Reviews

OK, here's the movie in a nutshell. A stranded group of survivors on an island are stalked by mutated Komodos the size of a small house.

The entire movie consists of the group of people walking somewhere with an apparent purpose. The Komodo comes out, stands in front of them, and let's it's self be shot at. The bullets have no effect on the monster whatsoever. Yet it stands there getting shot at by people it could EASILY eat. In a nono-second. That is the entire movie. The beast jumping out to be shot at, then walking away for no reason. The acting is horrendous, and the script - uber-cheese. But I laughed. The CGI is only moderate better then those Robert Tapert shows, (Xena, Hurcules, Cleopatra 2525, ). If you want a better (but not by much) Komodo movie, check out "Komodo" (1999). But enjoy Curse' for the pure badness of it and laugh.

I have rarely seen a movie that had SO much potential, and seemed to ignore it almost on purpose. The premise is sound: a secret war is being fought between vampires and werewolves. a great premise, but unfortunately, the flaws hold it back from being either an action or a horror, and especially from it ever being a romance. The first flaw is noticeable all through the movie. Let me get this straight, these two creatures have been fighting for years, and years, yet humans have no idea. They shoot in subways, and hotels, and sewers, yet we have no idea. In Blade the humans who knew about vampires became Familiars. They worked along side them. Here, they just don't exist. Oh, except for speedman, he exists solely for the plot, to give it a bit of life. Sorry, nothing could give this bore-heap life. The other huge flaw, is the supposed romance between Speedman and Beckinsale. It has no merit. It just evolves without rhyme or reason. There's no connection or chemistry. The script calls for a love relationship between the two, so it seems like they just through it in. They kiss, they fight along side each other, but never have chemistry. It just goes through the usual motions. Most of the characters are generic and dull. They all seem to just exist on the most basic level. They simply go on pouting or scowling the whole movie. My favorite example of this is Kraven (Shane Brolly). He keeps one angry expression on his face the entire time. He looks about two seconds away from a temper tantrum. The last big gripe I have for this movie is simple and basic: Where oh where was the action through all this? I counted two and a half basic action scenes. I wish I could have slept through this boring mess, but my insomnia was acting up that day. My rating? 1 out of 10 My advice? If your in the mood for a GOOD action horror, stay away, go rent a Blade flick.

***SPOILER WARNING***

I checked this flick out right after seeing the first. As a sequel, it is basically a cash cow, milking off the success of the first one. Made for the wrong reasons, it is a very weak sequel to the earlier masterpiece. Now, as a Sci-fi, Horror flick on it's own, it's not bad. A decent plot line, with a very interesting lead character played excellently by Eric Stoltz. The gore and monster effects are pumped up greatly. So if you are going to watch this special effects vehicle, watch it for the makeup and gore, not for a sequel or even for a plot. Just for plain, shallow, fun. The acid effects were cool in the fist one and their cool in the sequel. As well, the vengeance issued in this movie is some of the harshest revenge material I have ever seen!

This is one great movie. Just when you think action movies are becoming monotonous and repetitive, out comes a unique plot, with great characters. Michael Keaton delivers a Tour de Force as a psychotic, ruthless criminal. It is especially great to watch as Peter McCabe (Keaton) starts to feel slightly pained at the idea of letting the child die. Watch for the scene where the kid fights back with a crow bar - great scene! Andy Garcia is intense as well, but Keaton almost steels the show. Some reviews have talked about the movie being a great idea with mindless action. Another way to look at it (in a kind of glass-half-full way) is that this movie creates great, tension filled action scenes with great characters and a plot that saves the movie from being run-of-the-mill. It is movies like this that refreshes my faith in the action genre.

Rating - ***1/2 out of four