Brief Story Line
Sistine (Madison Davenport - It's What's Inside, Reprisal TV series etc) and her best friend Hannah (Olivia Bernstone - Fighting With My Family etc) were having a holiday trip in New Orleans. They later joined a tour on the swamp to see alligators using the boat captained by Captain Rodrigo (Michel Curiel). Along with Sistine and Hannah, there were also other people who joined on the tour like the family of Sally (Samantha Coughlan - Arcadian etc) with her father Tim (Jim Meskimen - War of the Worlds 2025 etc) and her teenaged son Mikey (River Codack - Happy Face TV series etc) and businesswoman Dionne (Tracey Bonner - Sweet Magnolias TV series etc).
During the tour, they were planning to see the biggest alligator in the swamp but their boat was somehow attacked by a giant Hippo who was very territorial. As they were stuck on the location off the standard tour course, the group had to rely on Rodrigo's boss Walker (Joaquim de Almeida - Warrior Nun TV series, Roadhouse 2024 remake etc) to find and save them before the Hippo killed everyone.
So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Well that was surprisingly quite fun. I am not sure why but this year there have been plenty of survival drama/thriller movies in the cinemas and also on streaming service with most common animals were sharks, followed by snakes and even whale & monsters. Anyway the reason why I was interested with this one was the wild animal in focus was a hippo which funnily enough, my wife just showed a short video of them destroying large and hard fruits using their mouths few days before. So it felt like a sign that we should give it a try.
This movie had a pretty standard story but somehow the people were quite interesting to see despite having little background on them. Their behavior were quite natural for a group of tourists and there was even one annoying person who was the worst and we hoped to be the first victim. Now although the hippo was quite terrifying and the special effects were pretty well done, after a little over one hour the movie's intensity somehow felt reduced. It was not as suspenseful as earlier and I think it was also missing a bit on one of the character's fate (not clearly shown). It has an ending that did not make real splash but still OK enough.
The cast in general were so so. They were not awesome but not that awful either. There were no other support cast aside from the names I mentioned above. And other than Madison Davenport & Joaquim de Almeida, none of the rest looked familiar to me. This movie was written and directed by James Nunn whom I remembered clearly because of its odd resemblance with the name of famous Hollywood director. Nunn's previous film Wildcat was something that I did not like, but this one was certainly more enjoyable. At least critics did not trashed this one as it still got mixed ratings even though audience did not exactly embrace it.
For a movie of such premise, this one did not really focus on the dramatic side but more on the thrill. Except for the part relating to family of Sally, there was nothing that truly excelled on the emotional side. It also only had duration of 93 minutes including closing credits without mid or post end credit scene. Even though my wife and I thought this one was not bad, I do believe it is still OK enough to watch via streaming and not necessarily a must in the cinema. Besides, it was already released in the US since June and I think it will not take long before it's available via the standard streaming service provider. So if you are fan of survival thriller movie, this one is not bad and you can still enjoy it. But if you prefer survival drama with great acting and story telling, then this might not fully satisfy you.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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