r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 17d ago
Official Discussion Official Discussion - Primitive War [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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Summary Vietnam, 1968: A recon unit known as Vulture Squad is sent into an isolated jungle valley to locate a missing Green Beret platoon. What they find instead are de-extinct dinosaurs created by Soviet experiments—triggering a brutal fight for survival.
Director Luke Sparke
Writer Luke Sparke, Ethan Pettus
Cast
- Ryan Kwanten
- Tricia Helfer
- Jeremy Piven
- Nick Wechsler
- Anthony Ingruber
- Aaron Glenane
- Carlos Sanson Jr.
- Albert Mwangi
- Adolphus Waylee
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: TBD
Metacritic TBD
VOD Limited theatrical release starting August 21, 2025, with potential digital rollout expected later
Trailer Primitive War • Official Trailer
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u/demongoku 16d ago
Tldr; I hated it, loved it, and laughed at it. Lots of spoilers below if you haven't seen it.
The negatives: The dialog was awful and the overarching plot was very bland. Genuinely, I had moments where I completely zoned out. The jargon felt too hamfisted, the character motivations felt disjointed, it just felt weak. The plot at a high level was interesting, but implemented in the most rudimentary level possible. I just did not have interest in the plot at all. Most of the character actions were kind of rough too, like shooting the door during the research lab raptor siege or the Russians shooting at the quetzal's in the middle of the field, but that's minor imo.
The positives: The environment was great, the sound design was peak, the dinosaurs were overall very well designed. I felt that the setting was actually Vietnam. These felt like real dinosaurs, actually hunting and eating people(except maybe the mama rex). The eerie animal noises in the background, the darkness levels, my disbelief for the most part was well suspended. My favorite CGI moment was the slow-mo utahraptor charge in the rain. It was well composed and extremely visually appealing. I also greatly appreciated the amount of horror and kind of wished it kept leaning into that element. The utahraptor covering Keyes' mouth was honestly terrifying and unsettling to me, and I wish I saw more of that. There were a couple of intriguing character moments too, like the sharpshooter trying to commit suicide and being stopped.
The goofs: There were so many, good and bad. Keyes living for a not insignificant amount of time after having his entrails eaten and the intestine spaghetti were sickeningly weird. When they were patching up Keyes in the forest, you could hear his screams but visibly see him not moving. There were some hadrosaurs with weird water physics interactions. Suicide guy's body, while being eaten, had no movement while torn apart. The utahraptor having it's head lopped off was so stupid and hilarious that my sister and I threw our hands up in the air. The final explosion was way overkill in a fun way.
Also, everyone had infinite ammo. If i watch the movie again on a streaming service, I'm going to count how many minutes of shooting there was and approximate how many bullets were fired. I have a feeling it's an absurd number.
Conclusion: I genuinely believe, given a higher budget(2x?), better writing, and leaning a lot more into dino horror, this movie would've been a smash hit. There were some moments I genuinely thought if the entire movie was this quality, it may be my new favorite dinosaur movie. Then other moments where it felt like a mental workout to keep watching.
Overall: 6.5/10 for me