Vietnam, 1968. A recon team known as 'Vulture Squad' is sent into a remote valley in search of a missing Green Beret platoon. There they discover dinosaurs, as well as a few other things. And what begins as a rescue mission, quickly takes on a more world-ending significance.
In a year when the first of a new batch of Jurassic World movies hits cinemas, you don't expect to see it sharing the limelight with another dinosaur movie. Well I don't, anyway. But that is exactly what happened in 2025. Despite being well received, Jurassic World: Rebirth fell victim to its own legacy, somewhat. Whereas a plucky, upstart indie movie about soldiers in Vietnam encountering dinosaurs, took the world by storm. Undoubtedly, because it did something a little bit different.
Based on the book of the same name by Ethan Pettus, Primitive War combines two genres that before now seemed pretty incompatible, and does it very well. Cue every Creedence song you can think of, as Hueys filled with M-16 totting GI's pass over a lost world of prehistoric critters of all shapes and sizes. The movie has been described as Jurassic Park meets Full Metal Jacket, but that feels more than a little reductive. Given that beyond the presence of dinosaurs, and soldiers fighting in Vietnam, Primitive War has little in common with those movies. If anything, Kong: Skull Island would be a more fitting comparison. Maybe with a sprinkling of Predator.
As much as Primitive War is this odd mix of dinosaur movie and war film, it's also an underdog story. In bringing the Vultures and their crazy mission from page to screen, director Luke Sparke finds just the right blend of 80's action movie - with extra helpings of cheese - along with all the bravado the US military could hope to muster, and every Vietnam war movie trope and cliché you can think of. Which, despite some at times rather hammy performances, works surprisingly well in this action/monster mash-up. The Vultures are expendable pawns, and as in the dark as the audience, which understandably makes them likeable. Maybe even a little relatable. But Sparke shoots their little misadventure as you would a monster movie, aiming for maximum tension and anticipation, so that we are right there with them as they encounter the newest inhabitants of this remote valley.
Now the "science" behind the presence of dinosaurs in the jungles of Vietnam during the war is a tad thin. In fact, the less you think about it, the better. Not that you will be thinking about it, because dinosaurs are an oddly welcome addition to this war movie. But as ridiculous as it all might be, it's not entirely unbelievable that such a project would have been put into motion during the Cold War, given all the ridiculous things that were actually tried by both eastern and western powers. As for the dinosaurs, themselves. Put simply, they look fantastic. We're not talking Jurassic World levels, but the dinosaurs do still look impressive. Like they are actually present in 1968. Also, enough has been done to differentiate both the way they look and sound from those that feature in that other dino franchise.
Moments of awe are intertwined with those of chaos and sheer terror, as the Vultures - along with a traumatised palaeontologist played by Tricia Helfer - not only attempt to survive, but put a stop to whatever it is that's bringing dinosaurs into the present day. The movie benefits from all the action of a war film, as well the carnage of a monster movie, often at the same time. Shooting at dinosaurs, rather than walking with them, if you know what I mean. A swarm of Utahraptors that continually hound the grunts as they battle their way through the valley are delightfully menacing, even though they sometimes seem a little too bulletproof. While a Tyrannosaurus Rex rampage is the perfect way to kick off an action-packed finale that quickly descends into delicious mayhem, as factions and species collide.
An ‘A’ grade ‘B’ movie in which seemingly incompatible genres combine perfectly. Primitive War sounds almost too ridiculous to work, but turns out to be a deliciously refreshing take on the dinosaur movie.
8/10
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