Rating:  -
I must say that I didn't have high expectations for this movie. The first red flag was that Anchor Bay distributed this movie on DVD. God bless Anchor Bay, they release (and re-release) some of the oddest and off the cuff movies out there. Now many times odd and off the cuff can also be cheesy and corny. The second red flag is this movie was made for the Sci-Fi Channel, equating it to a direct to video movie without the bad language and nudity. Yet this movie ended up being pretty good, for what it was, cheesy and corny.
With this taken into consideration, let's enter "Raptor Island". This movie made in 2004 stars Lorenzo Lamas (in every B movie in l990s and television show Renegade) and Steven Bauer (Scarface). Well the plot is very simple, even though the movie could have been ten minutes shorter. Lorenzo Lamas is leading a Special Forces team to capture Steven Bauer and crew. The latter is a terrorist who is dealing with illegal weapons (sadly he doesn't have that much screen time). Well this chase lands the terrorists and the SF team on an island, where raptors live. To add to the mix is an undercover C.I.A. agent played by Hayley DuMond (cute) and a rouge tyrannosaurus-rex. Oh and just my personal observation, none of the characters seemed too shocked that there were prehistoric creatures living on this island.
As noted prior this is a made for TV movie, so no nudity or really bad language. However that didn't bother me, this movie was pretty much non-stop action in the sense that something was always going on. As for the dialogue, I must confess that some of it made me laugh very hard. For instance, there is a scene where Lorenzo says "Blood doesn't lie". That phrase might not make much sense in this review, but the way it is delivered in the film, HILARIAOUS!!!
The raptors themselves (as well as airplanes and boats) look like they were rejects from a Disney-Pixar movie and/or taken off a bad Playstation game. In the case of "Raptor Island" very bad special effects equals very good viewing. There are many dubious and questionable situations and character flaws. Consequently if you can believe that raptors can walk around in modern times and eat people then you should check all realism at the door.
The DVD provides a crisp picture with good sound and a chapter selection. The only special feature is a preview for "The Man with the Screaming Brain" with Bruce Campbell, not a bad movie. Overall "Raptor Island" is a low budget flick that is so cheesy that it is great. This movie would be the perfect solution for a rainy afternoon. God Bless Anchor Bay and bad CGI raptors!
Rating:  -
This is one of those movies that is so bad that it can be entertaining. It has unbelievably bad continuity, plot, acting, characters, and all that "other stuff" that makes a movie good. There are some really interesting effects and dinosaurs, but it is used so horribly that at times it seems almost cartoonish.
I will attempt to summarize the movie: special forces are given the mission of rescuing UN - never mind all of that - the good guys end up fighting the bad guys while trapped on a cold, tropical, super-radioactive island, full of dinosaurs, especially raptors, in Chinese territory.
A lot of dinosaurs get shot, how I'm not sure. Through the entire movie the audience is left wondering if they were all going to accidentally shoot themselves. The guns are used as bullet sprayers, the guns are endlessly cocked, ninety-some percent of the bullets hit anything but a dinosaur, and I don't think that one dinosaur is shot when it actually comes on the scene (they have to wait for the dinosaurs to eat someone first, or something).
In the movie, none of the characters can do these things: swim, move out of harm's way, aim a gun, use their grenades, duck or hide (or otherwise take cover when necessary), tell another character critical information (at least not when they need it), etc. The bad guy is indestructible, even though everything bad seems to happen to him (wounded, irradiated, trapped with dinosaurs, lava flows, chased by special forces, etc). The dinosaurs are pretty indestructible too, even coming back to life sometimes.
Nothing in the plot makes sense. I dare you to try to make sense out of it. Overall there is a story there that sort of comes together (which I summarized earlier). Not sure where they got all that plutonium, everything is literally more radioactive than Chernobyl. Do not look for continuity, it is always missing in critical areas. My favorite part is the cartoonish helicopter. From the inside looking out, it is always "a cloudy, stormy sea at night". This is true even if from the outside they are flying during the day, or over the island, or there are no clouds in the sky and the water is perfectly still along the shore.
The most disturbing part is that a lot of the actors are literally on drugs (obviously the person putting the helicopter scenes together was). Nearly all of the guys on the ship, including the helicopter pilot, have dilated eyes, slur their lines, waver, struggling to stand and to say their lines at the same time. Not sure, but I think that sometimes they are wearing lipstick. Also, the characters act as if they are on drugs. They make irrational decisions, forget all their training, don't notice things like dinosaurs or terrorists running around them, and more than one of them decides to become dinosaur food for no apparent reason.
Overall I would have to say that this is the most entertaining "SciFi Presents" movie that I have ever seen. These same scene settings can be seen in nearly all of their movies. Instead of Russia, Europe, or wherever, this time they are supposed to be in Chinese territory - funny how it all looks like Bulgaria. Not sure how I survived watching this movie, but I should get a medal for it or something.
Rating:  -
The film is what you would expect from the Sci-Fi Channel. Short and chezzy. sure its got cool dinosaurs on a rampage but it also has horrid characters supposed to be terrorists that act like high school jocks. Lorenzo lamas is the only decent acting talent in the film and his friend the scientist actsa like a scarred teenager throughout the film. but the FX are good for the raptors and you can actually see the bullets hit them.
Rating: -
I thought this movie was entertaining, sure, there was a lot of places that needed improvement, but not all movies can be big budget with top knotch people and equipment. Acting suffered some, but I still enjoyed it.
Rating:  -
This DVD is more of a comedy for adults. It is very weak in the filming. For example, the opening scene of an airplane flying, looks like someone took a toy plane and swung it from a string and rocked it back and forth. From that point on, it was fun to see how amaturish the film was. Probably should have returned it.
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