A young man is brought back by his psychologist to the remote island where his parents were killed years earlier. Unfortunately for them, and the biologist they meet there, the giant komodo dragons who killed the lad's folks are still around, and an oil company's evil actions are making the huge lizards angry...and hungry! With Kevin Zegers, Jill Hennessy. 90 min. Widescreen (Enhanced) Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital stereo; Subtitles: Spanish; audio commentary; biographies; filmographies; theatrical trailer; trivia; photo gallery; featurettes

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Having enjoyed ANACONDA I was expecting more of the same from KOMODO and more or less that's what you get. For a low budget flick it's cast more than come up to scratch, with some nicely judgd performances all round, and the script is competent enough for the movie to flow without hardly any cringe worthy dialogue sequences to speak of. The young teenager who revisits the island where his parents were brutally attacked and killed the beasts of the story, particularly impresses, especially as there's a neat twist near the end where his character seems to undergo an unexpected but effective transformation.

The direction is also top notch, with a nicely judged sense of pacing, boasting some brilliantly executed scare moments (along with fingernail chewing scenes of creepy moments before the attacks), and the special effects guys and gals deserve a huge pat on the back for producing some quite awesome looking Komodos. What's more, unlike ANACONDA (where the big snake moved too unrealistically during some CGI scenes), the Komodo's actions do hold a close match to their behaviour in the wild. The blending of animatronics and CGI is also impressive, so much so that you begin to even forget which is which.

It's a shame then, that just when the movie seems to be building towards a classic monster finale, it falls short and wraps up far too abruptly. It really does feel that the company ran out of money and that the director had to come up with a ham fisted end scene because he had no other choice. The last scene after the Komodo mayhem is particularly poor, and it does harm the film's lasting impression upon you.

Still, there's some great work beforehand, and I wouldn't hesitate in recommending this to any monster movie fan, or to anyone who doesn't mind a bit of fantasy entertainment.

The DVD itself boasts an impressive anamorphic widscreen print and the use of sound will have you jumping out of your seat (there's a choice of Dolby Suround 2.0 or Dolby Digital 5.1). There's also an audio commentary from the director (but not from the actors as stated on some sites), trailers, a fascinating real life facts of the Komodo text file, and two featurette making ofs (although with my copy these could not always be accessed successfully).

Highly recommended then, even if the ending falls short.

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:

Fun Movie!Aug 30, 2000
By NEO-CS- "Cyber Soldier"
I enjoyed Komodo, but these sort of movies appeal to me. It is a fun movie that is not meant to be taken too seriously. The special effects were top notch, and their were a few moments that made you want to jump out of your seat. The acting was adequate enough for a B-Movie.

Bottomline, Pop some popcorn, and sit back and watch this Fun little monster movie. If you enjoy movies such as Anaconda, Jurassic Park, Aliens, Deep Rising or Deep Blue Sea, you will probably enjoy this too.

7 of 8 found the following review helpful:

Cheesy Good Time With Some Nifty LizardsAug 13, 2000
By Colin Epstein
"Komodo" is an enjoyably silly, occasionally creepy thriller. The premise of a bunch of Komodo dragons (the world's largest lizards, and very nasty beasties in real life) living on an island off South Carolina is preposterous, and the script and acting never rise above the standard for this kind of thing, but the lizards are impressive and worth checking out for fans of movie monsters. It's basically an old-fashioned "giant animal" b-movie (a la "Them" or "Black Scorpion") with slightly more believable monsters, some nice effects work and a splash of gore here and there. Not a great movie by any means, but then it doesn't try to be. Have a few beers, chuckle along with the stiff dialogue, enjoy a scare or two, and cheer on the dragons! (For anyone interested in a fascinating take on the real Komodo dragons that manages to be both scary and quite funny, I heartily recommend the book "Last Chance to See" by Douglas Adams.)

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

Great CREATURE MOVIEJul 14, 2000
By OTNEE "fallini"
I saw Komodo at the Toronto film festival and have been keen on seeing it again. Now with the DVD I will get my wish. This is a scary, fun film with awesome special effects. Pop some corn, sit back and enjoy the ride. Definately worth the viewing.

9 of 12 found the following review helpful:

"Their Drool Is A Culture Medium!"Oct 14, 2004
By Robert I. Hedges
This movie is full of cliches and full of itself, although the premise is no stupider than "Jurassic Park" with an aging hippie in a van dropping smelly eggs in the middle of nowhere. Of course several years later the eggs have hatched and this island with apparently one vacation home and a huge oil refinery on it are covered with these things. The dragons eat Kevin Zegers' parents and dog, and he is dutifully traumatized. Here is my first warning: get ready for about 45 minutes of Zegers staring blankly into space. A good looking psychologist (Jill Hennessy) and a female relative of Zegers (whose relationship to the boy is a bit unclear) take the kid back to the island under some ridiculous theory of mental therapy. Needless to say, the komodos are still there and chase everyone all over the place for a while, and get a couple of snacks along the way.

The oil company, which is evil of course, plots to get rid of the visitors. There are subplots involving a wrongly accused biologist, komodo saliva (the movie has excellent dragon drool effects), and evil Australians. Interestingly, despite the presence of two attractive leading characters, there is no romance in the film.

The plot is fairly implausible, but despite that and other shortcomings (like the extremely loud, annoying, and omnipresent musical score) there are good points about "Komodo." By far the best thing going for the movie are very good computer generated images of the dragons themselves. The dragons are actually a combination of hand puppets, robots, life size puppets, and computer generated images. A couple of the puppet shots look a bit hokey, but in general the lizards look excellent. My favorite computer generated lizard shot was the komodo trying to get into the back of the moving Volvo station wagon. Fans of creature films will like this movie for the effects if for nothing else. The acting isn't Oscar caliber, but it is consistent and generally well done (except the hyper over-the-top evil Australian oil executive) with no major complaints. I will complain about the script, though. There are moments of good dialogue in the film, but then there are passages that are so stiff and cliche ridden as to make even a B-movie connoisseur blush, like the "culture medium" quote of my title, a passage which got more convoluted (and full of improperly used scientific terms) as the scene progressed, although Billy Burke did a decent job throughout the film, even with lines this silly.

There are a few extras, such as a "Making of Komodo" short, which accounts for a one star deduction in my rating. The Director, Michael Lantieri (a special effects wizard) seems like a nice guy with a good grasp of filmmaking, but the Producers seem really self-important and pompous. First, Executive Producer Devesh Chetty makes the assertion that the film is not a creature feature, but is a sophisticated psychological thriller, and then Producer Tony Ludwig has the nerve to say "It's probably close to what Hitchcock had always liked to do." Uh, no. It is not at all what Hitchcock ever did or aspired to do. Get real.

There is another documentary on komodos and on the computer generation process (called "Maximum Fear") which was fairly interesting. Also included is a photo gallery, cast biographies, a game of some sort (which I did not look at), a trivia game, and a "Komodo Facts" section. In other words, there are a lot of extras for a B-movie DVD.

Although this movie is totally implausible (komodos don't live in South Carolina, and most biologists don't know how to fly a helicopter) and has a very uneven script the actors are generally good, and for fans of monster movies, it is decent, mindless entertainment. I would have given the film four stars without the self-important commentary from the Producers in the extras.

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