PRIMEVAL

Sure, I realize that this is a relatively new flick for me to include in these pages, but it fits so well into the exploitation mode that it isn't even funny. First, came the advertising campaign that led you to believe that it was some kind of serial killer flick. Then, you discover it's a giant croc flick and it's based on fact. To make it even more interesting, we get some local political intrigue as well. What it boils down to is this;
Our lead reporter hot shot Tim Manfrey (Dominic Purcell from Prison Break) has screwed up a story real bad. This forces him to go with wildlife journalist Aviva Masters (Brooke Langton) after a giant, 25 foot croc that the locals in Africa have taken to calling Gustave. Seems he's been a naughty boy and now the newspaper that Tim works for has a plan to capture the damned thing. Of course, Gustave lives in an area of Africa that is a political hot spot with a civil war going on. The leader of the rebels even has the stones to call himself Little Gustave. So, Tim And Aviva, along with token black guy Steve Johnson (Orlando Jones) are off to Africa to catch a croc. Along the way they pick up expert tracker, Jacob Krieg (Jurgen Prochnow). Why is it that there are never any black expert trackers in Africa? Instead we get psycho German guys all the time. Are they breeding there after being left behind in Africa during WW2? Beats me.
Anyway, a lot of people were pissed when this thing played like a serial killer movie in the previews and then turned out to be a killer croc flick. All I have to say to them is learn your history.
In the old days the preview of a film could rarely have anything to do with the actual film. You went because the advertising campaign was cool and you hoped the flick could live up to it's name. Sure, a lot of the times this didn't happen, but you watched the flick anyway.
In the case of PRIMEVAL, it was pretty good. For a few reasons. It took real life events and copied them into a pretty standard plot. But then it added the flavor of the war torn country as a backdrop. One minute you're trying to escape from a giant croc and the next you're getting shot at by both sides of a civil war. This gave it a sense of reality that you don't get in your killer animal flick. Usually, these flicks center solely on the giant critter and that's all you get. In this case, it's just a part of the story.
In a year of remakes, blockbusters and nonsense it's good to get a flick that just delivers a solid piece of exploitative entertainment.