Primeval Combined Blu-ray Disc & DVD Review

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Title: Primeval

Media: Blu-ray Disc and DVD Combined Media Review

Blu-ray Disc Region: A

DVD Region: One

Genre: Adventure Thriller

Stars: Dominic Purcell, Orlando Jones, Brooke Langton, and Jurgen Prochnow

Writers: John Brancato and Michael Ferris

Director: Michael Katleman

Feature length: 94 minutes

Extras: Movie Showcase (Blu-ray Only), Filmmaker’s Audio Commentary, Deleted Scenes With Filmmaker’s Audio Commentary, Making Of Featurette, Previews

Languages: English Linear PCM 5.1 Uncompressed Surround Sound (Blu-ray Disc Only), English and Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired and English, French, and Spanish Language Subtitles

Blu-ray Disc Packaging: Blue BD Case

Packaging: Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 16

Sound: Linear PCM 5.1 Uncompressed Surround Sound (Blu-ray Disc Only) and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Year of Blu-ray Disc/DVD Release: 2007

Home Video Distributor: Hollywood Pictures Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

Inspired by the true story of a 25 foot man-eating crocodile that hunts along rivers in Africa and frequently and cunningly takes fishermen and unsuspecting villagers gathering water, swimming, and even armed soldiers too close to the water line. The crocodile is estimated to be one hundred years old and the film suggests that the vivacious appetite for human flesh came as a result of decades long civil war where countless human bodies were literally dumped in the rivers for the crocodiles to feed upon and get rid of the evidence. Since this is based on a true creature of nature perhaps perverted to monstrous size and appetite as a result of humanity’s inhumanity to each other, “Gustave” as the locale people of the land have named the crocodile is still alive. Thus Primeval is a fictional story using the “Gustave” creature as a center point for a group of American Journalists to go on a croc-hunt to capture the creature for ratings sweeps and in the process encounter warlords, Shaman, and all of the dangers and wonders one would expect to see in a film like this.

The cast features Dominic Purcell (Prison Break), Brooke Langton (The Benchwarmers), Jurgen Prochnow (The Da Vinci Code), and the always-likeable Orlando Jones (Evolution), who provides the perspective of the every-man for the viewer as well as the comedy relief. Primeval has more depth than other films that feature giant creatures of nature threatening the boundaries of civilization usually because humans have already had an impact on it’s natural domain, but the focus at times is a bit off center. The film feels like what one might expect from a film about a giant man-eating crocodile terrorizing people and then the film attempts to make political statements about the injustice that occurs in third world African nations that Western nations often ignore while at the same time trying to weave a “feel good” resolution that seems as though it belongs in a different film. Thus while Primeval is definitely an above average adventure thriller compared to most of the similar fictional straight-to-video and TV movies that are released each year, the film suffers from a lack of a cohesive feel as if it were trying to be three different kinds of film at once.

The effects for “Gustave” are good enough to give anyone nightmares that such a creature really exists and perhaps the most frightening aspect of the giant crocodile is that it is fast enough to chase down prey on land with ease. If real crocodiles are this fast on land as they are in the water, I can’t imagine how anyone survives an attack because it seems to me as though there is no way to outrun a creature like this. You might as well as try and outmaneuver an Apache helicopter on foot or even a car because the results are likely to be the same and that usually means death for the victim.

Despite the 1080p full high definition resolution where available capacity of the Blu-ray Disc version of the film, aside from perhaps some solid details that might seem less clear in the DVD edition, when upconverted to equal resolution, I found little to no real discernable difference between the picture quality of the standard definition DVD and the high definition Blu-ray Disc. Please note though that results vary greatly based upon the quality of equipment used. Some standard definition upconverting DVD players do a better job than others and of course the kind of TV you view each version on, contrast ratios, color variance, and so many other factors can and do effect how good a film on either format will look. The easiest thing to do in the case where it seems that both standard definition and high definition versions of a movie are equal more or less when it comes to picture quality is to buy according to your own needs. If true high definition is more important than anything else, buy the Blu-ray Disc and if true HD is not so important for all of your film purchasing decisions then you might want to rent the DVD first before buying it. You can always rent both versions where available and then truly have a personal frame of reference to make your decision by. The Blu-rat Disc is encoded using AVC while the DVD uses the standard MPEG2 compression system.

The Blu-ray Disc features an uncompressed Linear PCM 5.1 Surround Soundtrack that is quite engaging, but the English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack found upon both the Blu-ray Disc and DVD versions is extremely captivating with enough power to draw your attention even if you step away from your TV for a moment. Better off pausing this one even if it seems a little slow at times than leaving it running while taking a quick personal break. A Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack as well as English Subtitles For The Deaf and Hearing Impaired for the film and optional feature length audio commentary and English, French, and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto both versions of the film as options. Director Michael Katleman with Visual Effects Supervisor Paul Linden provide a conversational screen specific optional feature length audio commentary for the film as well as commentary for a reel of three letterboxed deleted scenes (5:41). Michael Katleman recently gave a press junket interview regarding the film that you can read by clicking here for further insight. There’s also a 16 by 9 making of featurette entitled Croc-umentary: Bringing Gustave To Life (9:38) and exclusive to the Blu-ray Disc is a movie showcase (4:38) with three scenes from the film that can be used to display the capabilities of your Blu-ray Disc system or get to certain action sequences quickly. The seamless interactive menus found on the Blu-ray Disc version are similar to the DVD, but benefit from actually being easier to navigate than the DVD counterpart and users get the added bonus of being able to navigate while the film is in progress without interrupting it.

Both versions feature reels of previews. The DVD reel (9:21) includes letterboxed trailers for Ratatouille, Renaissance, The Lookout, Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto and the Roger Corman Collection while the Blu-ray Disc edition features a “Coming Soon To Blu-Ray Disc” promo as well as widescreen trailers for Déjà vu, Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto, The Guardian, Invincible, and The Prestige. Primeval is available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Touchstone Home Entertainment.

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