Dinocroc vs. Supergator [Blu-ray]

This review is for the standard DVD edition of 'DinoCroc vs. SuperGator' released by Anchor Bay in 2011.This is a low budget SyFy channel original movie that originally appeared on televsion in 2010. If you are looking for a great monster duel, this movie will disappoint. But if you are like me, and don't really mind if it's bad as long as they keep making these movies then you will probably own it or watch it anyway.For those of you looking for a great battle between the two Roger Corman beasts, you will most likely be disappointed. It does occur of course, but it's not anything like what I hoped it would be. More on this in the spoiler section 'THE BATTLE' below.There is an excellent commentary track for fans of the movie and fans of Roger Corman. They thoroughly discuss every aspect and scene in this movie.PLOT/SUMMARY: This is real simple.Dinocroc and Supergator are two creatures that are being studied at Drake Industries in Hawaii. Jason Drake (David Carradine) is the boss. Both creatures escape and kill many people in the process. Drake initially calls in a trained army group to take out the creatures but they are defeated. He then calls in a trapper specialist named 'The Cajun' or Bob Logan. Meanwhile, a secret agent for the government has been spying on Drake. He eventually meets up with a female officer, Cassidy. The 3 of them then spend the rest of the movie hunting down these creatures and try to take them out.PRODUCTION/COMMENTS: This movie was a SyFy channel movie that was released in 2010. It followed Dinocroc in 2004 and Supergator in 2007. The original 'Supergator' was suposed to be 'Dinocroc 2'. However the SyFy channel told Roger Corman that they didn't want a sequel and they preferred an original movie. So he changed the monster a bit and we got 'Supergator'.-The movie is set on Hawaii but some of the scenes are shot in L.A. The scene that says it was in Louisiana was also shot in Hawaii.-I thought this movie could have been better with a better script. But as usual, assured profit wins out in a Roger Corman movie. I appreciate these types of movies being made so I don't want to be overly critical of Roger Corman. Without him, these types of movies wouldn't exist. I'm just pointing out facts here.-David Carradine appears in this movie and it is one of his last movies as he died shortly thereafter. It is most likely his last filmed movie. He died two weeks after his scenes were shot and the movie was still being filmed when he died. According to the commentary, the only had to pay him for one day. They used different angles and different spots in his home to make it look like it was shot at different times.-The CGI is average at best for a movie of this type. The CGI isn't integrated all that well either. Roger Corman produced movies are notorious for skimping on spending money on creatures.-As usual for a movie of this type, many of the people are idiots and deserve to be eaten. Right at the opening scene we get a bunch of dopes running around out in the open instead of just hiding.-Roger Corman comments that his TV movies start out differently than theatre releases. Television producers told Corman that they need to grab the audience right away or they will change the channel. This is the reason why you will always see the monster in the opening scene of his TV movies.-A minor complaint involves the integration of the special effects with the actual script. This is a common problem that I see in these types of movies. For example....you see a girl at a waterfall eaten whole by DinoCroc and then in the next shot you see the stream turning red as if somebody is 'bleeding out'. I understand that they do the CGI after the movie has been filmed but this is something that should be picked up in the editing room. It wouldn't take much to just edit out those few seconds.-One of the actors who had a tiny part, Robert Bean, had worked for Roger Corman over 50 years previously on a few movies including 'She Gods of Shark Reef'.THE BATTLE OF THE MONSTERS: *****SPOILERS BELOW IN THIS SECTION*****I was disappointed with the battle. First, the positive. There is a battle near the end of the movie and there is a clear winner. But there is only one short battle. Most movies that pit two monsters against each other typically have a teaser battle or a short opening battle and then the monsters meet again for a major battle at the end of the movie. In this case, you get what amounts to a very short teaser battle. I don't remember how long but it seemed like less than a minute. The battle starts, then we get a lot of talking and planning and then it's over in a flash. I suppose you can say that it is like life, not always going according to plan and fights in real life are often over in a few seconds. I have to admit, as a Godzilla fan, I sometimes wish he would just kick some butt without much of a battle, kind of like what happened in the movie in 2014. Godzilla didn't have much competition and the only trouble he had was when he was double teamed. I think the problem with this battle is that you don't really have a rooting interest. Each creature is equally as evil so they deserve to both be torn apart. Ultimately, they both get whacked anyway. Shortly after the battle, the winning creature is blown up and the result would have been the same even if both were still alive.*****END OF SPOILERS*****EXTRA'S: There is an excellent commentary track with Roger Corman and the director Jim Wynorski. This commentary is very entertaining. Most commentaries waste most of their time with biographies of the people involved. This one focuses most of the commentary on the shooting of this movie along with explanation's of most of the scenes. You also get a trailer.RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSIONS: I'm giving this movie 3 stars just because I want to. This is really a 2 star movie.It probably doesn't deserve that. The script is weak and the special effects are weak too. But I love when movies have two or more monsters square off so I'm adding a half point for that and I'm adding a point for the excellent commentary. So I'm really giving it 3 1/2 stars but I'm rounding down since it does not deserve to be a 4 star movie.Recommended for fans of Roger Corman produced moves and of course for fans of DinoCroc and Supergator.Recommended for fans of low budget giant reptile, snake, etc. movies.

Dinocroc vs Supergator - 2 Stars - Not too badAnother formulaic, plot hole ridden film catastrophe. CGI for animal movement was good but attack scenes were less so. Victims seem to be sucked in like a vacuum rather than eaten and swallowed. On the plus side, that means there's not much needless gore.I could rag on this film's failures at length but I'd just be repeating the same things I've said about previous films of this sort. To it's credit, the evil leader and his primary henchperson were removed unceremoniously in an unexpected turn of events. No long drawn out fight scene between good and evil. No monster feasting on it's evil creator. This is the only reason it achieved a second star.No nudity. No profanity. No real reason to watch, except that one has seen every giant monster movie there is except this.***Spoiler Alert***The female lead is an officer for Fish and Wildlife. It's hard to tell. None of the equipment they use has any markings. She wears micro shorts as part of her uniform. It's okay her uniform isn't regulation though. Daddy is her boss. And he ain't much better. In every scene, he looks like he was just peeled up from the barroom floor. She's so unprofessional. While on patrol, her boat becomes disabled. She ties it up at a dock, leaves with a guy she just met, never calls in to daddy and leaves her radio in the boat. No one ever calls any real police. They rely on a Crocodile Dundee type character hired by the bad guys.Our introduction to this moron has him slice open his arm to allow blood to stream into a lake to bait a croc to the surface so he can impress us with his fancy shootin'. A cut that deep would require stitches but, hey, it's completely healed next day. What a man! And, yet, I called him a moron. I mean, really, wouldn't animal blood have worked; like just the runoff from a piece of beef? That is, if blood actually worked. As it is, crocs breath air, which means their sense of smell is primarily effective above the water, not in it. But these crocs are different. They mostly hunt on land. They have incredible speed and endurance. And nothing seems to hurt them.How do these monsters get this way? Growth hormones. You're not surprised, I can tell. Let me point out something. The altruistic scientists were developing these formulae to feed the world. Yes, a noble endeavor, except they weren't growing more food. They were growing bigger food. Who needs a mushroom 2o feet tall? How would one eat corn on the cob that was 12 feet long and a single kernel was the size of a throw pillow? Don't try to logic me with it's use would primarily be industrial. The harvesting equipment would be monstrous, like something Dr. Seuss would create.The opening scene sets the tone for the movie. One of the beasts has escaped. What do the scientists do? C'mon, you know this. Not one of them looks for a safe place in the building. They all run outside into wide open areas and it's hungry, hungry gator-like things feasting on scientist smorgasbord.As is typical of these films, characters behave in the stupidest ways, making them easy prey. The standout is daddy. Faced with choosing between running away with his daughter and feeding himself to the croc, he does what all daddy's would do; send her to the car and fight the croc alone. A clever strategy indeed, since no weapon has had any effect on the creatures thus far. Well, the Sacred Movie Formula says he's got to go, so he goes out like an idiot.The fight between the beasts is mediocre. There's no explanation as to why they're enemies. Normally creatures would fight for dominance, whereby one would retreat. But these are in mortal combat, which would seem impossible, as they are impervious to injury. Well, they explode a cloud of sugar dust to kill the victor.Inventive, to say the least.

Excellent

OK, SEEN BETTER

havent had a chance to watch it but i am sure it will be full of cheesy goodness ... just how i like it !!

This is one of those dreadful tongue in cheek dinosaur type films with quite poor quality croc and gator cgi. . . However I love this type of film and have watched it several times. Its the usual story of someone playing about with genetics and creating super beasts that then escape creating havoc. If you like this type of film then you should love this. I recommend it but it wont be everyone's cup of tea.

A good film with plenty of action and blood shed. I recommend watching.