Movie Digest
A filming crew, led by ex-soldier Cao Yue, was working on a TV reality show about survival on a deserted island. When the crew was filming an action monster movie on a barren isolated island, the explosives they let off for special effects awakened a real long-dormant gigantic deadly mutant lizard creature. Along the way, they encounter tidal waves of inserts, battle hermit crabs, and fight to the death against the old huge lizard, the actual dragon.
The Feel-Good Part
The stunts in this film’s action scenes, particularly those performed by some of the fierce ladies, are completely unrealistic and bizarre. The entire film moves at a breakneck speed. When the creature awakens, there’s no more lurking about; instead, it charges their base camp right out of the gate, letting everyone know it’s for real. Cue the screaming and running. And we’re only at 15 minutes in. After that, the remaining hour and 15 minutes are packed with loads of fantastic creature action set pieces, including a midway twist with another enormous mutant creature – a deadly giant snake!
The Disappointing Factor
The movie appeared to be a low-budget production with mediocre CGI. They’ve taken the basic concept from that film and replaced the drug cartels with a slew of kaiju and other terrifying creatures.
In-Depth Analysis
Varanus Priscus was a Pleistocene-era large monitor lizard that thrived in Australia. However, according to the film Varanus Priscus, they are not only not extinct, but they are also far larger than experts believed, as a couple of downed WWII airmen discover in the prologue. Seventy years later, a film crew has landed on the island to shoot a monster movie. Their film gains a new star in the form of The Lizard King when their explosives awaken the sleeping giant. The plot then shifts to how the crewmates manage to escape the terrible gigantic lizard that has taken up residence on the abandoned island.
Star Power
Cao Yue’s role as an Ex-soldier was the main highlight of the show and how impressively he carried out the character as shown in the movie.
Overall Opinion
The film has a pretty good plot on how the crew survives the monster. The CG effects and the motion tracks of the cast were very impressive and felt very realistic throughout the movie. Varanus Priscus is worth one try. Now Streaming Online.
