User reviews

The film concerns a teenager called Patrick (Kevin Zegers) whose parents are killed by a giant animal. He is extremely traumatized, long time ago his family and dog were devoured by carnivorous savage beasts, the Komodo dragons and with the particularity which their blood is venomous. Eggs were dumped on the coast of Emerald island in North Caroline. Nowadays, they have grown up in giant lizards terrorizing the island countryside. Patrick along with his therapist (Jill Henessy) return to the place where the large creatures roam for facing off the fears but their main enemy is lurking. They are helped by a valiant young (Billy Burke) to confront one of nature's most fearsome predators which savagely stalking its prey, the race human.

The dragons deliver the goods with hair-raising chills, terror, and full of scares when the creatures appear with outstanding special effects but they seem really alive. Apparition and attacks from Komod dragons are similar to "Jurassic Park's Velocirraptors" . Excellent FX by Phil Tippett studio with several successes (Starship Troopers I and II, League of extraordinary gentlemen, Blade II, Hellboy). Spectacular and atmospheric musical score by notorious composer John Debney (Sin City, Zathura, Passion of Christ). The motion picture was regularly directed by Michael Lantieri in his only film, he is a magnificent special effects supervisor and coordinator (Pirates of Caribbean, Lost World, Indiana Jones and the last Crusade). The film had two exploitation follow-ups: directed by Jim Wynorski ¨The curse of the Komodo¨with Tim Abell and ¨Komodo vs. Cobra with Michael Pare.

It's not really an awful movie, but it is pretty bad. At least, the plot and acting are pretty mediocre at best and downright terrible in places. The effects are surprisingly good for a movie this cheap. In fact, I was favourably impressed by them. There are one or two obviously bad animatronic moments, but on the whole the dragons look good to the eye.

This isn't a movie which will win anything, but it's reasonable fare for a rainy day when you're bored. Or a beer-night with friends. Don't expect Jurassic Park in terms of acting or effects, let alone story, and you might actually think this movie isn't half bad. No, wait....the story is still too lame. Ok, think of it as a tolerable film if you're desperate.

Watch out for the flaregun effect right at the end. I was quite surprised to see this effect in a low-budget flick that it stands out as a "Wow!" moment. One of the more original effects I've seen on film. In fact, the effects are what saves this movie from being a real turkey. Watch it for them.

A pretty ok movie with surprisingly good effects.

I wasnt expecting much from this movie, I was actually expecting it to be bad, I wanted to laugh at what could possibly be terrible effects but its amazingly competent in that astpect, the komodo dragons are well done, specially the practical effects but the cgi is also decently looking for the time. However, everything else falls flat, the acting is not very good, the script has issues, as well as the editing but I would say that its overall very watchable.

Something that I will give this movie is that at least the characters werent annoying, you dont see that in these kind of movies too often.

I know, I know, you're thinking not ANOTHER Komodo Dragon movie. But trust me, this one doesn't disappoint. Clearly it's not good, but that's what makes it great. The Giant Dragons actually looked decent, and the acting was not as bad everyone would think. The plot was crazy and not what a sane person would call realistic, but therein lies the beauty. What's not to love about an island full of crazy Komodo Dragons on a blood thirsty rampage? Nothing, that's what!

If you are looking for an intellectual thriller, I have a feeling Komodo is not your cup of tea. On the other hand if you like having a few drinks with friends while trashing a very watchable movie this one is right up your alley. Dare I say, Komodo-riffic? Yes, I think I do.

Komodo is about a boy whose family gets eaten by giant Komodo dragons. He then goes on to forget this and put into care. That is until an unfeasibly attractive female psychiatrist decides that the only way to 'cure' him is to return to the island where his parents (oh, and dog) disappeared to see if it will jog his memory.

Much of the first half of the film is the characters wandering round the island, waiting for the boy to remember that there's man-eating Komodo dragons here. Then, at last, the man-eating Komodo dragons attack and start eating everyone. At that point, the boy says, "Oh, by the way, there are man-eating Komodo dragons here. Didn't I mention it?" But it's kind of too late by then. Besides, you'll have guessed which characters will and won't survive the man-eating Komodo dragons within about 0.8 of a second of them opening their mouths.

