Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

Primeval Blu-ray Movie Review

“We make and create our monsters.”

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater August 10, 2009

Alligator, the John Sayles-penned horror comedy from 1980, was probably the first outright creature feature I ever saw as a kid, and I remember really latching on to it, going through an alligator faze and even re-enacting scenes from the movie in my grandparents’ pool. I re-watched the film a few years ago, and while it’s hokey, ludicrous, and has definitely aged, there’s a certain honesty to Alligator—it seems to acknowledge and even poke fun at its clichés, basically admitting upfront that it’s a low-budget Jaws rip off. It never takes itself too seriously, and the film is all the better for it’s comic tone. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Primeval, a film that initially confused audiences with a trailer that made it look like just another serial killer flick, albeit set in sub-Saharan Africa. Of course, the culprit is actually a 6-meter, man-eating crocodile named Gustave, based on a real-life croc that prowls the banks of Burundi’s Ruzizi River. Most of the best creature features have an element of fun—or at least are self-aware of their innate ridiculousness—but apparently Primeval didn’t get the memo. The film goes for gravity when there’s simply none to be had and is ultimately neither campy enough to be fun nor scary enough to be legitimately thrilling.

Orlando Jones hates Africa.

When a mammoth crocodile devours a forensic anthropologist investigating mass graves in war- torn Burundi, an American TV news producer gets the bright idea to send a team to Africa to not only catch the reptile on tape, but to actually capture it alive. Heading the team is Tim Manfrey (Prison Break’s Dominic Purcell), a hotshot journalist who has recently come under scrutiny for padding a political story with unchecked facts. The croc assignment is his journalistic penance, and he’s joined by animal-rights reporter Aviva Masters (Brooke Langton) and quick- tongued cameraman Steven Johnson (Orlando Jones). When they arrive in Burundi they meet up with croc expert-slash-Steve Irwin wannabe Matthew Collins (Gideon Emery) and local hunter- slash-poacher Jacob Krieg (Jürgen Prochnow), who is roughly analogous here to Quint, the salty old seaman from Jaws. The collected croc fodder go questing through marshland and along riverbanks for their reptilian adversary, but complications arise when Steven videotapes a militia group carrying out an execution. Pursued by the warlords and picked off one by one by an insatiable crocodile, the team find themselves stranded in the African bush, hunted on all sides.

Director Michael Katleman makes his theatrical debut here, after years of helming various TV productions, and his technical abilities are never suspect. The film is shot and edited with a professional eye—compositions are visually interesting, cuts are clean, if a bit too quick, and the cinematography of the African landscape is stunningly beautiful at times. However, technical skill doesn’t make a movie, and in nearly every other aspect Primeval is a complete and utter mess. For a purported horror movie, it’s surprising how little tension there is here. The computer- generated crocodile isn’t menacing at all, and there’s nothing subtle or surprising about how Gustave is implemented. It doesn’t help that the CGI is sub-par and all too noticeable, leaving us with little to be impressed by and nothing tangible to fear. The kills are dull, and they either come out of nowhere—with shock but no suspense—or they’re dragged out in boring sequences that only postpone the inevitable.

Interactions between characters are similarly tedious. The dialogue is brain draining, composed of unnecessary exposition, empty conflicts, and flat attempts at humor. Even funnyman Orlando Jones only gets a few half-hearted moments of levity, most of them insensitive and inane remarks about how horrible it is in Africa and how “slavery was a good thing.” It’s okay—wink wink—because this is coming from a bona fide African-American. The only time he bats one out of the park is when he compares the crocodile to O.J. Simpson, saying, “He messed up when he killed that white woman.” The other actors don’t really have much to do but get eaten when the time calls for it. There’s no character development in the film whatsoever, and many of the conflicts—like the tension between the poacher and the croc expert—go completely ignored as the film grinds on and on and on.

