User Reviews

I admit it, I have a soft spot for monster movies. Maybe it's the kid in me who watched all the old "creature features" at a young age, or maybe it's the fact that no one has really made a serious monster movie since...well, you tell me. That being said, "Primeval" is no work of genius, and like most mainstream films, is loaded with clichéd moments that we've seen in better movies. However, when compared to the films that pass for horror today, this one has surprising bite (no pun intended) at certain moments. The main complaint here seems to be the misleading advertising campaign of the film, hyping it up as a tale of serial killer in rural Africa. Of course, the actual story details an American news team (the brooding male leader, the hot female sidekick, and of course, the token black guy who serves mostly as comic relief) traveling to the war-torn Burundi to film and hopefully capture Gustave, an enormous crocodile who has eaten hundreds of people. Naturally, things go wrong, and the river soon runs red. An interesting aspect of the movie is the inclusion of a warlord in the plot, adding a second threat to the protagonists (Gustave is, of course, their first threat). This risky move sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, but I applaud the filmmakers for trying something new at least. What really redeems the film however are a few key scenes that are surprisingly atmospheric (something most modern horror films have forgotten), well edited, and increasingly suspenseful. Without giving too much away, the croc itself is better than one may expect from this kind of a movie. The cast does what they can with a strictly average script, yet for the most part, manage to elicit some interest and sympathy. The final act is a bit of a disappointment, but by that point, it's already been a fun, exciting ride, and one doesn't really care. In short, "Primeval" is strictly what many of us go to the movies for: popcorn entertainment. I myself had originally gone to see "Pan's Labyrinth" but as the shows were sold out, my friends and I eventually decided to give "Primeval" a go. I wasn't dazzled, but then again, I wasn't expecting to be. It's simply fun, escapist entertainment, and despite what any film snob will tell you, there's nothing wrong with that. Just shut your brain off and you should have a good time.

I'm sure that I'm the only person here who really isn't going to bash on this film. Of course, I already knew it was a crocodile in stead of a serial killer. I mean c'mon, if you looked around on the internet you would of known, and the trailer made it apparent. Still I agree that it was a cheesy scam to call this killer croc "the world's most prolific serial killer". Aside from that, the movie had a simple (if not too simple) story line. Croc kills important person, team sent to catch it, croc is smarter then them, they try to survive. If you've seen Lake Placid, then this is generally the same idea. Just subtract one croc, set it in Africa, and put a really funny black guy in. Yeah, Orlando Jones does an exceptional job as Steve and makes you laugh more then once. Unfortunately, the other actors are so-so at best. The croc's animation was decent, but I felt he needed a better design. He just looked like a really big croc rather then anything original. And the gore was disappointing. The animated blood in the raining scenes was laughably bad. Overall, it might be worth a rent when it comes out on DVD, but it isn't going to ever be a vintage horror film. If you've seen Lake Placid, no need to apply here, except that this is the better Lake Placid.

This movie seems to suffer from a low budget. The writing is okay. The plotting was okay. The actors are okay. The special effects are weak. All could have been better. This movie could be compared to Anaconda, but replace the snake with a killer crocodile. Swap out South America and see Africa instead. Unlike Anaconda, Primeval makes a social statement about the political unrest in Africa. In the back drop of filming a crocodile documentary, political unrest and murder is happening all around them. Where this movie suffers is the pacing. It starts out slow and isn't even interesting until the crocodile appears. Once the crocodile appears, that's really all you may care to see. Unfortunately, the special effects are too obvious and the crocodile acts fake and looks fake. It's only at this point that the movie even gets up to the quality of Anaconda which also had fake looking effects.

Orlando Jones as Steven Johnson brings a welcome light touch of humor to an otherwise serious movie. Brooke Langton as Aviva Masters brings a welcome touch of beauty to a dirty and unattractive African setting. The other characters aren't quite as appealing.

This movie is worth seeing, but just barely. Wait for the DVD.

Attempting to tread a fine line between two different types of film, Primeval is a misguided, but nonetheless kind of fun movie. On the one hand, it wants to be an 'issues' movie, dealing with warlords, child soldiers and western apathy towards violence in central Africa. On the other, it also wants to have a massive great big crocodile running around trying to eat the guy from Prison Break. It's not bad, but while these two separate strands never really gel there's still some entertainment to be had. Provided of course you can look past the incredibly tasteless joke about the slave trade.

