Croc - Caccia al predatore

Is Michael Madsen perpetually drunk or he is he simply method-acting? I am not sure. In "Croc," he is a big game hunter come to rid a Thai village of a man-eating crocodile that happens to be a throwback to prehistoric times. Sometimes the croc is footage of real crocodile and sometimes it is CGI and sometimes it is a dummy. It eats a lot of people, that's for sure. This has nothing on LAKE PLACID, but Madsen is funny in his dopey/sleepy way. And the Thai women are all hotties. Stewart Rafill has made better pictures, but a trip to Thailand was probably hard to turn down. Imagine the partying that took place after the cameras were turned off.

Stuck with a series of professional crises, the owner of a croc farm and a group of locals team with a croc hunter to stop the rampaging crocodile leaving a trail of blood across Thailand.

This was overall a pretty decent killer croc film with some really good points about it. One of its better elements is the rather impressive amount of attacks throughout here which has a large pull on the whole film. There's a wide variety of attacks here, from the brief ones like the attack on the fishermen in the lagoon or the chomping on the dock to get at the dog which are built-off surprise ambushes and shocks, while the more prolonged sequences throughout here from the family's encounter in the bay or their hunting party's first encounter out along the off-shore reefs that really showcase a lot of action within this. Both of these situations give this one some great points here by really making for a frantic pace that keeps the film at a brisk, enjoyable pace by managing enough attacks and encounters to keep this one quite exciting. That all of these attacks also brings in some really worthwhile blood and gore from the chomped-on bodies and severed limbs makes for some really good times here which makes this hold up somewhat against the few problems here. The biggest issues here is the fact that there's way too many subplots and alternate story lines that just drag out the film in the first half. The different issues between the gang-boss and the animal zoo isn't the slightest bit interesting, almost as much as his difficulty with the personnel in his own gang and really drag the first half out with these pointless rivalries and internal squabbling. Otherwise, this one really has a bit of schizophrenia about its titular creature which is quite distracting how this deals with the beast. While it's commendable to use real-life crocs here, there's a series of shots which not only fail to get the species right but also manages to flip between different ages as well. This one is played for both alligators and crocodiles of vastly different species, and on top of that the monstrous beast is played by full-size adults and babies which is quite distracting against the CGI and animatronic crocodile props for a wholly unsatisfying creature. These issues hold this one down.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Croc (2007)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

In Thailand a couple teenagers are killed by a crocodile and an American owner of a croc farm gets blamed but he knows it wasn't one of his animals. It turns out that it's really a twenty-footer and thankfully there's a hunter (Michael Madsen) that has been tracking it and plans to take it out. This is a rather strange film because it seems like the screenwriter didn't have any idea where he wanted to take the story so they just went in whatever direction they felt like at the time of shooting. The entire plot is set up around this American guy being hated by a couple brothers from Thailand and their constant attempt to get him out of business. We get countless scenes where the brothers send tax men, police, animal welfare and various other people over to get him to go out of business and I kept wondering to myself why all of this was needed. It certainly goes no where and it doesn't help that we never find out why this guy wants to set up shop here and what got him there to begin with. As far as the crocodiles go, we get a mixture of real footage as well as some really bad CGI stuff. The CGI attacks are all very bad simply because they're so obviously fake. There's not a single attack here that comes off looking real and even the blood is bad CGI most of the time. For the life of me I can't understand why producers don't mind the effects looking this cheap and bad but oh well. Another major problem is that none of the characters are at all like able but this is certainly due to the screenplay that seems to build up the dumbest bit of information on them and we get even dumber scenes like the stuff at the bar when the Americans are trying to pick up some girls. The T&A level is at zero and the death scenes are all bad so those looking for any kind of sleaze are going to be disappointed. None of the performances are very memorable and that includes Madsen who is obviously just picking up a paycheck. The only major plus to this film is that it was actually shot in Thailand, which gives us some terrific visuals but that's about it. There aren't any scares either so we're left with a pretty bad flick that should only be viewed by those who must see every killer croc movie out there.

A crocodile farm in Thailand is threatened with closure after a few code violations. Behind this surprise inspection lies a real estate developer who wants the land where the farm sits. He will stop at nothing to get the land, even sabotaging the cages to let the crocodiles loose. And when local swimmers are being devoured, people start to notice.

My friend Chelsea and I watched this because she's been on a "bad movie" kick lately, and "Croc" was sure to fit that description, being part of the Man Eaters series (the same series that brought us the worthless "Blood Monkey"). I'm not sure if I was disappointed or not -- "Croc" is infinitely better than "Blood Monkey". Computer effects are used minimally, the acting is decent for the most part and there's an actual plot. And plenty of crocodiles, which was surprising after the absence of monkeys in "Blood Monkey".

I also have to give this film credit for not exploiting Michael Madsen. Madsen appears in the movie and plays a significant role (although he doesn't speak until the second half). Yet, the cover of the movie doesn't mention him at all. I've seen lower budget films exploit the names of mid-grade celebrities so often, I'm really impressed they decided to sell the movie with crocodiles rather than Madsen. Well played, "Croc" -- especially since this would have been an appropriate use for him.

The strength of this film is in the blood and guts. The makers of the film knew that they needed plenty of croc attacks and body parts, and we're treated to it. I also like how they explored a romance, but kept it to the bare minimum, making this more of a man versus beast picture. I learned from Sandra Bullock in "Speed" that relationships that develop during stressful events never work out.

Some things about the movie could be better. Some of the acting is poor (although not as much as you'd expect). And there's a scene with a crocodile in a swimming pool. How did he get to the pool? Can a crocodile hang out all day in a pool of chlorinated water? Granted, this scene ties up what would have been loose ends (watch it to see what I mean) with the plot... but what little I know about animal biology made this a bit hard to believe.

If you like animal-based horror pictures, let me say in all honesty: "Croc" isn't a bad choice and wasn't half as bad as I expected. It beats "Blood Monkey" by miles and even makes the boring "Prey" seem stupid. I'll always be a fan of "Jaws", but if you want a second-rate water movie (and you've seen "Megalodon") then this might be worth a spin. Hey, they made a "Croc 2" and who would make a sequel to a bad movie?

Another in Sci-Fi (SyFy) channel's never ending quest to rip off famous monster movies with silly copies, and rip human victims to pieces to accomplish this.

Mutant crocs develop a taste for human cuisine, and run amok in some Asian coastal town. Victims rarely have names, but plenty of spurting red paint when a croc makes a Big Mac out of them. Few characters get even one click above nameless slaughter-meat: an animal welfare agent (who also handles animal social security and animal medicare), a croc hunter (a Capt. Quint clone from Jaws), a carnival barker guy who does a sea-life Shamu type show, carnival barker's moronic cousin, and a stereotypical sunglasses and black suit bad guy in a limo (who looks like he was supposed to be in a kung-fu movie, but got on the set for this one by mistake). Said baddie has countless stooges who end up as croc snacks, of course.

The acting is questionable, but I've seen worse. The director gives this routine hungry monster flick some good pacing, although the script writer has offered nothing new. The croc is just some Animal Planet footage, and the dozens of decapitated heads are obviously Halloween masks with red paint splattered on them. I did like the puppy's acting; his barking was very realistic. He and the croc are the standout performers.

You'll know two minutes in who's gonna get devoured, and the fact that this film will win no Oscar awards. It is however, good cinematic fast food, which is all it's trying to be.