Director: Darrell James Roodt
Year: 2018
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
After breaking into a secure facility, a group of eco-warriors looking to explore a supposedly abandoned island condemned as a radioactive hotspot find the area instead housing monstrous killer crocodiles left behind in a military experiment and must try to get off the island alive.
Review:
This was a fine if entirely flawed entry in the series. What makes this one quite fun is the rather exciting action scenes that really give this one a nice shot of adrenaline at times. There's a lot of fun in the initial manner of attacks from the croc here, starting with the discovery of the wrecked campsite and torn-up bodies leading nicely into the rather thrilling attack on the lake where the creature takes the boat and drags the victim underwater while in front of everyone. The later attack in the underground tunnels where they first encounter them first the first time is a stylish briefer sequence, and a later charge through a tunnel in the bunker illuminated by a flare as it slowly stalks the victim is quite an atmospheric touch. The finale where it tracks the remaining survivors inside the flooded facility or a great encounter in a trapped room filled with flammable gas makes for some nice moments, and when aided along by the fiery confrontation on the beach gives this some solid croc action.
As well, there's some nice work to be had with the central premise and story idea here, from the more modern feel of the government cover-up as for why they're going to the facility that's nicely played out here with some fun points used to build up their whole point about the island and what's potentially being conducted there. This plays out as quite believable in today's world and the is handled with enough minor points to keep it going along with what the company was doing that it maintains a credible enough premise to get them out there in the long run which is fine enough to work here, and when it's filled in later on it gives this a wholly intriguing premise. Added along with some nice gore in the kills it has enough to like to hold it up over it's flaws.
The biggest problem with the film is the fact that this one relies far more on idiocy and outright stupidity from the characters to keep going. This one here relies far more on the inability to recognize the danger they're in at the beginning, which is exemplified by the obvious body parts and other carnage found all over the island when they arrive which should've signaled something was wrong and yet the best they can come up with is that it's all a prank. That kind of thinking is just utterly ridiculous to see thinking it's all real is not all that smart. This one also struggles at times to get going, spending far too much time on the exploits of their journey in the underground bunker than getting in plenty of croc action so it's pacing is way too off from what came before in the franchise where it relief far more heavily on the killer croc action from the start which this one doesn't really do much here as it alleviates the tension rather than ratchet up the fun factor.
For the most part, the cast here is utterly terrible. The central group of characters, Katherine Barrell as Jade, Tim Ronzon as Sam, Luke Newton as Billy and Craig Stein as Spencer, are nothing more than irritating busy-body millennials who think that they know better and want to expose corruption in the government, but all they do is one dumb decision after another. They might claim that they're activities are for a higher truth, but they're purposes are completely self-centered and they're not in the slightest bit moral or righteous in their quest at all. That they're basically interchangeable doesn't help and makes it hard to pick them apart aside from their nationality as the only way to tell who's who in this just makes it that much harder to care on top of that series of idiocy they display. Once this goes for them being hunted and killed they ease up somewhat but its still not all that good. Combined with the less-than-stellar CGI that always shows up in these films, it really does lower this one somewhat.
Overview: *** 1/2/5
While it has a few minor flaws to be had here, this one maintains enough solid and likable elements that it has some worthwhile moments here despite somewhat offering a few minor points. Give this one a look if you've been burned by the past entries and want a more relatable genre effort or enjoyed the previous genre entries, while those looking for a more rewarding effort should heed caution here.
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