The film concentrates on Dominic Purcell's news journalist who gets sent off to Burundi to document the search for 'Gustave,' a legendary croc who has chalked up over 300 human victims during his years prowling the river banks. He's accompanied by a British Steve Irwin a-like, Orlando Jones as the "please don't get him" cameraman, a slumming it Jurgen Prochnow, a token female and several dozen expendable locals and together, they trek into the bush to hunt Gustave down. They're also given a few warnings about 'Little Gustave,' a vicious renegade soldier whose private army are responsible for all manner of atrocities in the region. But hey it'll be okay right? They've got a machine gun strapped to the roof...

Needless to say, things go badly. There's all manner of carnage to be had as Gustave begins ripping people to shreds and trigger happy teenagers with AK-47s go on the warpath. By the time the credits roll, just as many people have been machine-gunned as eaten by Gustave and Purcell looks like he can't wait to get back to a nice, comfy cell in San Quentin where he only has to deal with corrupt guards and shankings every day.

Taken simply as an old-fashioned adventure movie it's not bad and there's certainly fun to be had when the limbs start to get torn loose. The attempts at dealing with the bigger picture though fall flat. It's apparently "inspired by true events," but aside from the fact there genuinely is a crocodile named Gustave in Burundi, that's about as far as the realism goes. Hotel Rwanda this ain't. However if you want a movie where a great big scaly beast eats people every ten minutes you can't go wrong. You'll have a hard time remembering any of the characters names when the time comes to type up the review though.

I have no idea why, but from the cover and short summary in back, I thought that Primevil might have been an entertaining horror film. I'm not really into crocodile stories, they usually don't work, but for some reason this one looked very promising. When I started watching it, I kept checking the cover just to make sure I was on track, but the story just seemed to get lost somewhere. Now I don't mind different stories, but the cover promised something else and I wasn't even really that entertained or moved by the story.

Basically there is a killer crocodile in Africa, apparently he is a big one to be very frightened of. So an American crew of reporters wish to capture the beast or get him on film so they can help these villages and become famous more so. But there is another major problem that takes the story to a completely different place, where there is a huge war going on and starts to terrorize these reporters and one by one they are killed off before the crocodile gets to them.

Primevil would have had good potential for a horror movie, but it just went in an intense turn where you had no idea where the film would take you. The script was also in some ways done in poor taste and wasn't well thought out, like I'm not offended easily usually when it comes to racial jokes, but Orlando going on about slavery in Africa went a little too far and was ridiculous. The acting is so so, not the worst I've seen, but the effects are not that impressive, a warning in advance. But if you would like to check out this film, please feel free, but I wouldn't really recommend it.

3/10

When I realized about 10 minutes into the film that I had paid to see a crocodile movie and not one about a serial killer as advertised, I was mad as h*ll!. For the first time I was about to demand my money back. However, I gave the movie a chance. I did end up enjoying it, but not enough to forgive being duped into paying the price. It is a pretty fun movie, but it's the same thing we've seen before on Sci-Fi Channel for a fraction of the price. To the distributors credit, they knew what they were doing. No one wants to pay to see a run-of-the-mill crocodile movie when they can see an giant reptile, insect, or animal/human hybrid film on cable each weekend. I love "Lake Placid", but if I knew this movie was about a croc I would not have gone to see it. It was a fun film, so if you want to pay to see Sci-Fi fare, you'll enjoy it.

Primeval was geniusly marketed as a slasher film and attempted to get people to pay for a ticket expecting a slasher flick and sucker them outta cash with a crocodile movie.Based on the amount of pi$$ed off people reviewing this film in anger of being scammed i'm going to say they succeeded.Now on to Primeval as a movie yes it has the token black guy, and the sexy blonde wearing pretty much nothing, and the tough guy who takes charge but after seeing Stomp The Yard I wanted to see people die and Primeval did that oh so well.Even though it's not technically a slasher flick it is a gore fest though and an enjoyable one with some very innovative kills and very little to know cheesy scenes.They don't make it intentionally cheesy like Freddy vs Jason, or See No Evil this film is completely serious which makes it more believable and more fun to watch.Is it scary sure if blood scares you but other than that it's the pulse pounding chase scenes that keep you watching and enjoying Primeval.Visually Primeval is beautiful and ugly at the same time as the locations are gorgeous yet the mud or the water looks eerie and murky it really gives you the impression that something is living there and it's not expecting company.Is it clichéd?Please..what movie isn't nowadays and better yet what horror film isn't nowadays so the clichés are easy to ignore and don't hurt the overall excitement of the film.Primeval has disturbing full out gore scenes with all the blood you wanna see and more.It certainly doesn't let you down in that department.Primeval has taught us all a lesson research what movie you're going to see before you go see it because personally i thought it was funny that Primeval screwed most of you other critics outta your money i on the other hand knew what i was going to see and enjoyed every minute of it.Overall ignore the more than likely low IMDb average rating because most critics gave this film a 1 because they were pi$$ed that they didn't get what they wanted like a little kid in a toy store.

