Director: Luke Sparke
Year: 2025
Country: Australia
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Dinosaurs
Plot:
Arriving in the middle of the Vietnam War, a special platoon is called in to investigate what happened to a troop that the command has lost contact with after being dispatched several days earlier. When they arrive in the jungles to start their assignment, they set about trying to track down their query, only to find the jungle filled with dinosaurs brought to this reality by a Russian military commander looking for an extra means of turning the War against the Americans and potentially overtaking the rest of the world. Learning about the plot from a defector who worked on the project, they set out to stop the plan from continuing as the dinosaurs continually live their lives along the journey.
Review:
Overall, this was a rather strong and effective genre effort. Among the brighter factors here is the generally strong and impressive starting point that manages to provide this with a spectacular setup for a traditional War movie. The team is brought together to investigate the disappearance of a troop that has disappeared in the jungle and figure out what happened, encountering not just the enemy Army working in conjunction with the Russians, but also Dinosaurs brought back to life in an experiment trying to bring about a change in the world order, which serves the film incredibly well. Before learning of the dinosaurs present in the area, the main starting point is a solid one that gives this a noteworthy reason to get them into the jungle on their quest to track the missing team and uncovering a plot by a secret enemy assisting their chosen target that eventually turns their mission into a quest to stop their plans instead of following their initial target like a genuine War film.
It’s also commendable that, once the film introduces the dinosaurs as the culprit behind everything, the film decides to get them right in terms of appearance and behavior, more so than most other genre efforts have done. The small man-sized Raptors come off the best, being feathered with a more realistic size and design than anything else seen in the genre beforehand, while also getting the hunting behavior right, where the creatures are seen holding their victim down with their claws to inflict a series of rabid, vicious bites. The massive pterosaurs look incredible walking on their wing fingers when on the ground, while the Spinosaurs are shown diving and swimming in the riverways to attack their targets. The herbivores, including the duck-bills, sauropods, and Triceratops, are handled even better and look great, so while the Rexes still look like they’ve always been, it still creates a solid look for the dinosaurs in the middle of the jungle.
This allows the film to really pile on the carnage when it comes to the interactions with the dinosaurs. Mixing in serene encounters of the troop walking alongside the sauropods for safety who are munching on vegetation in the background like escorts or observing the groups mixing along the river trying to enjoy the tranquility of the river with more involved and intense sequences where the team is stalked by the man-sized raptors in multiple ambush scenes taking place in the jungle who can use their stealth and numbers to grab victims unsuspectingly. Those are tense and exciting, bringing about the firepower of their assault weapons against the ravenous swarm of dinosaurs running through the underbrush, where they can use their speed and numbers to overtake the group. It all leads to the frantic finale, where the raid to attack the compound where the experiments are conducted is the big action set piece involving multiple firefights with soldiers and dinosaurs, while the dinosaurs run rampant, unleashing tons of action and graphic kills in the process, all making this quite effective and enjoyable.
There are a few small flaws to be had here. The biggest drawback to this one is the bizarre series of interactions made with the base command, involving whether the leader is aware of the dinosaurs, but sending the team into the jungle anyway. This concept is immensely cliche and underwhelming to begin with, as it doesn’t make the film more interesting, where the whole thing is based on the commander knowing the truth but ignoring everything to send in troops, but the concept makes no sense in execution. The team being sent in when the higher-ups are aware of dinosaurs at the very spot they’re sending troops to unaware of them is a highly unrealistic idea that doesn’t make much sense as to see it play out, yet the film constantly switching up to focus on this idea or if the troop just accidentally stumbled into the middle of a dinosaur-filled valley was just a fluke. This constant switching is an immensely troubling factor, and with the obvious CGI present, do lower this one slightly.
Overview: ****/5
An immensely enjoyable and likable genre effort, this one manages to get a lot to like and hold it up incredibly well compared to the slight flaws present in this one. Those with an interest in the subject matter, who are curious about it, or appreciate the style on display will have the most to like here, while most others out there might want to heed caution.
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