Welcome to the Galactic Theater, where we'll explore the works of master manipulators of light waves, examine the themes brought to play, and critique the final products of months of hard work.
Welcome to the Galactic Theater, where we'll explore the works of master manipulators of light waves, examine the themes brought to play, and critique the final products of months of hard work.
This review does not represent the opinions of the general public. It reflects my personal thoughts and opinions on the movie.
That said, on to the review!
In Africa, even lions give the Nile River a wide berth, because there's one acquatic reptile that's powerful enough and dangerous enough to give even the King of Beasts pause. So what happens when one of those reptiles--or a close cousin of it--arrives in a Maine lake? How about a terrific action-packed "monster" movie?
It all started off innocently enough. A man doing a survey of beaver populations at Black Lake is suddenly bit in two, with only his upper torso making it aboard the local sheriff's boat before he dies. All of a sudden, Black Lake--which might have been called Lake Placid if the name hadn't already been taken--is anything but Placid as deputies, a federal agent, a mythology professor, and a paleontologist descend to investigate. No one except the mythology professor wants to believe that the lake could house a creature large enough and powerful enough to kill a man so easily, but what they discover blows them away.
For Jack Wells, Fish and Game warden, the fact that a humongous crocodile could possibly live in Black Lake is unfathomable. Certainly Sheriff Hank Keough doesn't want to believe it. Soon enough, though facts speak for themselves. During their first boat tour of the lake, the sheriff spots something like tree branches floating in the water. To their surprise and horror, what they pull aboard is the severed head of a moose. Now, we're talking "moose" here, as in the biggest species of deer currently in existence. What could do that to a moose? And yet, they have no proof of a crocodile's presence...and won't, until it inadvertantly saves the professor from a bear by lunging out of the water and claiming the bear as its next meal.
Now it's a battle for surival. The croc's already claimed one human life, and was big and powerful enough to take out a bear. If they aren't careful, the sheriff and his deputies could be next on the menu, with the warden, the professor, and the paleontologist for dessert. Can this mixed group of individuals come together long enough to stop the croc? And what role does the strange farmwife have in the croc's continuing presence?
This was a terrific movie, filled with all the action and suspense you could ask for, and balancing it out with the proper amounts of humor and romance. And if you think it's hard to imagine romance in the face of a giant crocodile, just look at The Beast or any number of older monster movies. Still, you probably wouldn't really expect it from the characters who do move towards a relationship, considering that both are rude, sarcastic, and more or less made for each other.
Actors and actresses...well, I think the big star was the crocodile, but the human cast did a good job supporting it. Bill Pullman (Independence Day) plays Jack Wells, the game warden, with Bridget Fonda (Single White Female) as the paleontologist, Kelly Scott. Oliver Platt (The Three Musketeers) does a turn as Hector Cyr, the mythology professor obsessed with crocodiles. Newcomer (to me, anyway) Brendan Gleeson is the Maine sheriff who just can't seem to get along with Platt's character. Best of all, though, is Bette White, whom most audience members will recognize as Rose, the dizzy woman from St. Olaf on The Golden Girls.
Perhaps the only thing I found irritating about this movie is that more emphasis was placed upon the characters' personal relationships rather than the goal of stopping the crocodile. In a way it seemed as though the crocodile was only incidental in getting the characters together to play off each other. True, the characters probably wouldn't cross paths without the motive of the croc, but it somehow lacked the compelling force of The Relic. In that movie the monster governed practically everything that went on. Not so in Lake Placid.
On the other hand, the lack of immediate stage time for the croc meant that whenever it was at the center of the action, the scenes were welcome and impressive. There was, for example, the scene where the croc rose up out of the water behind Platt. Now that was intense! And watching the croc lurch after an inflatable raft with Platt not more than a couple of feet away, then catching onto the pontoon of a helicopter...amazing! To my mind, though, Bette White stole the show with her crazy antics. She seemed so serious when she confessed to killing her husband with a frying pan and burying him, yet you could see how much the other characters wanted to roll their eyes (the sheriff actually did)!
Lake Placid has some scenes that younger viewers and some highly sensitive older ones shouldn't see. It can at times be rather gruesome, so don't view this lightly. On the other hand, you could just cover your eyes and not watch those particular scenes until you're ready to, right? So go ahead and by Lake Placid at your nearest video store, all right?
Interested in buying this video? You can! Just follow the link to order the VHS version or the DVD version. You can also visit the Stellar Video Store for other titles.
Back Home Sign Guestbook View Guestbook
Get your own Free Home Page