Primeval: Critic Reviews

Primeval is one of several recent movies to bill itself as 'inspired by true events.' So was this review, though in both cases 'inspired' may be too strong a word.

In the end, broader messages get beaten down by genre.

Essentially Jaws moved to Africa.

Director Michael Katleman, making his bigscreen debut after a couple decades' TV work, keeps the pacing tight, the acting straight-faced and the laughs mostly intentional (though Jones' one-liners occasionally fall flat).

How capturing an animal found in every zoo constitutes a scoop is beyond me, but when you expect the trio to be knee-deep in blood they are instead wading through politics.

Don't get attached to anybody, or anything. Poor actors. They took off to make a movie in Africa and all they got was a stinking, fake-blood-soaked t-shirt.

Can't a killer-crocodile movie just be a killer-crocodile movie?

What a croc! Unsolicited advice to filmmakers: When making a monster movie, do not attempt to sell said film as a picture about a serial killer.

Primeval boasts a level of cheesiness that should well merit it a regular rotation on late-night cable.

Strangely self-serious, and without covering the prerequisites of top-shelf nastiness that contemporary horror requires, this giant crocodile movie turns out to be neither fish nor fowl.

Primeval is a slick-looking movie that lacks the gritty goodness of old-fashioned exploitation and is too silly to take seriously as a mainstream thriller.

...a thoroughly awful, downright irritating piece of work...

The possibility of commentary is raised but it ultimately is glossed over with cliches and very little substance.

Laced with pseudoserious undertones, the movie makes "Anaconda" look like a modern-day classic.

Primeval walks a fine line between action, humor, and having half a conscience.

Less than the sum of its parts. There are too many small errors and lost opportunities, and it's just not scary. Even a B movie can't succeed when that's the case.

The subplot turns what might have been a fascinating true-life adventure into a lurid, stereotypical melodrama.

As it tries to be two things at once -- a gory monster movie and a dramatic social commentary -- what it mostly succeeds at is being dull and repetitive.

It's rough going when our heroes have us longing for the complexity of the riverboat crew from 'Anaconda.'

Primeval is bad, but it's never boring, and you can't say that about many of its peers.

Solidly well-told and breathtakingly shot.