Heatstroke

Not sure why all the terrible reviews. Sure, this is not your typical Stephen Dorf film, but the actors all did a great job -- portrayal of the average American family dealing with a disgruntled teenager in the aftermath of a divorce and an absent father wrapped up in his work, revealed through a (rather weak) attempt of the father to "man up" and be a dad. Sad, but after the mishap with the dad (mentioned in the description), the best thing that could have happened to this teenage female was what did happen -- to be alone with, and dependent upon, the adult female character. Although there are instances in which coincidence is way out of line with plausibility, the story line, overall, is believable. I did find it interesting that we did not see more animals, as we were taken through the wilds of South Africa. The adult female, though apparently out of her realm of expertise, seems quite capable, I was surprised that she was not portrayed as doing some basic survivalist things that even I would know to do. Overall a decent film, not too many boring moments.

I'm not sure about the hate this movie seems to be getting, as it is far from as bad as what some people are saying.

Plot In A Paragraph: Paul (Stephen Dorff) is a hyena expert who is preparing for a trip to the wilds of Africa to research them with his new Russain girlfriend Tally (Svetlana Metkina) and his teenage daughter Jo (Maisie Williams) from an earlier relationship. However things take a turn for the worse when they come across three villains led by Mallick (Peter Stormare) Dorff does as you'd expect, though he doesn't have that much to do, Svetlana Metkina does OK and carries the majority of the movie along with the awesome Maisie Williams, who stops Jo being the cliché of teenage brat/brooding step daughter.

"They looked like they needed help. He said they is a little off the desert." Paul (Dorff) and his girlfriend Tally are taking a trip to Africa. His daughter Josie (Williams) is having trouble with the new relationship and reluctantly is dragged along. Instantly Josie and Tally clash until Josie asks to be sent home. On the way to the airport something happens to Paul and it is up to Tally to protect Josie and find a way to get her home safe. This is a movie that is hard to review. The movie isn't bad and moved at a pretty good pace but on the other hand it is really a overdone concept. The thing that does set this apart from others though is that the woman is the one who has to protect someone. While this may seem like an action movie it is much more drama then I was expecting. I was hoping for something like In The Blood but instead got more of a hide and seek type movie. Not that that isn't a bad thing but it needed something else to keep it from feeling as flat as it did. Overall, nothing amazing but nothing awful either. Really just a movie to put in when you have nothing else to do. I give it a C+.

Not sure why so many low user reviews - this is a solid movie. It's worth checking out.

OK. Let's start with the weaknesses. Formulaic plot. Jarring gaps in narrative. Stereotyped bad guys. Dumb behaviour causing the thematic problem. Now that that's out of the way, the scenery is fascinating, and the two female leads are absolutely fine in carrying out their roles. This is a part of the world we rarely see in film, and the settings are edifying. Also, the scientific material on hyenas is very interesting, and the development of a theme around their behaviour is pretty clever. This is a deeply flawed movie, but I didn't find it that hard to watch, and my memories of having seen it are mostly positive. It's worth watching if you're interested in African settings, animal behaviour and/or general adventure themes.