Also, there are some henchmen on the island. Who are they henchmen for? Does it matter? They're there to get eaten. In fact, I think they bathed in barbecue sauce (or whatever man-eating Komodo dragons add to their human meals to spice them up a little) before they came. Add to it an unfeasibly attractive man on the island to add a bit of love interest and you get a film that a man-eating Komodo dragon could probably write himself (albeit with a greater depth of characterisation and better acted).

I like B-movies and I enjoy daft monster-munching films. However, there's just something pretty lame about this one. The man-eating Komodo dragons are mainly CGI and you can tell there's really a green-screen behind them every time you see them, the acting is below par even for a B-movie and you'll have to be pretty bored to really enjoy this.

Deep Rising, Shark Night, Piranha - all totally stupid monster movies and yet, at the same time, great fun. Sadly, Komodo can't be added to that list.

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15-foot long Komodo dragons elect to stalk the meagre pickings on an island off North Carolina (though filmed in Australia), rather than be starved into extinction. Holidaying family run afoul their insatiable appetite, save for the adolescent boy, who must return to the island to overcome the subsequent psychological trauma that has him on the verge of being committed to an asylum. Child psychologist (Jill Hennessey) encourages the boy to return along with his only remaining relative, and soon discovers perils that occupy the mind, often exist in the flesh.

While the visual effects are well crafted, and, dare it be said, virtually seamless in terms of the juxtaposition of CGI and animatronics, the narrative is laboured and slow-moving, and never really develops the identities of the characters. Hennessey is unconvincing, and the supporting cast are stereotypical and superficially drawn (Westaway's evil corporate crony is embarrassing courtesy of the rubbish dialogue and forced cockney accent), but still manage to somehow command an attempted tear-jerking epitaph after they're fatally mauled.

While the prospect of the Komodo dragon preying on humans isn't that far-fetched under any circumstances, the formula is routine, and the emphasis misplaced – the film attempts to build characters and invoke sympathy, when it should have concentrated on suspense via its already impressively manufactured title creatures. Sporadic thrills for the casual viewer, but too much bark and not enough bite for a genre fan.

I bought a KOMODO video for a penny and I regretted spending that much money and time on this sucky movie. Talk about lame! An idiot smuggler drops a couple of komodo eggs on an island in Florida and years later, the parents of a boy are killed by the now full-grown lizards. Then the boy, who's a traumatized teenager now, returns to the island with his counselor or something and all hell breaks lose. Terrible on all aspects: script, dialogue, music, action, logic, story, whatever!

This film is totally illogical. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief to a certain extent but in this case, the idea that a big bunch of komodo dragons living on an island without anyone knowing about it except for those hired goons and oil tycoon guy was ludicrous. Avoid!!!

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.

To me, "Komodo" is fun. Partly because I am a real sucker when it comes to movies like this and partly because this one in particular was assembled by a cast and crew composed of concerned individuals. It not only stands over, but towers above many of its kin (some of which are also about large, flesh-eating lizards from Indonesia) with higher production values, a mostly excellent cast, and more of the creative magic that we love the movies for. Now I admit it does not appeal to all, in fact very few, but I cannot deny the fact that I liked it. And I really don't see it as that much of a guilty pleasure.

Now the setup of how a colony of ten-foot-long Komodo dragon lizards end up on a North Carolina island is an eye-roller, but the rest of the plot's fabrications are welcoming in their effort and imagination. You see, the lizards massacre a vacationing family on the island, leaving only their teenage son (Kevin Zegers) alive. When he is suspected of having suffered a mental breakdown (having witnessed his parents being torn to shreds in a surprisingly effective opening sequence that relies on our imagination to fill in the gaps) he is escorted back to the island in an effort to discover the truth by his aunt (Nina Landis) and a devoted psychiatrist.