Based on a true story? No. It's an action B movie about an American TV crew hunting for a huge crocodile for a TV program. The plot is frankly exactly what I seek in a movie. I like these simple to-the-point stories with cool action, attractive women, cool guys, nasty bad guys, and a huge monster. It's simple and something I, as a dude, just enjoy watching even though it can get very stupid and silly. But unfortunately even I, who this movie is basically made for, really dislike the movie. The plot works, but the editing and camera work is horrible. Scenes are shown by short 1 second shots. Then we get 20 new shots, each lasting a second each with a new weird angle. Shot from the ground up or with the camera angled to the side. And it just rushes at you and never shows the full picture of the event. When they are packing the huge cage in the boat we only see part of the cage for a few seconds. We don't see the full scenery. It's so irritating. I was enjoying the story about the crocodile hunting people and the bad guys in Africa killing people who went against them. All that is really cool. It's just pathetically badly edited. It's an unwatchable mess. Even the shots of the crocodile only last seconds at most. The director never cares to stay in any one scene or shot so you don't get to see anything.

Of course the decisions taken in this movie are completely stupid too. At one point they are attacked by the crocodile that then kills a man. Instead of driving away or hiding they go to a hut that is built on top of the lake where the crocodile lives. Why are they trying to get themselves killed? That's never clear. The script writer just needed them there so now they are there. No real person would go to the most dangerous place you could find. Of course more people die. And even after it happens they still stay there.

There is also a scene with the cameraman standing maybe 2 meters from the shore. Instead of calmly walking out of the water he stays in the lake and looks for the crocodile alone until he spots it. Why is he trying to spot it after seeing it kill people? It's never explained. He just seems to not want to leave the lake. Of course the crocodile finds him and hunts him. Like, what are these people thinking?

There is also a scene where the female journalist instead of fleeing away in a car goes into the lake again to take a small dog with her. The dog is actually not in any danger as such at that moment, but you know the crocodile eats people so once she jumps into the lake she knows it's coming. This is after tons of people have died in front of her and she was nearly killed tens of times. This are the decisions made in this movie. They are really stupid, but I could have tolerated them at some level if I could actually see them. But the editing messed that all up.

After a noted scientist is killed by what can only be described as some sort of beast an expedition is sent to track it down. Dealing with their own problems, conflicts, and the fact they are in country torn part by civil war.

The film starts as a typical monster flick with an intense death scene and a hint of political agenda. It then proceeds to be a typical creature feature with some decent gore and terror, but the political agenda brought up subtly in the beginning resurfaces and the film becomes mismatched. Fans of gore and horror will have fun with the gore and horror, but the political theme is sorely out of place. It is hard to say that it is irrelevant, because if it was well developed it could serve as a decent metaphor.

Godzilla, for one, is a monster metaphor - the bastard of the nuclear age. Here that is what the film tries to do with Gustave - the HUGE killer croc. It fails - whether it is noble failure or pathetic failure is ultimately up to you - but the failure to intertwine themes and idea throughout the movie results in this mismatching. Things just seems to appear out of nowhere, like a long sequence where the main beast literally disappears from the film. It was right there in the previous scene, but for a while it is gone. Then it is conveniently back for the conclusion. In a funny way this seems to be a monster horror flick from the Sci-Fi channel that has the seriousness of "Blood Diamond" here and there. That just doesn't work, folks. Metaphors and themes must be a pervasive presence to work. --- 4/10

Rated R: graphic violence/gore and profanity

Following a disastrous affair, a team of journalists are sent to Africa to track down a vicious crocodile terrorizing the locals only to come under fire from a local warlord using the area as his own personal playground and must try to dodge both threats to get out alive.

