Primal Force (1999)

A typically low budget, cheesy TV movie monster flick, starring Ron Perlman before he became a well-known Hollywood player. This one feels like a Sci-Fi Channel movie, even though it isn't, and it was filmed in Mexico, so at least it has something going for it. The plot sees a pack of genetically-modified baboons invading a small island, where they kill off anything and everything that moves. Unluckily for them, two survivors of a plane crash are stranded on the same island, so a rescue party headed by the grizzly Perlman is sent to rescue them.What follows will surprise nobody: the group are whittled down by the killer baboons, while the bloodshed is kept to a bare minimum. The low budget hampers the production values, and the direction doesn't match the story: the baboon attacks are silly rather than frightening, and the special effects just aren't very special. Perlman is the only thing going for this, his performance standing out in a typical jumble of histrionic acting and clichéd situations.

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.

This movie has all the characteristics of an oscar winner. Its a crafty tail of an island of killer baboons. The baboons are absolutely terrifying and I want to congratulate the makeup artist. The acting is also top-notch. In my honest opinion Ron Perlman delivers the best performance of his life. I insist that you rush to the video store right now and rent this movie. It is that good.

Deliriously awful mish-mash of 'Congo' and 'The Island Of Dr. Moreau' with Ron Perlman leading a rescue mission to find the survivors from a crashed plane on a remote tropical island. His is the only character with any kind of backstory, given that he escaped the island after the genetically mutated baboons ran amok killing all the playboy hunters they'd been so delicately reared to entertain. How did this ever look like a good idea? Any remotely interesting subplot about the dangers of messing with nature are jettisoned for a below average action flick featuring some of the dumbest people you've ever seen. Once we are on the island it's just one long game of hide and seek, with no development whatsoever, and, unforgivably, the one person you'd like to see eaten first actually survives! Totally, irredeemably bad, with the least scary monsters since Dr. Who - unless you're petrified by huge poodles.