Komodo (1999)

I still don't understand, the way many great horror movies, are rated so badly in the 4 of 10 or 3, when there is so many movies, that deserve this spot. You got, these realistic, komodo's that don't really, fully look like CGI stuff, which is really lame, i mean some movies, like it i actually like so not all are bad, but this looks like it says more of a Jurassic Park look. I assume, that many people are VERY picky about horror, its fine, their view, well here is my view.These Komodo's are really realistic, looking and how they come in the house, how it snatched the dog, damn great stuff! Got a poor kid that lost his parents, and everything. Then you got tons of realistic komodos coming at them. I mean even Oates or so spelled was in a head and hand combat, and it really looked real, like a real Komodo trying to eat him not fake looking so how is that bad? The only big beef i have with this movie is the bad guys far as i know don't die.THe poor black guy i liked died, that was hard to take, and the funny guy with Oates i forgot his name. I like the oddballs that are cool and stuff that usually die, still terrible that every horror movie 99% of the time the black guy dies. I mean come on already! Otherwise i love this and there can be billions that hate it, or very picky on horror everything has to be 100% to earn even a 5 of 10. I am not as picky or so though if all my people i like die off i usually have a issue with the grading, and other certain stuff. But they look real the attacks real, looking the actors did a great job nothing looks cheap or stupid, so to me it don't deserve no F more of a B-.Bad, bad movies would be the lame and dumb no point Resident Evil movies after 2nd 1. All about Alice and stuff who cares, and all the CGI stuff that aren't really good and the THE BOY which was a Big Let down. Tired of serial killers, same old stuff some crazy guy hacking everyone up! This movie you had ideas how it be but still shocking in my Opinion. Either way one looks at it, i look at it as it is and it is a great movie, great action realistic looking evil Komodo's thats why i bought it i saw it years back and wanted it, very few monster movies like this has that spark i like, and it has just that, it looks more of a Jurassic impression to me and i for one like it a lot. Ends great but should of killed the bad guys! Plus save the cool black guy i forgot name. 8/10 ! or 81% B-

A dumb, by-the-numbers exercise in B-movie monster madness which has a poor script, a dumb plot, awful acting and uninteresting characters. What makes it worth watching, you may ask. The answer lies in the title: the Komodo dragons in the film are worthwhile. Animated by CGI in long-shot and with animatronics in close-up, these big and slimy creatures are never less than convincing and make worthwhile movie monsters. In fact I was very impressed with them, especially considering that this is a straight-to-video fodder after all which usually means below average effects work. But no, it's the reverse, the effects are fine and its just everything else that doesn't work out.This film screams cliché. Whether its characters walking about in the darkness shouting "who's there?" or all the minor, unimportant characters getting killed off first, this rehashes all the old monster movie staples of the past thirty years into a tired concoction. The first twenty minutes are sentimental tosh involving a traumatised young boy - if I wanted a psychological drama I would have watched one! The rest of the film is straightforward action punctuated by the arrival and departure of minor characters.The action involving the monsters is great and as is usual for me with a monster flick, I found myself rooting for the creatures over the badly-acting human folk. Their various deaths by impalement and a flare in the mouth seem unnecessarily sadistic and mean-spirited; I know the creatures were faked but this kind of animal snuff reminded me of an Italian cannibal flick. Then there's a total lack of a climax, in which action is ripped off from the end of JURASSIC PARK and a guy survives being immersed in a pool of exploding petrol without so much as a singe. It's that kind of lame-brained film. Watch it for the cool effects; switch off for everything else.

Filled to overflowing with one red herring after another, Komodo was the sort of "seen-it-all-before" monster movie where the viewer could plainly foresee what was coming their way long before it actually happened.With a movie like Komodo, you can bet that (from start to finish) the viewer would never be asking themselves such things as - "Gee! I wonder what's going to happen next!?" Yes. Komodo (with its $15 million budget) had some pretty decent production values (even though some of the effects looked really fake) - But its story was nothing but pure monster-movie cliché right from the word "Go!". Believe me, Komodo's predictability actually got to the point of being a total embarrassment in no time flat.Implausibility also lost Komodo some very serious points. I mean, for one to actually believe that such a ferociously big creature as this one (with such a ravenous appetite) could go around completely unnoticed for as long as it did (20 years) the viewer would really have to be certified ding-a-ling.

"Komodo" cries out with the anguished screams of wasted potential. Its flaws mostly smother its virtues. The acting is reasonably solid, with the exception of (among others) the film's useless villain, a tacked-on character whose accent which wanders clumsily from Cockney to Australian and back again. The special effects are the film's true strength, although in some scenes they seem poorly composited into the scene -- their ambient shadows are not colour-matched as well as they deserve to be.Essentially, the problem with the movie is its lousy script, and Michael Lantieri's somewhat mechanical, dispassionate efforts as a director. I'm glad this guy gave up directing after "Komodo", because visual effects are clearly his forte. As an aside, the locations are somewhat interesting for a Brisbane native -- I spotted the Cape Moreton lighthouse from Moreton Island, as well as the dodgy Brisbane suburb of Wynnum. The "street" scene was all too obviously an outdoor set, however. And what's a cop car with Georgia license plates doing in North Carolina? It wouldn't have jurisdiction there.Four stars out of ten. Pity it wasn't better.