The shrink is played by the lovely and talented and underrated Jill Hennessy (of "Law & Order" fame) and it is her performance's conviction and the sure-minded dialogue she is given in the screenplay by Hans Bauer and Craig Mitchell that formulates one of the best elements of the movie. Does the picture go into a big, psychological character study of her or anybody else? No. But what it does is create some likable individuals whom we might actually end up caring about when they confront the lizards. There is also a very interesting subplot involving a biologist-turned-mercenary (very well-played by Billy Burke) who is suspected of murdering his wife when the real culprits are, guess who? There's also a very likable character, a trustworthy and noble boatman, also well-played, by Michael Edward-Stevens. With the exception of the snarling, nasal-voiced oil company executive, I found conviction and interesting dynamics (in the monster movie way) from these characters.

I think the key to "Komodo"'s success with me was that, unlike many of its fellow creature features, it was put together by a director who had a clue of what he was doing. Is not a coincidence that the movie has good special effects when its director, Michael Lantieri, was the special effects supervisor of pictures such as "Jurassic Park" and therefore had connections with fellow animator Phil Tippett's special effects studio? The titular Komodo lizards are very well-realized via a combination of life-sized animatronics and some very detailed computer graphics. Not only that, but the filmmakers take care in giving us the illusion that the big carnivores are really there by having them nudge, bump, and knock things around in the sets. There's a marvelous and exciting sequence where one of the big lizards shows up unexpectedly in the house, bursts through a pair of doors that two characters are hiding behind, and knocks over a table stacked with items using its head. The coordination and efficiency makes this sequence, and many others, work out extremely well.

Also worthy of praise is the imaginative, technically-rich camera work by David Burr (he makes great use of crane and dolly shots whereas many creature features resort to tired old hand-held and locked-down shots) and a wonderful, ear-worm musical score by Academy Award-nominee John Debney. They work well with Mr. Lantieri (who had not made a picture before this one and unfortunately not one since) and bump the movie's production values up several notches above what we would usually expect from a movie simply titled "Komodo." Now you do have your moments of loony dialogue and again, I really wished that they had eradicated the physical presence of the greedy oil exec and instantly implied him rather than show him, but overall the screenplay for "Komodo" also shows some promising creativity. The whole movie does. Even its detractors have to admit that the movie is a whole tier above its contemporaries and I think, for people going in with the right state of mind, will be very fun. I usually detest the monster pictures I find on the SyFy Channel, but this one was a delightful surprise.

While I wouldn't call Komodo a classic by any means it is the most fun direct-to-video movie I've stumbled across in some time. The direction is pretty good, the acting is tight, and the lizards look great, especially when you take into account how low the budget was on this film. While the story is a bit lacking, it still comes across as reasonably entertaining. I recommend Komodo for a weekend rental. It won't change your life but its a fun way to spend an hour or so. You might also want to check out the DVD edition which has some neat features.

19 years after some komodo dragon eggs were dumped on Emerald Isle, North Carolina (actually Queensland, Australia), a young boy (Kevin Zegers) barely escapes an attack that claims the lives of his parents and his dog. Months later, in an effort to trigger an emotional response from the traumatized boy, a shrink (Jill Hennessy) and an uptight aunt (Nina Landis) bring the boy back to the nearly-abandoned island and discover a dozen or so "fifteen" foot long komodo dragons, driven mad by starvation and eager to gobble up human flesh (hey, it's all that's available). A black ferryboat captain (an early victim), a scientist (used to explain all things komodo) and a gung-ho military type round out the cast of stock characters who've been around since the 1930's. I deduct more points for lack of any humorous touches, a half-assed (and very typical) cover-up subplot and several phony/sappy dramatic moments. The monsters, a mix of CGI and animatronics (some by Phil Tippett), are pretty good, though. Not surprisingly, the director and Tippett are two of the many masterminds behind the Oscar-winning FX in JURASSIC PARK, in which this is just a second-hand rehash.

