny line in EVERY scene. This is exactly what Orlando Jones does in this movie. Overall, it turned out to be a much better movie than I expected, although some of the silliness and obvious imitation of the films mentioned earlier keeps it from being a very good movie.

Grade: C

Trailer: