Crawl 100% 0n RT

It's only got 5 reviews on RT. Whatever happens, I'm still going to see it.

I was wondering based on how many reviews when I saw your thread title.

I love creature features so will probably see this.

One question: Can I please get the armor buffs Scodelario and Pepper have in this movie?


Fairly fun time, kinda cringey dialogue and I think Pepper and Scodelario were better at grunting and being in pain than selling a rekindled relationship, but a bit of a summer surprise. Aja really nails the feeling of being in the shit during a category 5 (not that I've ever been in one, but I imagine it would be like this, minus---hopefully, the gators if I was unfortunate enough to be in one).

I went in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Decent tense and intense thrill ride.

Same

Crawl is decent—not bad. It is a lightweight film, unsurprisingly, but it maximizes its simple premise and avoids the needlessly elaborate nature of many horror movies. It is well-edited and nicely lit and shot with a few striking compositions, especially ones that emphasize contrasts. Most notable is director Alexandre Aja's use of shot-reverse shots—or their absence, meaning that the viewer sees something from a pseudo-subjective perspective—a sort of phantom subjective shot—only with no reverse shot from the victim's perspective. Thus the viewer effectively assumes the potential perspective of a lurking alligator, only without the certainty of that identity.

Of course, this tactic is commonplace in stalker and horror films, but Aja executes it efficiently. His only real stumble occurs during a scene in the middle of the movie where the father and daughter digress into a sentimental, Perfect Storm-type exchange about their lives and familial relationships, dialogue that briefly alters the film's tone. Worse, the father ends the exchange by blurting out, "We can defeat these pea-brained lizard shits," which creates the impression of an unintentional, Snakes On a Plane-style parody. Indeed, on a couple of occasions, the father's commando-type dialogue is too blatant and cartoonish for the movie's ostensibly serious tone, although Crawl's delightful use of during the closing credits might suggest that the movie was always a bit of a joke.

Overall, though, the film proper is at its best when it sticks to nuts-and-bolts suspense and horror, emphasizing spatial dynamics and the instinctive calculations made by both the humans and the alligators. And, for the most part, Crawl does not stray from those aspects. Meanwhile, the heavy use of CGI effectively enough replicates the desired environment and predators without sacrificing too much grit. Of course, no matter how realistic CGI has become, there is invariably some sacrifice in realism, especially when our familiar planet and its critters are concerned. But it is acceptable here, and Crawl satisfies its narrow ambitions.