First off let me say one thing... B horror and drama are the only two genres that really don't mix at all. That said, Komodo, one of the few films to actually try to combine those two genres, isn't all that bad of a movie. The special effects are in fact pretty impressive for a straight to video cheesefest, and the cinematography is definitely worth noting. The cinematographer somehow made Komodo look like a big budget studio piece, with some very inventive camera angles and my favorite... a LOT of movement. I don't know why... I'm just a fan of camera movement.

The acting, though it wasn't great, was decidedly above average for a film such as this. Jill Hennessy, star of TV's Law and Order, put forth a decent performance, but her... errr... assets seemed to have a lot more screen presence than she ever will. Kevin Zegers, one of the most talented actors of his generation, showed little of that talent here, sleep walking through his role with ease. The remainder of the supporting cast was average, with the exception of Patrick's grandmother (I think), who was just begging to be eaten. Remember that one moment in Deep Blue Sea when Samuel L Jackson got chomped up by the shark? Remember how you felt when that happened? Were you cheering? I thought so. That's exactly how you'll feel when she gets swallowed whole by the Komodo Dragon (cue cheesy Dum Dum Dum sound), and trust me, you'll be wondering why Jill Hennessy even bothers to try to save her. And thankfully it's in the film's first twenty minutes.

Well, all that said, the movie did have it's share of problems, and then some. First off, THERE WAS NO CLIMAX!

The biggest one however, was the movie's tremendous lack of focus. Many movies do have trouble focusing, but never has that been more evident than in Komodo. First off, the movie can't seem to decide whether it wants to be a Jurassic Park-esque sci fi horror flick, which it hints at in a few scenes, a Carnosaur-esque Jurassic Park rip off, which it also hints at, or a full fledged character study/drama, which I actually wish it had turned into, and also... yea, you guessed it... hints at that. It had the promise, starting off a subplot where Jill Hennessy's character has to crack through the veritable shell Kevin Zegers has created around himself, shielding him from reality. But, alas, that subplot was thrown out halfway through the movie, the main plot with the killer lizards taking over.

Secondly, the movie doesn't want to decide on who the main character is. It starts off with the focus on Kevin Zegers, shifting to Jill Hennessy, back to Zegers, then staying on the two for a while. Then, about an hour through, Zegers is completely forgotten about for over twenty minutes, not a second on screen during that time, until the end, where he's brought back for some reason. If you're gonna have a main character, you can't throw them off to the side?

I made my own Jurassic Park rip off (well, technically it was a spoof), a couple of years ago titled Catastrophe: Jurassic Park (With Cats), and I did the same thing. That was before I knew anything about filmmaking. Now that I do, I watch a Hollywood film like Komodo do the same thing and I'm blown away. Have these people even gone to film school?

Bottom line: Komodo is an entertaining B flick, but little else. But hey, if the considerably worse Bats made it to theaters, why didn't this?

***/*****

I don't understand why these movies where people investigate a mystery the audience already knows the truth behind are so common.

Are there komodo dragons on the island? Did they kill Patrick's parents? The movie is called Komodo; if you can't accurately guess the answer you scare me...

Aside from the mystery, Patrick behaves oddly at times although considering he's traumatised that's perhaps not terribly surprising. However he changes from being somewhat withdrawn to being intent on slaughtering any lizards in sight.

Unfortunately Patrick provides the only element making this any different from several similar movies & the pacing is dreadfully slow resulting in a film that isn't terribly entertaining.

The lizards were great, both animatronic and CGI. Now, if they only had something meaningful to do....

A previous reviewer listed all the "why" questions raised and left unanswered by this movie; I can't do better than that. The plot has so many loose ends, you could weave a nice sweater out of them. The cast is equally forgettable. In particular, Jill Hennessy is out of her depth as the psychiatrist, who oddly seems to know very little about medical practice. Kevin Zegers plays the teenage boy, whose facial expression never changes. (Zegers has carved himself a niche as "kid who always co-stars with animals with more personality then he has.")

I guess I was supposed to be cheering for the "good guys" and hoping they'd fry the lizards. Instead, I found myself rooting for the lizards. Hey folks -- they were just hungry! I felt sorry for the critters. First the kid, tries to trap them for no apparent reason; them we find out the oil company's poisoned their land and is trying to exterminate them; then the kid's psychiatrist and a biologist team up to fight the lizards... by halfway through, I was hoping they'd eat the oil company guys AND the main characters. I'm usually not that cynical, but this movie is that bad.

