Pterodactyl is one of the funniest action films that I have seen in a long time. From the hilarious pterodactyl puppet that emerges from a rubber egg during the opening credits, to the climactic fight incorporating some of the worst use of blue screen technology committed to celluloid, this film raises poor film-making to an art form.
The plot revolves around an interesting, if unlikely, premise - a group of pterodactyl eggs somehow survive the last few hundreds of millions of years in a dormant volcano, only to be hatched when the volcano becomes active. Add into the mix an American scientist, on expedition with a group of students, and a US army squadron. These two very different groups forced to join together in order to fight the killer pterodactyls. I have the feeling that this may have been a pretty average dinosaur movie with a bigger budget, however the lack of polish has imbued the film with a Z-grade monster movie charm that I just love.
Mark L. Lester has directed some great action movies - "Class of 1984", "Firestarter" and "Commando" come to mind, so Pterodactyl is by no means sloppily constructed. The direction is snappy and the action is well paced. The biggest issues with the film are the afore mentioned terrible CGI effects, truly awful dialogue and some horrendous acting. However, through some bizarre stroke of luck, all of these flaws actually make the film more enjoyable. I haven't seen creature effects this shoddy since the 80s. The director seems to realise this and ups the gore content as compensation. We are treated to a great beheading and a series of bodies being bitten in half. The script is consistently so terrible that it verges on the hilarious and the film is littered with memorably bad one-liners.
The actors deserve a special mention. Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce and Eric Bana can rest easy, I seriously doubt that former dating TV show host Cameron Daddo will be challenging them for the title of best Australian actor in Hollywood any time soon. Cameron is as wooden as a store dummy and appears even less interested than co-star Coolio, possibly the least talented rapper-come-actor in the history of cinema. The supporting cast are just as bad and their nonchalant reaction to the pterodactyls just make the film all the more funny. I have my fingers crossed for Pterodactyl 2.
