Raptor (2001)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This movie is an abortive, stillborn attempt to stitch together several bad movies and make some sort of extra-bad movie. It fails at even this, since there's way too much "plot", and not nearly enough goofy puppets and ridiculous gore. Seriously, the puppets are sweet, and the guys in suits crack me up pretty good. The performances are C-grade at best and lame throughout, with special props to the Spec-Ops guy who spoke some sort of bizarre East Coast/Venusian dialect that was almost impossible to decipher. Not that you really care what he says, as only the curse words are distinct. Cinematographically, it's non-offensive, pretty much what you'd expect from low-rent straight-to-video offal (just like the script). The fact that New Concorde used footage from the "Carnosaur" films IS offensive, and quite confusing. For shame, New Concorde. For shame. "Carnosaur" is one of my favorite terrible movies, and they somehow screwed it up and made it nigh unwatchable. See the "Carnosaur" films if you want to see shoestring dinosaur mayhem.I give it one star because I am so fond of the movies it steals from, and also because the scale doesn't have a zero.

The biggest and most disconcerting things of the Raptor movie was ending for the Tyransaurus is identical to Carnosaur except kid in the loader was a bit better acted and action then the adult. The similarities to the Carnosaur movies was rather poor choice in plot line. The only thing that approached good was the beginning with the kids in the jeep. Then the plot went down hill from there. Would have been nice if a different plot had been devised, rather then cloning the earlier movies. The raptor movie should have taken lesson from Jurasic park series in various plots. The only movie that has come close to a good dinosaur movie most recently is Aztec Rex. The repeated scenes as if taken from the Carnosaur movies leaves a person thinking of those movies.

So I was sick with the flu one Saturday and the silver lining was that SciFi Channel was having a marathon of dinosaur movies that day - the "Carnosaur" trilogy, "Pterodactyl," "Raptor Island." Then I flicked ahead on my cable remote to see which movie SciFi placed in its glamorous, Saturday prime-time slot. Some movie I had never heard of before called "Raptor." I was pretty excited. The movie begins with some teens driving around in a jeep, when they get stalked and killed by a Velociraptor. I was like, "Hmmm, that's odd, that looks almost exactly like a scene in "Carnosaur," except it was in the middle of that movie." Then I sat through some really bad acting and then some guy was suckered into walking into an underground research laboratory where he got eaten by a ferocious T-Rex. Now I'm like, "Wait a second, that was also a scene in "Carnosaur." Then, after I saw some scenes blatantly ripped off from "Carnosaur 2", I figured out just what the hell was going on. So basically, Roger Corman & Co. ripped off scenes from the "Carnosaur" trilogy to use as the action scenes, weaved in a basic "dinosaur-runs-amok" plot, and tried to pass it off as an original movie. Shameful. I don't know who I'm more angry at, Roger Corman or SciFi Channel for trying to pass this off as worthy of the prime-time slot. The only reason why this was worth watching to its conclusion was to pick out the actors/actresses who looked like their counterparts in the "Carnosaur" trilogy and guess which scenes would be lifted next. As much as it pains me, being a dinosaur lover, I have no choice but to give this the lowest possible rating because I feel completely ripped off.

"Raptor" is a pretty decent Roger Corman effort.**SPOILERS**Sheriff Bill Tanner (Eric Roberts) finds that a couple of teens are dead in his town and decides to launch an investigation. After a few more deaths leave him stumped, he calls upon his friend Barbara Phillips (Melissa Brasselle) to assist him on the case. After linking one of the attacks to the Eunice Company, run by a Dr. Hyde, (Corbin Bersen) who is experimenting with genetically engineered dinosaurs for the military. Convinced that one of Dr. Hyde's creations is on the loose, he heads over to check it out with Barbara, where they are taken hostage by Hyde's men. After they've gone missing, the military gets a hold of what Dr. Hyde is doing and sends in two special ops teams, lead by Capt. Connelly (Tim Abell) and Capt. York (William Monroe) to stop his project.The Good News: I was surprised at how much carnage is actually in this movie. There's a lot of deaths in here, most quite brutal and violent. There are a couple people mauled, one has their arm ripped off slowly, one is eaten alive and yet another is dismembered, among other deaths in here. There are a lot more in here, so anyone who has a liking for a high body count will not be disappointed here. The brutal deaths also makes for some graphic deaths, which is always welcome in a horror movie. The blood flows pretty freely in here, splashing all over the place and will definitely please gore-hounds. The film does move at quite a fast pace, with almost a dozen deaths in the first half of the movie. That is actually quite a feat for the movie, as it never becomes boring. That allows for loads of action and Dino chomping, which keeps the film moving along. Several attacks are also suspenseful, and one delivers a decent jump at the end of it. The attack in the town is probably the best, as it features a creepy setting, a pretty violent death and a great set-up for the whole affair. It's a pretty nifty scene that gets what it's supposed to done: cheap action scenes that are compiled together to give the appearance of an action flick, which is what they really are. Nowhere else is this more apparent is the end, as the soldiers are entering the complex to destroy the creatures. One action-packed scene after another, and it definitely ends it on a high note. There is some pretty thickly-layered cheese to this movie, and it is quite noticeable, so those fans will be pleased with this one.The Bad News: Okay, the Dino's used in the film are the phoniest looking animals ever seen on screen. They look too fake to be real, for lack of a better of phrase. It isn't even a chance of them looking only the closest thing to other dinosaurs seen in other films, they are very, very fake looking. Even for this one fault, it's still the only thing wrong with this one.The Final Verdict: This is a pretty gory and action packed flick that only requires you to check you're brain at the door and enjoy. There's some pretty bad looking Dino's, but it's about the only thing wrong with the movie. Simple, cheesy fun is all it is.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity