a5c7b9f00b What happens when a man-eating crocodile begins picking off tourists in beautiful Lake Placid? What if the crocodile wants to make it his home? Lake Placid - Well it would be, but; "somebody said that name was taken." At least according to the local Sheriff. When a man is eaten alive by an unknown creature, the local Game Warden (Pullman) teams up with a paleontologist (Fonda) from New York to find the beast. Add to the mix an eccentric philanthropist with a penchant for "Crocs" (Platt), and here we go! This quiet, remote lake is suddenly the focus of an intense search for a crocodile with a taste for live animals…and people! Here's a mystery if ever there was: how a movie that might otherwise have been presumed extinct suddenly surfaces in theatres and consumes box office takings from the unsuspecting. Welcome, then, Lake Placid, or not: it's actually Lake Something Else,one of the characters reveals in a baffling piece of exposition, thereby introducing at least one – well, all right, the only one – element of originality in the piece. (This could be a whole new trend: characters having on-screen discussions about why the title of the film they're in doesn't actually have anything to do with the film they're in.) Which more or less sums up the cast's attitude: most of the time, they'd rather be in Philadelphia. And it shows. The script (though that's rather to over-value the backs of envelopes upon which the dialogue was penned) is textbook stuff – textbooks on How Not To Write For The Movies. Unable to sustain a single coherent thought, let alone mood, it strives for effect in the deployment of obscenities that're neither funny nor valid (given her advanced years, one would've expected Betty White to have grown up by now). As to the plot, well, if you must have a film whose title is wrong to begin with, you mightwell have a sheriff who upon being told by a murderer where the body is hidden promptly goes off and. . . does nothing about it. Or how about a crocodile that's mysteriously arrived in Maine with neither explanation nor back-story? Come to that, how about film editing which results in Fonda's museum fossil hunter joining the monster hunt but then – presumably – leaves on the cutting room floor all the explanatory stuff that justifies why, at the beginning of the movie, everyone's talking about A Very Old Tooth. . . and then never refers to it again? Like Fonda's acting ability, where did all the prehistoric stuff go???) Laugh? Well if that's not funny, how about extended intervals of obscene language from most of the members of the cast followed by the Sheriff doing pratfalls: down holes, up in the air, that sort of thing. Gosh though, this is REALLY funny! Truth to tell, it ain't. It's risible and it's offensive, a foul-mouthed essay in juvenilia not even redeemed by reasonably good special effects. If this is what American film entertainment has come to – forget plot, dialogue, characters, exposition, acting, editing and direction: substitute instead SFX and gutter language – then the industry's in worse shape than any of us previously thought. So: Lake Placid. Though it's unlikely to have devoured the careers of Fonda and Pullman, it's certainly demeaned them. A pity that the audience is demeaned along with 'em. To some, Lake Placid might seem, like it mastered, the B-movie horror genre 'so bad, it's good', type of a film. However, for others; the movie is full of mean-spirited, unfunny, somewhat offensive jokes. For me, I felt like, this movie was pretty entertaining, however, I'm not one of those, who would be, a tailgater for this film. This movie can bite me! This tongue-in-cheek, killer croc film was pretty stupid. Directed by Steve Miner, the movie tells the story of a group of wildlife experts, trying to hunt a giant, 30-foot-long man-eating crocodile, which is terrorizes the small community of Black Lake, Maine. Can they capture the beast, or will they become the crocodile's next meal? Watch the movie to find out, if you want to! Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, that Lake Placid isn't that great. Not at all! However, it's a lot better than the later, crocodile related horror films. One thing, that I didn't like, about the film is the characters. All, of them, has their moments of annoyance to me. The only, two characters, I was, somewhat rooting for, was Sheriff Hank Keough (Brendan Gleeson) & Fish and Game officer Jack Wells (Bill Pullman), because they were the ones, that seem, somewhat normal. Everybody else, I was kinda rooting for the crocodile to eat them. Bridget Fondathe History paleontologist Kelly Scott, comes acrossa whinny city girl, looking for a hookup. The first part of the film, with her, was very hard to get through. I really didn't care to find out, what her previous relationship did to her. Nor did, I care for her forced relationship with Bill Pullman's character. She really doesn't do, much for the film, besides endangering herself and her teammates, anyways. Nor, does she really care, that the crocodile kill people. She still wants it, to be capture, rather than, not killed. What type of human being, does that!? It was there, that I really couldn't stand her presence. Mythology professor/crocodile enthusiast Hector Cyr (Oliver Platt) was the same way. While, he was somewhat funny. His jokes were, mostly a miss, rather than a hit, due to his offensive, often homophobia and womanizer nature. I really didn't like, his preachy, keep the animal alive, approach. Both characters should had died, and the crocodile should had be luggage. See you later, alligator. Bye! Bye! Another problem, with the film was the settlings. For a movie call Lake Placid; it really has a lame excuse for the name, Lake Placid. I was really hoping, the movie settling was, indeed, Lake Placid, New York. Maybe, have, some type of Olympian swimmer, kill the beast in the end. Who Knows! It could probably, make a better movie, than we got. While, this film was a financial success at the box office and was followed by a series of sequels and a crossover film with the Anaconda series. Sadly, this animal attack movie doesn't have the thrill and chills in suspense, like Steven Spielberg's 1975's hit, Jaws. It's not scary, at all. Nor, does the movie master, any sense of horror comedy like Ron Underwood's 1990 Tremors. Still, compared to a lot of killer croc films, out there. Lake Placid features some semi great special effects by both Stan Winston and Digital Domain that, for the most part, hold up, today. The crocodile looks somewhat realistic. The gore effects was good enough for stomach curling. The sequels however not so much, though I do admittedly, they look better than most Sci-Fi Channel Original films. The movie also doesn't really, have much in exposition or plot development. It seem like the movie didn't care about the science, too much,it's somewhat abandoned, explaining, toward the middle of the film. Even in the end, you still, don't have, no clue, how the crocodile got into the lake in the first place, and how it's able to survive there. Regardless, the movie does have, some good pacing. There were very few filler scenes in this 82 minutes film. Another thing, that I like, about the film is the music; however, it rarely matches, what's going on, with the film. Honestly, how in the hell does 'I Think I Love You' by singer, Maureen Davis & 'It's Not Unusual" by singer, Tom Jones, have to do, with a 20ft killer crocodile!? Noting, if you ask me. Overall: While, the music doesn't match, well with the film. I still have, to say, this movie still entertains me, enough to get, through it. Nevertheless, this feeding frenzy movie is only good for a one-time watch. Not worth, the rewatchability. This movie has reptile dysfunction. It also goes out of its way to give you a schlocky B-movie vibe by wrangling bait in the form of a bunch of Big-Gulp stupid stock characters - that's a whopping 44 oz. more stupid than you probably were bargaining for.
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356 weeks ago