Primitive War (2025) Fathom Events/Sci-Fi-Action-Horror RT: 135 minutes No MPAA rating (strong graphic violence/gore and language throughout) Director: Luke Sparke Screenplay: Ethan Pettus and Luke Sparke Music: Frederik Wiedmann Cinematography: Wade Muller Release date: August 21, 2025 (US) Cast: Ryan Kwanten, Tricia Helfer, Nick Wechsler, Jeremy Piven, Anthony Ingruber, Ana Thu Nguyen, Aaron Glenane, Carlos Sanson, Albert Mwangi, Adolphus Waylee, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, Lincoln Lewis, Jake Ryan, Henry Nixon, Marcus Johnson, M.J. Kokolis, John Reynolds.
Rating: ***
I typically don’t go to Fathom Events. They’re not AMC A-List eligible and I’m not willing to plunk down $20 for the likes of Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey. I probably wouldn’t have seen Primitive War if not for my new movie buddy Chris who invited me to join him after we caught a late afternoon showing of Honey Don’t. When I heard what is was about, I thought why not. It sounded like it would be fun. It is. It’s loads of goofball fun.
Directed by Aussie filmmaker Luke Sparke (Bring Him to Me), Primitive War is a crazy mix of Platoon, Predator and Jurassic Park with hints of Apocalypse Now and Missing in Action thrown in. It’s topped off with a Russian villain right out of a Cold War-era James Bond movie. It’s every bit as wild as it sounds.
The action takes place in Vietnam circa 1968. After liberating a POW camp, Sgt. Ryan Baker (Kwanten, The Hurricane Heist) and his men (aka “The Vulture Squad”) are ordered to report to Col. Jericho (Piven, PCU) for a special assignment. Their mission (they have no choice in accepting it) is to locate a platoon of Green Berets who went missing during a mission. Baker and his men don’t have a lot to go on; all of the crucial details are classified and above their pay grade. Government spooks from an unnamed agency are there to oversee the goings-on. That’s never good.
Baker and his guys are dropped into an isolated jungle valley under the cover of darkness. It isn’t long before they discover that they’re dealing with more than Viet Cong. Imagine their shock when they see this part of the jungle is inhabited by dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts. So this is what Jericho wasn’t telling them. And this isn’t even the end of the story. There’s more!
There’s a villain behind this situation, an insane Soviet general hunkered down in a lair. He’s invented some kind of collider with world-ending capabilities. The US government would love to get their hands on it. So would a lot of people. That’s why it needs to be destroyed. And who better to do it than Sgt. Baker and his Vultures. They get help from Sophia (Helfer, Lucifer), a Russian paleontologist hiding in an abandoned research facility. She’s the one who clues the guys in on what’s happening. In return, they help her overcome her morphine addiction.
Sparke wears a lot of hats on Primitive War. In addition to directing, co-producing and co-writing the script, he’s also the editor, production designer and visual effects supervisor. I have to say it looks pretty good for a low-budget independent film made for far less than the average Hollywood movie. At a bargain price of $7.2M, it looks better than most of the DCEU movies. It’s obvious that the effects are CGI, but at least the movie doesn’t look like a video game.
Also, I love how Sparke clearly understands the genres to which he’s paying homage. He uses the CCR song “Fortunate Son” in an early establishing scene. They use that one in practically every Vietnam War movie. Later, when the platoon is lost, CCR’s “Run Through the Jungle” comes on. The only tune he misses in Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth”. Surely, Sparke could have fit it in somewhere.
Primitive War isn’t without its flaws. At 135 minutes, it’s longer than it needs to be. It drags in parts with scenes than run too long. The acting isn’t anything to write home about either. Piven chews up the scenery as the pseudo-tyrant Army colonel who keeps a tiger as a pet. Kwanten is okay as the soldier trying to cope with a past tragedy while running his outfit with a tight fist. His platoon is the usual collection of military types (e.g. the traumatized guy overdue for a Section 8 discharge, the drunk, the rookie and a couple of black guys). We don’t get to know anything more about them. Most of them are there to feed the dinosaurs and I don’t mean offering them peanuts. Helfer, sporting a convincing Russian accent, is the only character that gets any kind of development.
Primitive War is the exact kind of movie I would have made a beeline for in my teen years. I always went for the B-movies. I still do. This one is cool. It’s a dark, bloody take on the Jurassic films. Sparke doesn’t even try to make it kid friendly. Sure, the scenes between the male and female T-Rexes are sort of cute, but the creatures are really savage for the most part. There’s a lot of chomp-chomp action here. People are eviscerated, decapitated and torn in half by the beasts. That’s on top of all the war action (i.e. shooting, stabbing, slicing and being blown up). Let’s see Spielberg top that!
In short, I like Primitive War. It’s wild, it’s bonkers and best enjoyed with the brain shut off. That’s the way I like my B-movies. What about you?
P.S. Thanks again, Chris.