Primeval’s biggest offense, though, is how unrepentantly exploitive it is of its African setting. Gustave’s unusual size and appetite are explained by the ready food source he has in genocide victims whose corpses get tossed in the water. The film tries to make a social statement about how “we create our monsters,” but this is just a thin justification for a distasteful set-up that knowingly takes advantage of African suffering. What do you think the reaction would be like if the film was about a poor black family in a Louisiana bayou getting eaten by alligators while hurricane Katrina destroys their house?

Primeval Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

While technical proficiency can't save Primeval from an underwhelming story, it certainly helps the film's 1080p, AVC-encoded transfer, which is colorful, clear, and super-sharp. The film has an ultra-real, stylized look that's characterized by a warm, yellowish tint that plays up the sweltering heat of Burundi. Black levels are tight, giving the film some delicious HD pop, and colors are rich and saturated, from the dusky tones of the Kibira Wetlands to the vivid red of Orlando Jones' Nike shirt. Clarity is equally impressive. Just check out the detail in the scene when the team encounters the militia in a clearing—dust swirls with convincing depth under the rescue helicopter, tall blades of grass are rendered individually distinct, and the characters' faces and clothing display incredibly sharp, edge-enhancement-free textures. My complaints are few but worth noting. There are occasional instances when the post-production color timing is obvious and slightly off, either flushing or oversaturing the usually warm and natural skin tones. The most glaring problem is the unsubtle CGI, which stands out unnaturally from the rest of the image. This is a budget/effects issue, though, and in nearly all other respects Primeval's picture quality is top-notch.

Primeval Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Primeval dishes up an uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround track that's always active, immersive, and engaging. Nearly every scene features some sort of tone-setting ambience in the rears, from the busy hum of insects to the lapping of water and the brisk rush of wind. Discrete effects, though occasionally heavy-handed, are just as impressive—bullets zing between channels, propeller sounds pan accurately as a plane flies by, and the loose canvas of an overturned tent whips and snaps convincingly. The film also boasts a strikingly full dynamic range. The LFE rumbles with a room-shaking growl during croc attacks, gunshots pop with threatening clarity, and the high- end articulations of AK47s are crisply defined. The mix seems balanced and well thought out, providing plenty of activity but never muddling the prioritized vocal work. It's too bad this stunning track is attached to such a lackluster film.

Primeval Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Commentary by Director Michael Katleman and Special Effects Supervisor Paul Linden

Katleman sounds a bit sleepy, Linden controls the conversation at times, and there a few prolonged bouts of silence, but this is a decent enough commentary track that's filled with plenty of anecdotes about filming, set design, and the experience of shooting in South Africa. The most interesting parts tend to be about scouting and prepping the locations. One local, at a train station where the airport scenes were shot, kept coming up to the cameras and yelling, "Michael Jackson! King of Pop!"

Croc-umentary: Bringing Gustave to Life (SD, 9:38)

Here special effects team members explain the process of creating and animating the CGI croc, and we get to see combinations of all the different layers and passes, from renders and pre- visualizations to background plates, wire frame models, textures, and final compositions.

Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Director Michael Katleman and Special Effects Supervisor Paul Linden

The first scene, entitled "Pigman," is short segment where the production crew filled a soldier's uniform with pig parts and let crocodiles feast away. The second is a gratuitous shower scene, and the third is an extended death sequence. Not much interesting here.

Movie Showcase

Three bookmarks that allow you to demo the director's favorite sequences, in all their high def glory.

Primeval Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Primeval is a mostly dull experience that lacks real thrills, squanders a beautiful setting, and most damningly, exploits the death and suffering of Africans in Burundi. Despite a fantastic audio/visual line-up, I can't recommend this one for anyone but croc completists who have a shelf devoted to Lake Placid, Black Water, Alligator and others. If you're really desperate for a herpetological thriller, I'd recommend checking out Rogue—a terrific Australian horror film by Wolf Creek director Greg McLean—as it definitely has more bite.