DVD Review: Extinction (2014)

"NATURE HAS EVOLVED"

"Deep in the Amazon jungle a group of scientists qre on a dangerous mission . When their guide suddenly abandons them they find themselves in a savage and hsotile environment. However, things turn deadly when they find they are in the middle of a hunting ground or a pack of prehsitoric predators long thought extinct.  These dinosaurs have been living undisturbed for millions of years, but now the prehistoric predators have new human prey to hunt." 

I have a couple of theories about DVD covers. 

1. The lead actress will have her boobs scaled up by at least  50%.

2. Any dinosaur on a DVD cover will be scaled up by about 300% percent. 

 You'll have to take my word for it on #1 but I promise you that the beasties in "Extinction" are significantly smaller than the artist makes them out to be.    

  Now my customary cover art rant is out of the way, on to the movie instead.

 I bought "Extinction" confidently expecting a CGI Cheesefest so when I discovered I was watching yet another "Found footage" movie, I wasn't exactly overjoyed.

  I'm not a big fan of found footage flicks. Call me picky but I don't enjoy watching bickering characters jump at sudden noises from offscreen and all the god bits being filmed in motion-sickness inducing ShakyCam.  

When it comes right down to it, how much you enjoy this film depends entirely on how long you are willing to wait before somebody gets eaten by a dinosaur.  Well over half of the screen time is devoted to our mismatched party trekking into the jungle. 

 There's a few "What's that noise" moments but yep, you get to know the guys and gals quite well. 

  You have a couple of veteran wilderness experts, a couple of local guides, a couple of  scientists and a two person film crew to do the much-needed videoing of anything and everything. There's a certain amount of friction involved, especially where camera guy Rob is concerned.

 He's a bit of a prat, basically.

This does mean that when the dinos finally show up, the viewer has got some investment in the characters.

 That helps a lot. 

 I now know these people. I'm (sort of) rooting for them and it's a pleasant surprise seeing how they react to new developments.  Without giving too much away, some do exactly what you expect. Others very definitely don't. 

 It also helps that the acting is pretty decent all round.  Oscar-winning? Probably not - but more than good enough to convey the sense of terror and confusion required.

 Something else I rather liked is that if you watch carefully, you can spot little throwaway moments that add just a little extra to the story. 

  The dinosaurs are surprisingly good. Not "Jurassic park" good, but they look believable and you can't see the joins, so to speak. 

On the subject of Jurassic Park, one bit pays homage to one of the more iconic scenes. I won't spoil that for you either.

To sum up: A long build up leads to a satisfying payoff.  Possibly said build-up could have been trimmed down   without hurting the movie but that's just my view.

 I enjoyed it. You might too, just so long as you're not prone to motion sickness. 

 Here's the trailer

That's all folks.