An American news crew descends on the area to capture the giant and bring him back alive, dropping into a raging civil war between Hutu and Tutsi. The producer is the macho Tim (Dominic Purcell of TV's "Prison Break"), the on-air talent the earnest and bimbotic Aviva (Brooke Langton, "Melrose Place"), the cameraman/comic relief played gratingly by Orlando Jones.
There's Jürgen Prochnow ("Das Boot"), once again in deep water in the Robert Shaw croc-hunter role. The less said about Gideon Emery as a wildlife adventurer in the unfortunate mold of the late Steve Irwin, the better.
It soon becomes a toss-up as to who's the greater threat to these babes in the lake: Gustave or the minions of warlord Little Gustave (Dumisani Mbebe), whose rep is almost as bloody as his namesake's. The cameraman accidentally videotapes an execution, and the Americans take in a local (Gabriel Malema) hoping to flee to the states.
They also discuss issues of media responsibility and American awareness of African suffering in the dumbed-down language of late-night cable junk. "The more you help, the worse it gets," growls Tim. "Oh well, it doesn't mean you shouldn't try," chirps Aviva, although she clearly cares more for a stray puppy than any humans in sight.
Then it's off to a violent near-rape in which the heroine conveniently loses her shirt, followed by more rampaging appearances by Gustave. The croc-hunter describes his favorite bait as a mixture of "blood, urine, and pheromones," which really isn't a bad review of the film itself.
"Primeval" is a hoot if you're in the mood, though, and it gets points for trying to stuff a little globo-think into the minds of Friday night mayhem fans (who will probably rebel, since only one skull pops like a grape). In the end, broader messages get beaten down by genre. "All meat is meat," says someone here, and if that's not modern horror-movie realpolitik, I don't want to know what is.
Ty Burr can be reached at tburr@globe.com. For more on movies, go to boston.com/ae/movies/blog.
