Infierno en la tormenta

In the ilk of "Jaws" homages (and rip offs), "Crawl" stands as one of the more palatable entrees.

There's nothing spectacular or groundbreaking about this fun summer riff, but that doesn't mean it offers no value. At the very least, we can celebrate the successful effort to make a non-sequel or movie based on preexisting IP. Granted, the threatening water predator vs. humans rose in the wake of the classic shark film, but this gator flick has enough original juice to stand firmly on its own.

Part of success comes from simple premise of "Crawl." In the opening phase of a Category 5 storm, a young woman, Haley, receives a call from her sister. Sis has been calling their dad and hasn't yet heard from him. She's worried, as he resides in the area slated to take the worst of the storm. Haley opts to brave the weather, make the two-hour trek and check on dear old dad.

When she arrives at his place, she finds her severely injured father and something even more concerning. Then she quickly understands why he hasn't picked up the phone.

Queue the giant alligators and ensuing chases that take place as Haley and her dad attempt to escape the flooded basement. Fortunately, Haley is a swimmer at the University of Florida, yes, the school with the gator mascot. Her speed and resilience make her a worthy adversary to the collection of gators, and she manages to narrowly avoid death in a string of riveting action scenes.

A few meandering moments explore family drama but don't do much more than fill time. These moments feel entirely forced and only serve to hinder the story's momentum.

The movie is at its best when it leans into the raw and truly frightening action sequences. Kaya Scoldelario displays a knack for playing a strong woman in peril. The movie doesn't work as well if she isn't so solid in the role of Haley.

The movie has no more depth than the shallow basement waters inhabited by the gators, but it's entertaining enough for cursory viewing experience, especially given the brisk 87-minute run time.

Despite 3 or 4 irritating scenes that transpire script mediocrity with let's say 1 or 2 appalling minutes, the film manages to scare the audience with panache, at least me anyway. I was indeed gesticulating in my armchair each time an alligator grabbed and shook a protagonist. Actually, it's not really surprising: as an euphemism, in the horror / thriller genre, Alexandre Aja is definitely not a padawan. Thus, Alexandre Aja has managed an effective film that successfully fulfills his objective: to keep the audience on the edge of the seat during 90 minutes.

Crawl concerns itself with a young woman who goes looking for her missing father in the eye of a hurricane. Eventually she finds him in the basement of the family holiday home, but he is injured and in desperate need of medical attention. There is also the growing problem of this being gator central, and the rapidly rising flood waters are giving them free reign around the town. So the quest to not drown or get eaten begins...

Despite being mostly enjoyable this film didn't really push the boat out (heheh) in any way. For 90% of the film there were just 2 characters, so the film is light on deaths, and when some random no-mark would show up you knew they'd soon be a victim. The gator effects were.... decent and the plot and atmosphere servicable. If you've seen any monster movies at all ever you will know exactly what to expect, but having said that if the concept appeals it's perfectly watchable.

A bit of a surprise and a tense and terrifying one at that. It knows what it is and because of that it's able to do what it does and do it well. Good looking Alligators.

In Florida, competitive swimmer Haley (Kaya Scodelario) returns home to search for her estranged father (Barry Pepper) in the path of a hurricane. She finds him in his basement trapped by alligators. This thriller is predicated on stupid Florida people doing stupid things. It's a horror where the people will always go down into the basement. If there is a basement within the basement, the people will go down there. The people will keep going down basements until they reach China. It needs to alleviate this by subtracting some of the danger. It's an unusual move for the genre but danger is not dangerous when the characters simply walk straight into it. When she searches for her father, the storm should be a further 24 hours away. They could be trapped for longer so that she wouldn't be so outrageously stupid. Also, the message should be a 911 text from her father rather than a whatever conversation with her sister. The deputy should not be so stupid as to be walking in the storm water to investigate a swing. As for thieves, those can be ridiculously stupid. Over and over again, the characters are doing stupid things and it would be more thrilling if they be less stupid. Otherwise, this would be a solid horror.