Komodo (1999) starring Jill Hennessy, Billy Burke, Kevin Zegers, Paul Gleeson, Nina Landis, Michael Edward-Stevens, Simon Westaway directed by Michael Lantieri Movie Review

Komodo (1999)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Jill Hennessy aas Victoria in Komodo (1999)

Komodo Lark

I would be lying if I said "Komodo" was a good movie, heck it is little more than a "Jurassic park" rip-off as we have an island with rampant Komodo dragons and a few people trapped there having to fight for their survival. But the daft thing is that "Komodo" is entertaining when you watch it purely for some corny, stereotypical creature feature fun. In many ways it achieves what it set out to be, not a great creature feature but one which will entertain those who actually like bad creature features.

20 years after Komodo dragon eggs were dumped on the Emerald Isle, North Carolina the creatures have some how survived and go unnoticed on an island where oil exploration is underway. But when Patrick (Kevin Zegers - Frozen) and his parents arrive on the island he soon becomes aware of these dragons when he is left traumatised by them killing his parents and his pet dog. Being treated by state psychiatrist Victoria (Jill Hennessy - Lymelife), she takes Patrick back to the island to try and help him in his recovery but whilst there they and a handful of others who are on the island have to fight for their lives as the dragons attacks.

Kevin Zegers as Patrick Connally in Komodo (1999)

You don't even have to watch "Komodo" to know exactly what to expect from his movie as it is just a standard creature feature which rode the coat-tails of "Jurassic Park". There is nothing at all new and original about it so once the intro is out of the way with and we end up with Victoria and Patrick returning to the island it is simply a case of survival. And just as typical whilst we have just over a handful of characters to deal with you can quickly guess who is going to become dragon fodder and who will survive.

But whilst "Komodo" is not in the least bit original it delivers exactly what you expect even down to the visuals. By that I mean the visuals of these Komodo dragon's attacking are not amazing, they often look like they don't blend in to the frame properly but then occasionally it will work and it convinces. And to be honest director Michael Lantieri knowing that Komodo dragons are not as scary as big monsters often goes for shocks, a sudden dragon head smashing through a wall to make it scary. It is sort of clever film making because it does help make these large creatures more scary than they often look.

And to be honest that is about it because performance wise Jill Hennessy, Billy Burke and a young Kevin Zegers deliver nothing more than typical performances of cliche characters. I suppose the only other thing is that the influence of "Jurassic Park" and "The Lost Word" can be spotted all over "Komodo" from scenes with little lizards to getting high up out of reach. It is nothing more than what you would expect and in a way the lack of originality makes the movie work because it delivers what you expect.

What this all boils down to is that "Komodo" is not a good movie, it isn't original or special or has any reason why you must watch it. But for fans of creature features who enjoy the cheesier side of these movies it delivers exactly what you expect and in a way it means it works.


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