BTW, the producers need a basic geography lesson. The locale is identified in the movie as "Emerald Isle, North Carolina"; the DVD box calls it an island off the coast of Florida; the license plate on Victoria's license plate reads Chatham county, Georgia (Savannah); and the credits show that it was actually filmed in Queensland, Australia. This might seem nitpicky, but it's important -- seeing the rocky coastline ruins credibility for anyone who's familiar with the south Atlantic US coastline. (And the closing scenes include a clearly visible sign on a building: "Pacific Bank"! Couldn't they afford a few hundred dollars to change it for the day of shooting?!?)

I gave it four stars because Lantieri really did do a nice job with the special effects, and because the movie did inspire me to learn more about Komodo dragons. (Also, for those who are interested, Jill Hennessy does look kind of nice in a soaking wet tank top and tight pants with thong underwear showing.) But overall, they could've done a lot better with their money.

This movie could have been good, if only the scripts were better. The special effect is good, even though in reality the komodos are not as wild as described in the movie.

Kevin Zegers should have been given a chance to develop his character. It's really a waste of talent by not giving him more meaningful lines!

The director was obviously confused by the scripts, resulting in a bad movie!

"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.

The premise of the movie isn't very realistic. A counsellor brings her charge back to the island where he was living when his parents got eaten in an attempt to cure his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Of course she doesn't check if the bleedin' monsters are still on the dang island and his aunt gets eaten in front of him. The kid, who's been lying around staring at the ceiling since his folks became Komodo chow, suddenly morphs into Tarzan jr. and starts skewering Komodos. I feel for the poor kid. It's gonna take helluva lot of pills to get him back into society.

Not too much suspense here and the Komodos look fake on occasion, which leaves action sequences, of which there is sufficient, but it's not enough to float this movie. 3/10

A decent example of a B-horror movie. More believable than most with an real attempt to be scientifically credible. No great acting or writing but what do you expect from a movie about komodo dragons? At least the dragons look convincing enough. The sound is excellent too.

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.

I saw Komodo at my birthday party. My party guests and I loved it. We watched it like three times and thought it was really good. I know that a lot of people may not have liked it because it was a monster movie but we liked it because it was both entertaining and even though sometimes we knew what was going to happen we screamed because it was actually scary! Most movies that are classified as horror are not scary at all but this was!!! I recommend that you see it, but this is just my opinion and you probably have different taste in movies!

Good special effects, a nice mix between computer graphics and real size puppets. A movie for you like "Jurassic Park", "Anaconda" & "Deep Blue Sea". But there is a lack of a good ending witch drags the points down on this movie.

There are two distinct categories of modern killer-animal movies: those with a budget and those without a budget. Komodo obviously fell into the former, but failed to live up to its group's standards.

In order to make a successful monster-dragon (or other man-eating creature) movie, two or more of the following elements need to be in place:

1) It is assumed that high-budget movies will all have decent special effects. Komodo did indeed have some cool CG and animatronic dragons.

2) Throw in a rough, un-likeable protagonist so that you occasionally root for the monster. Anaconda did this quite well with John Voight's character. But there also need to be some characters who you don't want to be eaten. I guess that's where Komodo lacked.

3) Add a comic relief ... please. LL Cool J was great in Deep Blue Sea and the entire cast of Lake Placid fit this description perfectly.

4) Add character development. Hats off to Jurassic Park.

5) Please, oh please, come up with an original story. Do not, under any circumstance, have a 16 year old boy tear out a dragon's heart and paint his chest with blood. Ok? There is a line you must not cross here. We already saw and/or read Lord of the Flies.

6) Cast a high-salary movie star and kill him/her off in the first half of the movie. Rest in peace Sam Jackson.

Since Komodo barely met one of these standards (#1), it will forever be placed into that void where lie big budget failures like Supernova and End of Days.