Primal

If you took The Ghost and the Darkness, First Blood, Under Siege, and a dash of Snakes on a Plane you'd most likely get something like Primal, an okay action thriller that succeeds despite its low budget and shaky FX. Nicolas Cage plays big game hunter Frank Walsh who books a freighter to transport his illegally acquired exotic animals(including a white jaguar worth a small fortune) but his plans hit a snag when some U.S. Marshalls piggy back on his ship to transport rogue Black Ops killer Loffler played by Kevin Durrand. Needless to say Loffler escapes, releases franks menagerie of exotic animals and the fight for survival ensues. If there's anything to be said in Primal's favor it's that it's never boring. Despite the dodgy CGI and some phoned in performance, the action moves at a quick enough pace to keep you engaged and Cage is having fun playing a professional hunter now trying to use his skills against a crazed black ops mercenary. What makes the film stumble unfortunately is its obvious budget limitations and a lack of menace from Durrand as Loffler. Aside from a few moments, the movie downplays the threat of the exotic animals and focuses more on Loffler who just doesn't feel threatening despite his earnest attempts. There's also a tracker Walsh is in possession of that I thought would be used for Alien style suspense, but despite it being brought up, it never comes into play in any meaningful fashion. Primal is a serviceable rental, it'll kill 90 minutes and you'll never think of it again. And for DTV thrillers you can certainly do worse.

Nicolas Cage never fails to entertain & nowadays it's quite easy to set the expectations for his newest pieces just right to get the max out of it. "Primal" is obviously flawed and sometimes quite silly, but it's all good and light fun that sets our beloved Nic Cage versus the uncaged.

"Primal" starts off in the jungle, introduces Frank Walsh as the thick-skinned, smart-mouthed, secretly-actually-a-good-guy hunter who's on a mission of getting his freshest catches (including a vicious one of a kind jaguar) shipped to the American zoos. In other words, characteristically, it's the type of character Cage enjoys and we enjoy it just as much, if not more. So, everybody gets on the ship, including and armada with a big-time prisoner & all goes to hell in two days, making Cage take up a fight against the uncaged, which happen to be both animals and the main villain. The story's pretty straigtforward, but moves at a steady pace, at times barely, but managing to not cross the line of boredom. Among those parts there's some classic type of action sequences, some creature feature thrills & a little bit of healthy Nic Cage comedy. Most of the characters are, well, cliche & sometimes some of them do stupid things, but the quantity of the expendable characters compensates. Acting's either decent or okay-ish, besides Cage the next best thing was Kevin Durand as the villain. I'm happy to say that visually "Primal" was a bit better than I was expecting from another VOD, the cinematography's very standard, but decent & the fx were quite solid. The soundtrack & original score was lacking and barely noticeable.

All in all it's undeniable that without Nic Cage "Primal" would be an even lesser movie, because if there's one thing I might remember from this flick is him and his line "I got a real nice cage for you". While the movie itself is very average, I do recommend it strongly for all the Cage fans out there. My rating: 5/10.

Yes, it's a plain action action movie with non extensive action. It is a clear 6.2 on the scale.

I needed some plain movie with nothing to think about, and the bad reviews just gave me the hint, this is exactly what you need today.

And yes, it was amazing, totally predictable, but good enough to ease out the evening and have some "come on"s for the goofs, "next time do better on that part".

But some nice scenes in the jungle already made up for the movie. It was clear from the beginning that it would not be a very special movie, yet it got nice parts and the story was the good vs evil in a closed space type with the expected ending.

So yes, just watch it, if you like Nicolas Cage movies, or at least some of them, this is not his worst, it's pretty decent.

Really good watch, could watch again, and can recommend.

This is one of Nicolas Cage's more reserved roles, and the movie is very well balanced between him and Kevin Durand (and LaMonica Garrett and his team dealing with Durand's character).

The premise is intriguing and simple: trapped on a boat with a killer, wild animals, military, and a hunter: who wins?

The biggest problem I have with this, and the movie specifically leans into it, is that Nicolas Cage is not playing a good guy, he's a poacher. The only reason he doesn't go to prison for life (though I'm sketchy if the US Cost Guard has jurisdiction given it's not a US ship and neither country involved in the trip is the US), is because Famke Janssen has the hots for him.

Kevin Durand really is amazing in this. He's been reserved to what feels like bit parts in the past, but giving a chance to shine, he really does. He's able to steal the light from Cage in some parts of the movie.

This isn't the greatest movie ever, but it's really good, and I think you'll remember it.

Not so bad. An enjoyable B movie ride.

I am a fan of both Cage and Durand. I think they both enjoyed acting in this movie. It shows. And Famke Janssen does show good chemistry with Cage while not having not much to do. But she does stand in all of her scenes.

I found myself smiling most of the time.

Just a bunch of good actors in a not so bad story enjoying each other. This is not Oscar stuff of course. But, hey, nobody was looking for high standards here.

Fun.