Primeval (2007)
4/10
Cool action plot, stupid characters, awful unwatchable editing
7 January 2022
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.
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