Primitive War Review
The first word that came to mind when describing this Australian hybrid action creature feature as the final credits rolled (after I remembered to take a breath) was ‘relentless’.
Set during 1968, a renowned zero-nonsense military unit known as The Vulture Squad are summoned by hardcore Colonel Jericho (Jeremy Piven) to send on a mystery mission deep into the Southeast Asian jungle on a recovery assignment to locate a missing Green Beret platoon. Or, at least examine their fate.
Engaging into the heart of Primitive War is hard to resist due to a terrific ensemble, creative immersive adventure and full use of antiquated genre bending scenarios set during the Vietnam War era. As the tagline suggests, this is no walk in the park, dinosaurs are involved and they’re brutal.
Based on a series of science fiction laced combat books by Ethan Pettus, adapted to the screen by writer, director, multitasking moviemaker Luke Sparke (Bring Him to Me – 2023) using every bit of his modest budget into an impressive visual spectacle.
Luke and his Sparke Films colleagues oversaw design, intricate use of light, painstaking sharp editing amongst other components, all accumulating into a cool, wild aforementioned relentless, Jurassic fever dream of a movie. Composed by Frederik Wiedmann, a rhapsodic score compliments hectic proceedings Of course the icing on this dino-cake is Creedence Clearwater Revival tunes on the soundtrack, an ode to the time.
Minor spoiler alert; it turns out the soviets were involved in creating the dinosaurs through out of hand covert experiments resulting in an influx of both the friendly and carnivore kind. As Sofia, the great Tricia Helfer is one of the Russian scientists involved that reluctantly becomes part of Vulture Squad.
More than a decade after juggernaut television series success in True Blood, good actor, versatile lead Ryan Kwanten as Baker is on fire here, a perfect role. Keeping proactive under duress but putting the safety of his beloved troops first is the core of the movie beyond quintessential dinosaur thrills. His fellow soldiers consist of tight friends, ultimately different personalities working together like Miller (Albert Mwangi) and Leon (Carlos Sanson Jr) to Logan (Aaron Glenane) the recipient of the best kill in the film.
As legendary Colonel Jericho who keeps a live tiger in his tent, dynamite Jeremy Piven is a masterstroke of casting accentuating directness and raw power to his commands with that sense of sarcasm we have seen him perfect in previous roles. Soon to be seen in blockbuster Mortal Kombat 2, as Sindel, rising star Ana Thu Nguyen makes her presence known in limited screen time.
Having seen gripes concerning an over two-hour running time, to me it builds tension thus enabling this indie to expand into minor greatness, achieving the rare feat of looking, sounding, vibing bigger than many higher financed counterparts. Congratulations Luke Sparke, next stop Hollywood.
★★★★
On Digital HD now, Blu-ray, DVD 19th January / Jeremy Piven, Ryan Kwanten, Tricia Helfer , Nick Weschler \ Dir. Luke Sparke \ Signature Entertainment \ 15
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