Crawl
2/4
Starring: Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper
Rated R for Bloody Creature Violence, and Brief Language
A b-movie creature feature like "Crawl" depends on two things: a script that piles on unpredictable complications and a director who can keep the tension high. "Crawl" has neither. The script is lazy and while Aja can manage a few cheap shocks and some claustrophobia, that's all his limited talents will allow.
A category 5 hurricane is about to pound Florida. Hayley (Scodelario) is away at school and putting the storm out of her mind until her older sister Beth (Morfydd Clark) calls her about their father. She hasn't heard from him and is worried that he might try to ride out the storm. Hayley decides to check on him and finds that he's in the crawlspace under the house. And he's severely injured after a nasty run in with an alligator. Soon he and Hayley will be in the fight of their lives against the local gator population, all of whom would love to make them their next meal.
Alexander Aja was once the next wonder boy of the horror genre. To be frank, I have yet to see anything truly special about him. The only thing going for him is his utter frankness when it comes to violence and gore. But so what? Just because he's fearless doesn't mean he has the skills necessary to scare the living hell out of an audience. His resume doesn't inspire confidence: the overrated "High Tension," the inept "Mirrors," and the wretched remake of "The Hills Have Eyes." His best movie was "Piranha 3D," which was fun but unapologetically campy. "Crawl" does not make me reassess his abilities. He's competent but nothing special.
What really drags this movie down is the pacing, which was a problem in his other previous movies. A movie like "Crawl" must have a relentless energy that gets the characters from one crisis to the next. Rarely, if ever, should the audience be able to take a breath. Even at a hair under 90 minutes, "Crawl" feels padded. The set-up takes forever, and there is far too much downtime between the shocks. Even the gruesome gator attacks lack any real punch. Okay, there are one or two decent shocks, but that's it.
On the acting front, it's all about Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper. They're adequate for the film's purposes, but again, nothing special. Scodelario is much better here than she was in Cap'n Jack's latest adventure, playing the tough yet aloof Hayley. However, she lacks a great set of lungs, which is a must for a movie like this. Her screams leave a lot to be desired. Barry Pepper is a decent character actor and gives a bit of depth to his portrayal of her father, but the script is too feeble for anything to really touch the heart. Then again, his relationship with his daughter is of relatively little importance, which makes me wonder why Aja even bothered to give it more than token screen time. Ross Anderson has more success as a local cop.
"Crawl" isn't a very good movie, but it's certainly not a terrible one. It's a bloody b-movie whose only selling point is gore and cheap shocks. Yet it doesn't meet those limited goals because of Aja's lack of ability behind the camera. A movie like "Crawl" should be relatively easy to make competently, but Aja can't do it. This is strictly Netflix fare.
Starring: Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper
Rated R for Bloody Creature Violence, and Brief Language
A b-movie creature feature like "Crawl" depends on two things: a script that piles on unpredictable complications and a director who can keep the tension high. "Crawl" has neither. The script is lazy and while Aja can manage a few cheap shocks and some claustrophobia, that's all his limited talents will allow.
A category 5 hurricane is about to pound Florida. Hayley (Scodelario) is away at school and putting the storm out of her mind until her older sister Beth (Morfydd Clark) calls her about their father. She hasn't heard from him and is worried that he might try to ride out the storm. Hayley decides to check on him and finds that he's in the crawlspace under the house. And he's severely injured after a nasty run in with an alligator. Soon he and Hayley will be in the fight of their lives against the local gator population, all of whom would love to make them their next meal.
Alexander Aja was once the next wonder boy of the horror genre. To be frank, I have yet to see anything truly special about him. The only thing going for him is his utter frankness when it comes to violence and gore. But so what? Just because he's fearless doesn't mean he has the skills necessary to scare the living hell out of an audience. His resume doesn't inspire confidence: the overrated "High Tension," the inept "Mirrors," and the wretched remake of "The Hills Have Eyes." His best movie was "Piranha 3D," which was fun but unapologetically campy. "Crawl" does not make me reassess his abilities. He's competent but nothing special.
What really drags this movie down is the pacing, which was a problem in his other previous movies. A movie like "Crawl" must have a relentless energy that gets the characters from one crisis to the next. Rarely, if ever, should the audience be able to take a breath. Even at a hair under 90 minutes, "Crawl" feels padded. The set-up takes forever, and there is far too much downtime between the shocks. Even the gruesome gator attacks lack any real punch. Okay, there are one or two decent shocks, but that's it.
On the acting front, it's all about Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper. They're adequate for the film's purposes, but again, nothing special. Scodelario is much better here than she was in Cap'n Jack's latest adventure, playing the tough yet aloof Hayley. However, she lacks a great set of lungs, which is a must for a movie like this. Her screams leave a lot to be desired. Barry Pepper is a decent character actor and gives a bit of depth to his portrayal of her father, but the script is too feeble for anything to really touch the heart. Then again, his relationship with his daughter is of relatively little importance, which makes me wonder why Aja even bothered to give it more than token screen time. Ross Anderson has more success as a local cop.
"Crawl" isn't a very good movie, but it's certainly not a terrible one. It's a bloody b-movie whose only selling point is gore and cheap shocks. Yet it doesn't meet those limited goals because of Aja's lack of ability behind the camera. A movie like "Crawl" should be relatively easy to make competently, but Aja can't do it. This is strictly Netflix fare.
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