This is a really underrated creature feature that does have a lot to offer. This one has a pretty impressive feat in that there's a unique spin on it where rather than the creature showing up at a particular location where others are gathered together, this one takes place where the croc calls home. It's a surprising idea and all the fun from this is a cause from it, and that extends into the big reasoning for this one being so underrated which is all the action the film has. The early parts of the film, where the attempts to capture it result in some really big action scenes are rather fun with the opening attack inside the body-filled pit is really great, the group's first trap attempt is quite creepy and chilling and a chase through the jungle comes at the tail end of a huge gunfight with the warlord's henchmen isn't that bad either. The big one is the spectacular assault on the floating campground since it's on the water where there's a lot of opportunities for action from these scenes and they are just plain great as well with the surprise charge and the gunfire to hold it off before taking out the walkways and then leading into the charge against their hideout makes this a highlight that is quite fun. Even the rather fun and frantic finale, which is the big encounter in the bush surrounding the swamplands in the driving rain where they encounter both the creature and the henchmen in some rather fun and exciting scenes that really do end this on a high-note. The few croc attacks here result in some really graphic kills while the non-croc kills aren't that bad either, leaving this one with numerous amounts of bloodshed throughout here. These here all make it really underrated as this one here doesn't have a whole lot of flaws, and those aren't that bad. The main factor against it is that this one has a whole lot of really bad quick- cutting during the big action scenes that are nearly impossible to see at times, and along with the use of extreme close- ups there's not a lot to see during these. As these are the film's big moments, it has a real tendency to drag down. There's not a whole lot of surprise in the final twist in the film, which is one that could be seen coming from a mile away, and is so un-shocking that not even the characters offer up any surprise at it, merely taking it for granted that it happened. That alone speaks enough of how good it is. The last flaw is that, despite delivering some of the goriest moments in the film, there really should've been more crocodile kills. It gets only a few, and these are the real gory ones, but it doesn't have the majority, and for it's own film that is a little sad. Overall, these aren't that bad and make it somewhat worthwhile.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

The title hints it might be a new, somewhat original type of horror film but PRIMEVAL turns out to be that most invariably disappointing of B-movie specimens: the CGI animated killer crocodile flick. I can't help but think that CGI has effectively killed the monster movie stone dead; prior to the mid-1990s, filmmakers had to go out of their way to build life-size replicas for their creature features, and the films featuring such creations had a level of care and respect put into them. Now, anybody can make a B-movie with a CGI menace at its core and the floodgates are well and truly opened for often dire Z-grade efforts.

Things at least look interesting at the start: there's a foreign, African locale, and rumours of an age-old serial killer prowling the swamps. The plot soon veers into familiar territory: a news crew is sent out to cover the story and capture the crocodile alive, if at all possible. If you're looking for clichés, look no further than the cast: there's the rugged, square-jawed but one-dimensional hero type (Dominic Purcell, who made his name playing Dracula in BLADE: TRINITY), the pretty/sassy reporter (Brooke Langton), the stereotypical black comic relief guy (Orlando Jones, who delivers one of the most jaw-droppingly offensive lines of dialogue in film history) and the grizzled guide (Jurgen Prochnow, on autopilot).

The story soon devolves into repetitive chase sequences as the cast are variously stalked and dispatched by the killer crocodile. A lot of the action takes place at night, thereby disguising the paucity of the special effects budget, and there's only one scene in which the croc is halfway convincing. To add insult to injury, all but one of the African supporting cast seem to consist of thugs and villains to add to the so-called menace. There's absolutely NOTHING here that hasn't been seen before, and I'm astonished that this managed to get a cinema release when it's no better than the run-of-the-mill creature flicks that the Sci-Fi channel has been churning out for the last decade or so.

I saw this movie at a special screening. There is nothing special about it. I wont ruin it for those who want to see it, but I will tell say this to people who are not sure: Don't waste your money! It's only January and already this movie has the potential of being the worst of 2007.

This movie steals every plot point from other movies. Orlando Jones, who should have been banned from movie screens when Evolution came out, basically plays the same character he always plays: The Token Black Guy.

PLOT: 0 FOR 10 Acting: 0 for 10.

I cannot say anything nice about this film at all.

"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.

Television producer Tim Manfrey (Dominic Purcell) leads a team down to the Burundi section of Africa to investigate and try to capture a large killer crocodile dubbed Gustave, who has been killing and eating hundreds of natives.

After reading the plot synopsis, I was expecting something similar to Anaconda which was a cheesy, entertaining movie that didn't take itself too seriously. The preview did scare me in the sense that they didn't mention the alligator aspect at all. I don't get why the studio would hide that fact since it would be the movie's main draw. Also, the preview looked very underwhelming. However, my friend wanted to see it which we did and now I wish we had seen something else. Primeval is neither scary nor entertaining. Instead, it is dull, wooden and it doesn't have an ounce of personality.

