35
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 67Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyPit a reptile the size of a school bus against an American TV-news crew in war-scarred Burundi, and you get "Hotel Rwanaconda," a horror movie interested in cheesy scares and drawing attention to the plight of poor Africans. (So no, Primeval is not the '"serial killer'" film promised by the ads.)
- 50VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyIt's not exactly good, but it's not bad, and far from boring.
- Strangely self-serious, and without covering the prerequisites of top-shelf nastiness that contemporary horror requires, this giant crocodile movie turns out to be neither fish nor fowl.
- 40The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottThe screenplay, by John Brancato and Michael Ferris, tosses out a few chewy bits of B-movie wit, most of them supplied by Mr. Jones, who expresses the ambivalence of an African-American visiting the motherland through a series of bitter jokes.
- 38New York PostKyle SmithNew York PostKyle SmithOne of the few monster-crocodile movies that simultaneously tries to rip off "Jaws" and "Meet the Press."
- 38Boston GlobeTy BurrBoston GlobeTy BurrPrimeval is a hoot if you're in the mood, though, and it gets points for trying to stuff a little globo-think into the minds of Friday night mayhem fans (who will probably rebel, since only one skull pops like a grape).
- 38The Globe and Mail (Toronto)The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Though a few scenes drum up some intensity -- that green ham Gustave makes one last great appearance -- it's mostly grim, dull and ugly, three qualities that nobody wants in a piece of multiplex filler about a surly reptile.
- 30L.A. WeeklyL.A. WeeklyWith a little camp, this could have been fun --see "Lake Placid" or "Anaconda."
- 30The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckA low-rent monster movie that could well have been released by American International in the early 1970s, Primeval boasts a level of cheesiness that should well merit it a regular rotation on late-night cable.
- 25ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliBy the end of the film, I was hoping everyone on two legs would die, preferably suffering as much on screen as I was in the audience.