Primeval (2007)

Directed by Michael Katleman. Starring Dominic Purcell, Orlando Jones, Brooke Langton, Jürgen Prochnow, Gideon Emery, Dumisani Mbebe, Gabriel Malema. [R]

A killer animal movie with a muddled political statement—ain’t we lucky? Amid heavy-handed images of suffering and subjugation in Africa, beheaded villagers and mass graves and the like, a group of foreigners (mostly Americans) are on the hunt for a giant man-eating croc of local legend. Aside from Jürgen Prochnow’s oddly subdued great white hunter madness and cameraman Orlando Jones being, well, Orlando Jones, no character is worth mentioning (or able to be easily recalled). Phony as the rampaging reptile looks, the movie needed more of its toothy grin, less of the genocide exploitation, which takes over so often, I kept looking for Leo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou in the corners of the frame, eluding capture. However, since the direction is so sloppy, with the attack scenes (including an attempted rape) chopped into a grainy, incoherent blur, it can’t be enjoyed on the level of a violent bubblegum thriller. Where’s a smart-mouthed Betty White when you need her? The movie’s crocodile was inspired by a real-life maneater cruising the Nile River basin in Burundi called Gustave.

28/100