Komodo
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- Release Date: July 4, 1999
- Directed by: Michael Lantieri
- Written by: Hans Bauer and Craig Mitchell
- Runtime: 1 hour 29 minutes
I have a big soft spot for killer animal / nature runs amok movies, and this one caught my eye for two reasons: 1. Killer Komodo dragons just sounds like a lot of fun in general, and 2. The special effects were handled by some of the same people who worked on Jurassic Park. That was enough to sell me on this one, and it was on my plan-to-watch list until a friend of mine got it for me as a birthday gift. Having now watched it, I have to say that sometimes a movie delivers exactly what you expect and nothing more, and this is definitely one of those cases.
When it comes to this movie's storyline, I really didn't find myself too engaged with what was going on. It's a pretty basic plot about Komodo dragon eggs being dumped in an area where they don't belong, and they grow up to become lethal predators that hunt the people who live there. Most of the characters are pretty wooden and forgettable, with the exception of a boy who goes full-on Schwarzenegger in Predator mode to fight the dragons for killing his family. He spends the last chunk of the movie shirtless and fighting the dragons with a wooden spear in the rain, and the only thing it was missing was the kid shouting "Come on, kill me, do it now!" The only other memorable character was a scheming Australian villain who was almost cartoonishly evil and spent most of his scenes overacting and chewing the scenery around him. Other than that, I spent much of the first half of the movie waiting around and wondering when the dragons were finally going to show up and start killing people.
That being said, no one watches a killer animal movie for the human part of the story. We watch these things to see animals tearing people apart, and in that area, this movie gave me pretty much everything I was hoping for. The Komodo dragons are brought to life by a great blending of animatronics and CGI, and for a direct-to-video production, the effects really do hold up to Jurassic Park's standards. I guess it helps that this movie's director is a multi-award winning special effects supervisor, and he brought fellow effects legend Phil Tippett along to help out. This movie was originally meant for a theatrical release, and you can really tell when it comes to every scene featuring the titular creatures. Whether they're stalking through some fields, jumping onto and biting someone, or taking a severe beating from our protagonists, the animatronic Komodo dragons look and move so much better than a movie like this would normally call for. While a bit dated, the CGI also looks great for what it is, especially in one scene where one of the dragons gets a flare shot into its mouth. The movie also makes use of the fact that the bites of Komodo dragons are venomous, and that adds another level of danger on top of their sheer size and strength. These are great monsters for a movie like this, and I really wish that they were given a better-written movie to play around in. Anyone looking to pick this up would be smart to fast-forward to where they come into the movie and just watch the rest from there.
There's honestly not much more that I can say about this movie. I popped it in to see killer Komodo dragons, and that's exactly what I got. If I had seen this on the Sci-Fi channel when I was a kid, I probably would have loved it a lot. As is, it's an ok monster movie that is sure to please anyone who only cares about fun effects and nothing else. If that sounds like your cup of tea, give this one a try.