Primitive War (2025) came out and I was not so much interested on it, look like Avatar hit Jurasic Park and ratings on RTT are very far apart but over all not a bad bad movie, its a cool one time watch although there are certain things I didnt like that much, people online are loosing their minds over it, I get both sides here because this thing is weird as hell to judge. You got soldiers in Vietnam fighting dinosaurs with a budget under 10 million bucks, that sounds awesome on paper, also this thing is over two hours you start noticing problems that no amount of dinosaur carnage can fix. The CGI looks damn good for what they spent no question about that, some of those sequences are impressive and put bigger budget stuff to shame but then you got these actors who look like they have no idea there are five dinosaurs in the room with them. The script feels clunky too, characters dropping words trying to sound tough but coming off goofy instead, what really bugs me is how everyone keeps saying this is showing Jurassic Park how its done when half the thing copies the same exact structure same rules T Rex is king raptors hunt in packs all that stuff. Its not breaking new ground its just doing the same thing with more blood and a Vietnam setting, props to the team for pulling off so much action on such little money thats seriously impressive work right there but at the end of the day this feels more like a tech demo than an actual thing you care about cool to look at but empty underneath. The whole setup is Vulture Squad gets sent into this isolated jungle valley to find a missing Green Beret platoon and boom dinosaurs everywhere, sounds simple enough and honestly thats probably the smartest thing this does because when you try to add more layers it just falls appart.
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The dinosaurs themselves are probably the best part of this whole experience aside from the little suspense before people gets wipe by one of them, this creatures are the star of the show and the team seem to put a lot of heart to make them look like so even with some of the very dark scenes, classic cover up for monsters on movies. You got Utah Raptors with feathers which looks incredible, T Rexes with lips that look ridiculouss to be honest not the old school Jurassic Park look that we are more use to, even a Spinosaurus in the water doing its thing tearing people appart. One raptor gets a knife stuck in its eye early on and that becomes like this whole personal vendetta thing where it keeps hunting the soldiers throughout the entire movie, its actually kind of smart because it gives you this one dinosaur to latch onto as a villan instead of just random monsters attacking giving it more character than any other Dinasour in any Jurasic Park movie. The sound is also really solid, they didnt go with the classic Jurassic Park raptor screams which is a risk but I think it works, these things sound more like giant birds mixed with some other loud predator and it feels some what original even if it takes a minute to get used to. The T Rex family storyline was good too, you got the mom and dad Rex plus their baby and by the end when they are all roaring together after the base explodes you actually feel something for them which is insane to say about giant murder lizards, this movie really put time into giving them weight and some what drama for this monsters. That final battle sequence is one of the best aspects of the movie as it should since it doesnt have much to show up for, were talking tanks helicopters hundreds of raptors two full grown T Rexes just going ham on everything, its the kind of spectacle you want from a dinosaur war thing and Sparke delivers on that front no doubt. The problem is getting to that point takes way too long and the journey there is bumpier than it should be, when the dinosaurs are on screen doing their thing this works when theyre not it drags.
The military stuff is where things get tricky because on one hand they clearly put effort into making it authentic, Captain Dale Dye who did Platoon and Saving Private Ryan came in as a consultant, Im no gun expert but to me all the weapons look like period accurate M16s, M203s for some of the ones I recognize, all that Vietnam hardware, the uniforms look vintage too, they even got like six Huey helicopters for this Apocalypse Now style sequence that looks expensive as hell. But just because something looks authentic doesnt mean it feels right for the story youre trying to tell, Ryan Kwanten plays the lead very convincing like hes in an actual war drama and it clashes hard with the ridiculousness of dinosaurs eating people. Jeremy Piven brings some energy to his role as the colonel but even he cant save scenes where the tone is all over the place, one minute were doing Saving Private Ryan grit the next were watching a raptor with a knife in its eye get revenge and those two things dont mix so well. Anthony Gruber adds a bit of humor here and there which helps but its not enough, I would say the movie needed way more moments where characters acknowledge how insane their situation is instead everyone just acts like fighting dinosaurs in Vietnam is a normal. The pacing in the first hour is rough too, they spend so much time at the base trying to develop all these characters but none of it sticks because what makes the movie interesting is out there, this is not a close environment movie and by the time people start dying you dont really care who makes it out which is a problem.
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The subplots are completely unnecessary and it makes me kinda mad because they are too predictable too or ridiculous, for example this whole thing about Russians using collider technology that accidentally brought the dinosaurs over from another time or dimension or whatever, its mentioned but never really explained in a way that makes sense so youre just left going okay I guess thats a thing. Then you got this Vietnamese woman who is helping the Russians and theres supposed to be this whole backstory but it gets like two lines of dialogue and then nothing, later on one of the soldiers has a flashback showing he killed her family on a previous mission and she stabs him but it feels random because we didnt get enough setup for it to matter. The movie wants to have these deeper themes about war and revenge and government coverups but it doesnt decide to pick one and go for it. That ending where the president gets briefed about dinosaurs in southeast Asia and how it might affect the war could have been a cool sequel tease but it comes off more like oh yeah we should probably mention that, same with the credits sequence showing dinosaurs edited into real Vietnam footage which is a neat idea but feels tacked on, actually I look up for this and it seems there is a version of the movie where this was omitted, not sure about it though. Luke Sparke directed and supervised the visual effects which is insane, he also had to do with writing and some other aspects, almost too much to handle for a single guy and you gotta respect the hustle but maybe having one or two other people handling some of that would have helped smooth out these story issues. When you are doing everything yourself its easy to lose perspective on what works and what doesnt, sometimes you need someone to step in and say hey this subplot isnt working lets cut it or this character needs more development before we kill them off.
At the end of the day Primitive War is a mixed bag that leans more towards disappointment and it wouldnt be strange if there are a lot of paid votes to rank the movie higher and even though I really wanted to love it, the dinosaurs look great the action is solid when it happens and you can tell everyone involved worked their asses off to make this thing happen on basically no money, its the kind of movie you can watch clips about but just that because you know how draggy it can turn in. For sure it has good intentions and impressive visuals but they dont make up for a weak script, uneven tone and characters you never get connected or root for, for the most of the part I kept rooting for the dinosaurs actually, its like watching a really expensive animatronics demo; not sure if thats the accurate word, like back in the day of good old Jurassic Park where all the pieces are there but nobody figured out how to make them fit together into something that feels complete. The final thirty minutes are the best part of the movie, once the T Rexes show up and start wrecking that base with tanks and helicopters everywhere its everything you want from this concept but getting there requires sitting through an hour and half of stuff that ranges from okay to straight up boring. People online saying this puts Jurassic Park to shame are out of their minds, this doesnt come close to that level because you need characters, people to give a shit about before you start feeding them to dinosaurs, Primitive War forgets that part and just assumes spectacle is enough. If they make a sequel and Luke Sparke gets a bigger budget plus someone to help tighten up the writing it could be something special, theres clearly talent here and passion for the material but this first one just doesnt stick the landing. I would give it maybe a 7 out of 10, worth watching if you are into dinosaur or just want to see some crazy action but dont go in expecting anything close to the classics, its a fun messy experiment that shows potential without fully delivering on it and sometimes thats the most frustrating kind of thing to watch because you can see what it could have been.
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