Primitive War (2025)

Like many people, I didn't expect much from Primitive War, a film easily described as part Vietnam war movie, part Jurassic Park. And like many people, I was very impressed as the wonderful end credit sequence started to roll. It's overlong, not all of the characters stand out as individuals, and the screenplay, co-written by Ethan Pettus and director Luke Sparke, is full of lines you have heard in every other war movie, but it's more fun than Jurassic World: Rebirth, on a budget of less than 5% of that franchise instalment.

Ryan Kwanten is the biggest name here (well, Jeremy Piven is also in the cast, but he's used sparingly in a few scenes that bookend the main action). Kwanten plays Baker, a man leading his platoon through a jungle valley that turns out to have a number of unexpected dinosaurs roaming around. It's all down to a military plan, and those dinosaurs may end up wanted by those in power seeking every advantage in the ongoing war.

While I don't know if this was put together in exactly the same way, Primitive War feels as if it is to dinosaur movies what Monsters was to alien movies. Although, and it's important to note this, Primitive War has an approach that is far less coy, with those involved having the confidence in the FX to pack more fun into the whole thing than expected. It takes a bit of time to ease viewers into the premise, after an attention-grabbing opener (much like the main films it is emulating), but it doesn't take any steps backward once everyone becomes aware that there are dinos on the loose.

Kwanten is decent enough in his role, he acts and looks suitably like a typically tired and dogged war-time soldier. Others acting just as tired and determined to escape the warzone include Nick Wechsler, Anthony Ingruber, Aaron Glenane, Carlos Sanson Jr., and a handful of others. While none of them really stand out, they work together well enough to feel like the unit they are. Tricia Helfer plays a woman named Sofia , someone who knows more than the soldiers about what is going on, and she does the job of delivering the exposition and reminding everyone of the stakes.

I've not seen anything else from Sparke, and I don't know if he's done anything else that comes close to being as entertaining as this, but I look forward to what he lines up next. Considering how well this has gone down with those who have given it a chance, Primitive War may prove to be the breakthrough title in his filmography. The pacing isn't perfect, and some failings make it obvious that this is the first feature produced from something written by first-timer Pettus, but the good easily outweighs the bad. You even get some pleasantly surprising soundtrack choices that help it to sit alongside numerous other Vietnam movies with the same tunes accompanying the visuals.

7/10

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Netflix And Chill: Interceptor (2022)

If you want some slick action entertainment that also feels smart and fresh then you need to look elsewhere. Interceptor is not interested in that. It's a ridiculous film that feels like a throwback to a time when every other straight-to-video title was a Die Hard rip-off. That works though, it's sometimes refreshing to watch a film that doesn't want to show off or reinvent action cinema. I'll rewatch every John Wick movie numerous times ahead of this, but I didn't resent the time spent watching this.

Elsa Pataky plays Captain J. J. Collins, an army officer who ends up being the one person in the way of a group of terrorists that want to take control of the remote missile interceptor (hence the title) station under her command. These terrorists possess a number of nuclear weapons, but to follow through on their threat to use those weapons they need to neutralise the interceptor system. Luke Bracey plays Alexander Kessel, the leader of the terrorists, and the film basically amounts to little more than Pataky versus Bracey for most of the runtime.

Ticking the boxes in a way that sometimes feels like it's bordering on parody, Interceptor is comforting in the familiarity it provides. Aside from the backstory that shows why some view Collins as "trouble", this does everything you expect. There are a number of disposable characters, there's someone due to make a major sacrifice when the time is right, there's an enemy who believes in the principles of his mission, and there's even a traitor who you can point to and call "traitor" from their first minute of screentime. 

Debut director Matthew Reilly, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Stuart Beattie (a man with one or two modern classic tucked away in his back catalogue), does a good enough job, despite the fact that someone with a bit more experience may have been able to paper over some of the cracks. Give them their due though, Reilly and Beattie develop a backstory that both develops the central character and also comments on an ongoing problem within, but not exclusive to, the military.

The biggest problem, sadly, is the cast. Pataky isn't bad, and she ends up surprisingly convincing in some of the more ridiculous set-pieces, but she never feels like a strong enough lead (in any sense). Bracey suffers in a different way, his villain being played far too nice in between the occasional moments of ruthlessness. I don't want to name any other cast members because that will just make it even more obvious who is the traitor, who is there to make a noble sacrifice, and who is just standing around until they get shot in the face.

This is fun. No more, no less. It's never remotely believable. It's not as violent or as bloody as it could be. There's a slightly annoying, obviously intended to be cutesy, cameo for Chris Hemsworth (aka Mr. Pataky). It's as predictable as a Hallmark Christmas movie. But it's fun. Which is fine by me.

6/10

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