An (apparently) huge man-eating killer croc' is on the loose in Thailand, chomping its way through various locals and tourists along the waterways and coast of a gorgeous looking country. Although the croc did not appear to be particularly large I was pleased that footage of actual crocs (yes, plural!) were used in the main as the villain instead of that usual laugh-fest called CGI. This, and a dog by the pool, were the plus points.
Enter a cast of the most boring people imaginable. At centre stage is the hero, 'Jack', a wannabe Jack-the-lad, who should really have been hunting for a personality instead of a croc; ditto his annoying nephew. Jack runs a sort of zoo and runs afoul of a local 'Mr Big', who wants Jack's land for development, and employs various means to try and get Jack's zoo shut down ('Mr Big' has the local police, tax inspectors and city officials in his pocket - you get the picture). Mr Big causes a beautiful-but-boring animal welfare inspector to inspect Jack's zoo with a view to closing it down. Jack teams up with said beautiful-but-boring animal welfare inspector (did not see that coming!) to hunt the hungry croc.
These two join forces with Mike Madsen, a croc hunter who has been hunting this particular croc for some time, and obviously cause Mike to yawn his way through the film (as I did). It is very obvious Mike found Jack and his nephew tedious in the extreme as in the last 15 minutes he sends Jack under the water to kill the croc armed only with a small spear and Jack's nephew of in a small rubber boat armed only with a revolver! When this fails Mike later urges someone to cut off Jack's leg when it is trapped in the jaws of the dead croc; which met its demise under a lethal shower of lead from Mike's AK47 (bet he hoped Jack was in the croc's vicinity!).
Cast aside, I have to ask....does no one speak Thai in Thailand? Police, local officials, TV reporters, children, 'Mr Big' they all spoke English even if not talking to Jack (who would be too dense to learn any Thai) - I can read subtitles if necessary. Even the beautiful-but-boring animal welfare inspector did not appear to be able speak with the local water-dwellers and she was meant to be Thai!
Best actor? The dog by the pool that tried to warn its master ('Mr Big')that the croc was lurking in his swimming pool. The dog was of coursecompletely ignored with dire consequences for Mr Big and his brother; but fortunately not for the dog!
Enter a cast of the most boring people imaginable. At centre stage is the hero, 'Jack', a wannabe Jack-the-lad, who should really have been hunting for a personality instead of a croc; ditto his annoying nephew. Jack runs a sort of zoo and runs afoul of a local 'Mr Big', who wants Jack's land for development, and employs various means to try and get Jack's zoo shut down ('Mr Big' has the local police, tax inspectors and city officials in his pocket - you get the picture). Mr Big causes a beautiful-but-boring animal welfare inspector to inspect Jack's zoo with a view to closing it down. Jack teams up with said beautiful-but-boring animal welfare inspector (did not see that coming!) to hunt the hungry croc.
These two join forces with Mike Madsen, a croc hunter who has been hunting this particular croc for some time, and obviously cause Mike to yawn his way through the film (as I did). It is very obvious Mike found Jack and his nephew tedious in the extreme as in the last 15 minutes he sends Jack under the water to kill the croc armed only with a small spear and Jack's nephew of in a small rubber boat armed only with a revolver! When this fails Mike later urges someone to cut off Jack's leg when it is trapped in the jaws of the dead croc; which met its demise under a lethal shower of lead from Mike's AK47 (bet he hoped Jack was in the croc's vicinity!).
Cast aside, I have to ask....does no one speak Thai in Thailand? Police, local officials, TV reporters, children, 'Mr Big' they all spoke English even if not talking to Jack (who would be too dense to learn any Thai) - I can read subtitles if necessary. Even the beautiful-but-boring animal welfare inspector did not appear to be able speak with the local water-dwellers and she was meant to be Thai!
Best actor? The dog by the pool that tried to warn its master ('Mr Big')that the croc was lurking in his swimming pool. The dog was of coursecompletely ignored with dire consequences for Mr Big and his brother; but fortunately not for the dog!