Primitive War

I love dinosaur action almost as much as shark films. As a lad, I used to sit and leaf through a folder that was a mix of facts and pictures of dinosaurs and screenshots from Jurassic Park. I could sit and pore over it for hours. The first Jurassic Park was ground-breaking in so many ways when it came out. And the cool thing is that it holds up just as well today. Both the plot and the practical effects. The sequels were never quite as successful, although I actually love The Lost World too.

The revival in recent years has fluctuated between entertaining, silly and - Rebirth - which was actually one of the very worst films I saw last year. Absolutely everything about it grated. Despite decent effects and some big names in the cast, neither the script, the direction nor the plot worked, and the chemistry between the characters made it feel like a failed school project. It was truly awful. And you know what? I can reveal right now that Primitive War is actually better than Rebirth. Not that that's saying much. I must say, however, that the plot is hard to describe as anything other than interesting. It's ideas like this that get me excited.

Vietnam. 1968. A reconnaissance unit known as Vulture Squad is sent to an isolated jungle valley to find out what has happened to a missing Green Beret platoon. They soon discover they are not alone. Correct me if I'm wrong - but throwing dinosaurs into a war film. That IS a good idea, isn't it? What could possibly go wrong?

The cast includes Ryan Kwanten, best known from True Blood. As for films, I've never seen him in anything worth remembering. Jeremy Piven also turns up in a small role. Let's get this out of the way straight away: there won't be any Oscar nominations for anyone appearing in Primitive War. But perhaps no Razzies either. Then we come to the business of managing to tread on clichés. After a short prologue that actually reveals far more than it needs to, we get exactly what you'd expect: a scene with helicopters flying into a valley in Vietnam, towards a military base to the tune of - you guessed it - Fortunate Son' Because you simply can't start a film about the Vietnam War any other way. The script is spot on. No surprises.

What I appreciate most about this is that we're talking about a passion project. There's so much love behind a production like this that you don't really want to dismiss it. And that, alongside the dino-action genre, is one of the reasons why I was really keen to see it. But I can reveal that Primitive War isn't actually something I'll remember in the long run.
It's quite skilfully made. The effects are surprisingly good despite the limited budget. However, it's clearly evident that they're trying to mask the effects by often having attacks take place during dark scenes, preferably combined with a few flashing lights or muzzle flashes, so that you don't actually see all that much.

The characters are exactly as bland as you'd expect, and there's never really any real tension. It's certainly entertaining, but I still lost interest on several occasions. I'd still recommend giving it a go if, like me, you've been missing some dino action. At the same time, you might as well watch or rewatch Jurassic Park or The Lost World for a far more memorable experience. "Don't go into the long grass!" Or, as Stormare whispers in that classic scene: "Ah, hell. Bloody hell."

There's still something special about watching people get gobbled up by prehistoric beasts, isn't there? And I can't shake the feeling that the combination of war film and dinosaur action is genuinely refreshing, a bit like Overlord, for example, which mixes the Second World War with zombies. So. No. Primitive War is no rival to Jurassic Park, even if it is, in a way, a bit of a breath of fresh air.

On the other hand. Again. Yes. It beats Jurassic Park: Rebirth, and that's always something.