Primal Force (1999)

Rescuers try to reach plane crash victims that are trapped on an isolated Mexican island populated by mutant baboons. Ron Perlman stars as a troubled guide hired to lead the mission.

Director:

Nelson McCormick

Writer:

Michael Thoma

Stars:

Ron Perlman, Mark Kiely, Roxana Zal

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ron Perlman	...	Frank Brodie
Mark Kiely	...	Scott Davis
Roxana Zal	...	Tara Matthews
Kimberlee Peterson	...	Kelsey Cunningham
Guillermo Ríos	...	Eddie Mendoza
Richard Fancy	...	Deutsch
Julian Sedgwick	...	Stan Kovacs
Jimy Hefner	...	Pilot
Bruno Danza	...	Captain
Ramiro González	...	Boat mate (as Ramiro Gonzales)
Lola Noh	...	Baboon patriarch (as Lorene Noh)
Gustavo Tecuapetla R.	...	Baboon player 1
Lincy Anahy Avila G.	...	Baboon player 2
Claudia Acosta A.	...	Baboon player 3
Artemio Arzate H.	...	Baboon player 4

Storyline

A private plane carrying the daughter of a rich businessman crash-lands on the uninhabited island of San Miguel off the coast of Mexico, an island regarded by the locals as cursed. The businessman's Chief of Security, Scott Davis mounts a high-tech mission to rescue the survivors, and in his search to find a guide, comes across Frank Brodie, a man who was on the island ten years previously. Davis finds Brodie to be a brooding, reclusive drunk, haunted by his experiences on the island, and Brodie tells Davis that it isn't worth mounting a rescue mission as the survivors will, by now, be dead. Brodie, however, decides to tag along, bringing along a veritable arsenal of weapons and a fatalistic attitude, ridiculing Davis' plans as naive. Accompanying them is Tara Matthews, a young woman purporting to be a medic, and Davis' second-in-command, Eddie Mendoza, a down-to-earth practical man who very quickly realizes Brodie knows what he is doing and is inclined to believe what the man says. ...

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Plot Keywords:

island | mission | mutant baboon | experiment | baboon | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 May 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Wild World

Filming Locations:

Ixtapa, Guerrero, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Singer/White Entertainment Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The working title for the film was "Wild World".

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Goofs

The rifle that the radio man has on the beach changes appearance between shots.

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Quotes

Frank Brodie: [Kelsey is dragging a heavy suitcase alongside her] We leave everything here.
[throws it away]
Kelsey Cunningham: That is like a $1000 suitcase.
Frank Brodie: [shoots the suitcase into small pieces] Not any more.

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Connections

References Planet of the Apes (1968)

User Reviews

Sometimes being left to live is the worst monkey on your back.

A small charter plane has crashed on a banned and supposedly lifeless island, stranding the pilot, a real estate broker and a wealthy young woman. The rescue team put together to go in, unable to contract a professional adviser, as all believe the isle is cursed, are forced to hire the only guide available; a drunken ill tempered recluse, who's spent the last decade attempting to running from the memories of animal experimentation gone horribly wrong. Now, with the recovery crew, he will be going into his nightmare, and it is viciously wide awake.

This is average paint by numbers TV movie quality; dialogue is generally uninspired, sieve-like plot, and characters are stock (the spoiled little rich girl-Kimberlee Peterson, the chatty plotting business man-Richard Fancy, the doctor with a secret-Roxana Zal, the hard nosed tough guy-Mark Kiely, the haunted man-Ron Perlman). The acting runs from so-so to excellent. The camera angles and cuts are very frenetic, attempting to create a suspenseful atmosphere, and there are the obligatory stunt shots in slo-mo. Basically, it's a pizza and a movie evening TV fare.

Ron Perlman has the lead; a broken man unable to have a life because he stayed alive when many others did not. He takes a generic, usually one note role; the haunted man, and imbues him with multiply layers of emotional depth (quakingly fearful yet strong, bravery in spite of moments of cowardice, morose but dryly humorous, fatalistic yet willing to act, haunted but yet still able to hope, etc) turning in a well rounded, excellent performance.

Favorite Line(s): (Matthews/Zal) "They're evolving at an incredible rate! They're almost Neanderthal!" (Brodie/Perlman) "I'd like to get out of here before they get cable."

Worth a rent/buy for Ron Perlman fans.