Filled to overflowing with one red herring after another, Komodo was the sort of "seen-it-all-before" monster movie where the viewer could plainly foresee what was coming their way long before it actually happened.With a movie like Komodo, you can bet that (from start to finish) the viewer would never be asking themselves such things as - "Gee! I wonder what's going to happen next!?" Yes. Komodo (with its $15 million budget) had some pretty decent production values (even though some of the effects looked really fake) - But its story was nothing but pure monster-movie cliché right from the word "Go!". Believe me, Komodo's predictability actually got to the point of being a total embarrassment in no time flat.Implausibility also lost Komodo some very serious points. I mean, for one to actually believe that such a ferociously big creature as this one (with such a ravenous appetite) could go around completely unnoticed for as long as it did (20 years) the viewer would really have to be certified ding-a-ling.

The first time I saw Komodo was eight years ago, not long after it came out. I also saw Bats, Octopus, Crocodile, Python and about twenty others in the same three or four month period. I thought this was the worst. Having seen it again eight years later, my opinions have not greatly changed, but I think I know what the problem is. Quite frankly, Komodo is dull. All attempts to create an original story backfire, because of bad acting, no direction, and a lack of intelligent dialog. Komodo forgets that it is a mere monster flick, it shouldn't attempt to be anything more intelligent or dramatic when it is incapable. One never expects these films to be smart, but they should be entertaining at least. The komodos in this film may be lively and mobile but watching the film itself, is not much more captivating than watching real komodos in a zoo, where they do nothing but sleep and occasionally blink. But I've digressed; my point is, skip it.Set on the fictional Emerald Island, one night a moronic truck driver transporting a shipment of various animals dumps a piece of his cargo because it stinks; a crate of komodo eggs. Twenty years later, young Patrick Connally and his parents go on holiday to the island where they have a nice little house away from civilization. On the night of their arrival his family is killed. Patrick is taken to a hospital on the mainland, suffering from PTS. A pretty young psychiatrist comes and takes him back to the island where she hopes to find out what made the poor kid crack. She is about to find out. After a near fatal encounter with the dragons, Patrick runs away. With the help of a local biologist acting as a lizard hunter for the government the psychiatrist goes to find him.Michael Lantieri may be a one-time director, but he has an impressive career in visual effects, and won an Oscar with Stan Winston for Jurassic Park. The komodo effects here are surprisingly convincing, and the lizards are created with fair scientific accuracy. The komodo dragon (which now number only a few thousand) can grow to ten feet in length. They are among the smartest lizards, with keen eyesight and an even keener sense of smell. They have toxic saliva and they hunt in packs. I doubt however if they growl or snarl the way they do in the film.On these technical grounds, Komodo is superior to its b-movie contemporaries (including those I've named), but as a thriller it's dull as a doorknob. Unless you are a skilled filmmaker, there is a price to pay for choosing to shy away from the fun stereotypes of the genre. Komodo loses all potential to be a worthy watch for the monster fans.

Komodo starts on the 'Emerald Ise North Carolina' where some guy (Nique Needles) chucks a bunch of Komodo eggs on the side of the road, for no apparent reason as you would. Jump forward '19 Summers Later' & teenage boy Patrick Connally (Kevin Zegers) & his parents (Bruce Hughes & Jane Conroy) arrive home, that night they are attacked & killed by giant Komodo's. Back on the main land & ever since the unfortunate incident Patrick has been suffering post traumatic stress, as you would I suppose. The authorities want to put him in a mental hospital but his psychiatrist Victoria (Jill Hennessy) believes taking him back tot he island to confront his fears & inner demons will cure him, I'm not sure why but there you go. Patrick's aunt Annie (Nina Landis) also goes along for the ride, just to have a disposable character for the Komodo's to kill more than anything else. Once there they are attacked by the vicious Komodo's & together with two hunters, Oates (Billy Burke) & Denby (Paul Gleeson), must fight the Komodo's & find a way off the island or become lizard food!This Australian American co-production was directed by Micael Lantieri & is an OK nature on the rampage type film but nothing to get excited about. The script by Hans Bauer & Craig Mitchell treads the same worn path that these types of films do, the isolated location, the monster threat, the hero, the one who gets separated from the group & the other's insist on finding them, the rich uncaring businessmen who are only bothered about money & various unlikely coincidences (the only two vehicles on the island just happen to crash into each other?) that leave our group of survivors in peril. Komodo moves along at a fair pace although thinking about it now not much really happened, only three people die during the bulk of the film & it has relatively low ambitions as a spectacle. I don't understand why these Komodo's are so big, nothing is ever mentioned & in fact Oates (who also happens to be a biologist, a complete co incidence of course) claims they are just an endangered species. I've never know lizards that big. Also why does the oil company want to secretly kill these lizards? It's claimed because they don't want bad publicity which is fine but if their that concerned about publicity why not capture them & relocate them somewhere safe? Surely that would bring massive amounts of free positive publicity, I mean an oil company caring for the environment right? The character's are paper thin & you can spot the ones who are going to die a mile off.Director Lantieri brings a degree of competence to the film but not much else. It has no real style, tension or excitement. Having said that the Komodo CGI effects are surprisingly very good, these don't look too far behind the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (1993). The attack scenes aren't that great as the Komodo's walk so slowly, most people could probably out-walk them. Forget about any blood or gore, just a couple of Komodo bites.Technically Komodo is alright, with a budget of about $15,000,000 Australian Dollars it's a nice looking film & well made. The beautiful Australian locations are the films one real highlight. The acting was OK but nothing outstanding.Komodo is an OK time waster but it brings nothing new to the monster on the loose sub genre that Jurassic Park didn't over six years prior. Just about worth watching if your desperate or if there's nothing else on.

"Komodo" cries out with the anguished screams of wasted potential. Its flaws mostly smother its virtues. The acting is reasonably solid, with the exception of (among others) the film's useless villain, a tacked-on character whose accent which wanders clumsily from Cockney to Australian and back again. The special effects are the film's true strength, although in some scenes they seem poorly composited into the scene -- their ambient shadows are not colour-matched as well as they deserve to be.Essentially, the problem with the movie is its lousy script, and Michael Lantieri's somewhat mechanical, dispassionate efforts as a director. I'm glad this guy gave up directing after "Komodo", because visual effects are clearly his forte. As an aside, the locations are somewhat interesting for a Brisbane native -- I spotted the Cape Moreton lighthouse from Moreton Island, as well as the dodgy Brisbane suburb of Wynnum. The "street" scene was all too obviously an outdoor set, however. And what's a cop car with Georgia license plates doing in North Carolina? It wouldn't have jurisdiction there.Four stars out of ten. Pity it wasn't better.