Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Age of the Dinosaurs (2013)

Introduction:
Weren’t you just saying to yourself, “You know I haven’t seen Treat Williams in anything recently? I wonder what he’s up to.” Well wonder no longer, because you’re in for a… No, I won’t say it. I’ll resist. Instead I’ll say: if you ever wanted to see a movie with Treat Williams battling crazed dinosaurs in Los Angeles, well then hold onto your hats. I’ve got the movie for you.

Summary:
Obviously the head of a biogenetics company never watched or read Jurassic Park, otherwise he might have decided to skip this particular experiment. But no, Justin (Ronny Cox) just had to go and create all kinds of carnivorous dinosaurs “for the good of mankind” and science and all that jazz. Well in the middle of his big presentation to his investors, guess what happens. That’s right, the dinosaurs break loose and start devouring people.

And we aren’t just talking one or two dinos, but a whole slew of them, loose in Los Angeles and wreaking havoc. Gabe (Treat Williams) and his daughter Jade (Jillian Rose Reed) were enjoying the dino-filled show but now are running for their lives. But Gabe isn’t going to sit back and let the dinos trash his favorite city. He starts kicking scaly butt all over the place. But it’s going to take more than a tough attitude to keep L.A. from returning to the Age of the Dinosaurs.

Good Points:
  • Knows exactly what kind of movie it wants to be
  • Treat Williams grabs the role and runs with it
  • Moves a brisk pace and always something fun around the corner 

Bad Points:
  • Painfully stupid dialogue and questionable performances
  • The CG dinos are not the least bit convincing
  • This is a dumb, dumb movie

Overall:
Oh you were looking for something to act as a double feature with Sharknado? Well look no further my friends, because this is it. Silly monster effects? Check. A lead actor who gets into his uber-hero role? Check. Hilarious story developments and ridiculous dialogue. Double check. A good time for bad movie night? Oh I think you know the answer to that question.

Scores (out of 5)
Visuals: 5
Sound: 3
Acting: 4
Script: 3
Music: 3
Direction: 4
Entertainment: 5
Total:  4


Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.

5 comments:

  1. Sounds marvelously awful.

    Why don't these bio-companies ever try to bring back, oh say, the dodo? The birds must have been tasty to have gotten eaten to extinction, and as for the prospect of a bunch of dodos running loose around LA ... but no, I'll resist too.

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    1. Yes and "Age of the Dodos" doesn't have the same ring does it? :) Check this one out for sure, it was a lot of stupid fun.

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  2. Last night on PBS Nova they had a program called Bigger Than T. Rex--the Spinosaurus. It would have been cool to see those two wrestle. I thought some movie maker should put that thing in a movie. I love stories with dinosaurs in them. I think my favorite ones are Mysterious Island, King Kong, and Journey to the Center of the Earth (all the original ones). I wish some newer movies would be made like these, but not a lot are, that are any good anyway. Guess I should have included Jurassic Park.

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    1. T vs Spino was in Jurassic Park III, but even though it is a cool sequence I wouldn't sit through the rest of that movie again just to see it. Fortunately, youtube comes to the rescue with just the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8NA7IQMf_Q

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    2. Yeah it is hard to find a film that matches the classic adventure model. Most take the modern action film model and throw in some monsters for good measure. I really like the first "Jurassic Park". It still holds up and is quite a bit of fun. There is also a very funny commentary by Mike Nelson and Weird Al Yankovic on "Rifftrax" for this one.

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