Set during the Vietnam War in 1968, Primitive War mixes Apocalypse Now, Predator, and Jurassic Park in an ambitious, if overblown, action romp.
A group of Green Berets go missing in the jungle, and a crack team known as Vulture Squad is sent in to find out what happened to the soldiers. Arriving at the scene, they soon discover they’re not alone and the Viet Cong are the least of their worries as prehistoric creatures surround them.
Written and directed by the jack-of-all-trades Luke Sparke (Scurry), Primitive War blends genres easily, adding some Cold War paranoia to the mix with the Russians’ involvement in the resurrection of the long-extinct dinosaurs. It’s very much in the mould of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Land That Time Forgot, only updated to the sixties. The characters along for the journey are not the usual gung-ho types. Instead, we have hardened, if shell-shocked, GIs with character and humour. Even the Russian (Tricia Helfer) doesn’t fall into the stereotype (although the accent is a little iffy).
Peppered with the expected needle drops from the era (although the Creedence Clearwater Revival tracks are re-recorded by frontman John Fogerty, fact fans!), Sparke’s film manages to surpass expectations with what he delivers on screen. On paper, the concept seems straight out of the playbook of The Asylum, the notorious company that makes Temu versions of blockbusters, but it’s far from that. The CGI dinosaurs are generally rendered well, if a little overused. Less is more and all that. And it’s good to see they’ve added the often-forgotten feathers! It also manages to hold the attention throughout the running time, in part thanks to the exciting, gore-filled attack sequences.
PRIMITIVE WAR is released in cinemas on November 28th.