Director Michael Katleman should get the blame for this. He kept the movie way too serious and the pacing was very slow which made the whole thing tedious. He added unnecessary social commentary and he didn't do a good job at mixing it with entertainment. He also didn't take advantage of shooting in Africa, failing to capture the beauty of the location. I thought it was impossible but he made Africa look ordinary. Also, everything was very dark and annoying. I don't mean the film was actually a dark comedy but everything seemed to be shot at night and it was hard to follow the action. I guess this was done to lower budget costs but it didn't help when it came to actually view the movie. The screenwriters (Michael Ferris (III) and John D. Brancato) were equally useless although this should not be surprisingly since this pair wrote Catwoman. The one good thing about the movie was the alligator and all of his attack scenes. They were somewhat entertaining even if they did look fake.

The acting was just as bad as the writing and directing. Dominic Purcell was horrible as Tim. He was very wooden and he showed no emotion. This was clearly a paycheck movie for him since he appeared to be reading his lines. Brooke Langton was enormously bland and just useless. Orlando Jones was surprisingly bad and I say surprisingly because he's usually pretty reliable in supporting roles. Here, he was wooden and bland, just like his co-stars. Overall, Primeval is simply terrible and it's not worth checking out unless you love bad films. Rating 2/10

This movie was much more about a group of idiot white people who get into all sorts of trouble while stranded in Africa! There was considerably very little crocodile! Also in some ways the crocodile seemed much less evil, bloodthirsty or scary than some of the human characters portrayed in the film! The most blood came from these bad humans instead of the supposed monster! The movie also had a predictable ending!

All in all not terrible but not great either! If it was done well this film could have had potential! But alas I must add it to my B-Movie list for that is where it truly belongs! As for anyone who even remotely compares this film to "Lake Placid" they are crazy to compare Primeval to such a great film!

Ron

I thought that this movie was very well done, but like many other people have said the advertisements were extremely misleading. My mom and I are big fans of horror movies and went expecting to see a slasher film, but once the movie started we quickly realized that it was an action adventure thriller. However, despite the fact that the movie was not what we were expecting, we both ended up really enjoying it (probably because we are fans of both genres).

Now on to the movie: The script was extremely well written, managing to bring the broader issues of genocide and civil war to light while at the same time delivering plenty of action and scare sequences, as well as humor to lighten the mood between the thrill sequences.

In addition to the writing, the actors only further contribute to the high quality of the script by consistently hitting their marks and clearly conveying the intended humor, horror, or whatever else is called for during the different scenes.

I was also impressed by the directing and cinematography. The combination of the two resulted in creating a movie that manages to involve the audience and provide footage that matches whatever mood is needed at the time; whether it be awe at the beauty of Africa or the fear when the characters are facing a dangerous situation.

To be fair, I must admit that the movie did not have very good graphics and audiences will be able to easily tell that the crocodile is done through CGI. However, between a little imagination and the actors believable performances, this does not detract from the thrills of the movie.

Ultimately if you are a fan of action-adventure and enjoy a good thrill I would highly recommend this movie, but if you are looking for a slasher film don't bother.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, i don't see what all the fuss is , as why people on here just don't like it.. It's based on a true story,, okay, so maybe they endulged when they made the movie, but hey who doesn't enduldge just a bit here and there, that young black man in the movie was so funny, i wish he had stuck around longer, Jurgen Pruchnow was okay, bu he should have had more to do in this one. the story is very interesting about a killer crocodile who feasts on bodies left at the river, when the Warlords committed all of that genocide over the years, so you see they actually created there own monster,, very unique i think, i really didn't expect a lot out of this movie,, and i'm happy to say that it exceeded my expectations by a bunch.

News Team goes to Africa to find and capture a killer crocodile. As they begin their hunt they run afoul of a warlord and have their lives put deeper into peril. Unfocused "horror" film had its release moved up three months for no good reason. Actually I suspect it was to simply kill the suspense and have the film take a loss in the companies ledgers early. This is a movie where almost everything is there, accept a script that makes sense. Why bill it as a horror/suspense film and then ignore that part of the story. Then again the early hype had this implying it was a film about a human serial killer. Low ratings are due to the disappointment....not to mention the fact that the story isn't much of anything.

A gigantic crocodile that thinks? Come on. This is basically a mix of Lake Placid and Tears of the Sun, both of which are infinitely better than this movie. Primeval's attempt to use a movie about a killer croc to show the genocide taking place in civil war ravaged Africa is not only shameful, but downright laughable.

The acting is better by the stand-in African bushmen than it is by the American "actors." Dominic Purcell and Brooke Langton are only in this movie for their aesthetic appeal. And Orlando Jones is the token African American comedic relief. The cinematography is the best part of this movie, showing the landscapes and culture of the African people.

I went to this movie because I have a free pass. I feel sorry for you if you spent money on this joke. Bottom Line: Awful movie, even if you're drunk