My quick rating – 6.2/10. If you ever watched Apocalypse Now and thought, “Yeah, this is cool, but what if we added a T-Rex?” Congratulations, Primitive War is your oddly specific dream flick come to life.
Set during the Vietnam War, the film follows a recon unit tasked with investigating the disappearance of an entire platoon in an isolated jungle valley. Standard war-movie setup, until the unexpected happens. And by “unexpected,” I mean prehistoric dinosaurs crashing military ops like they were late to Jurassic Woodstock.
The movie wastes no time showing its hand. We get two opening sequences: first, a gritty firefight abruptly interrupted by a dinosaur attack, followed by a familiar ambush on a Vietnamese village. Enter mysterious officer Jericho (Jeremy Piven), who swoops in and whisks our soldiers off to their real mission: figure out why Vietnam suddenly turned into Cretaceous Park.
Now, let’s address the dino in the room — that first attack scene looks pretty cheap. Hokey, rubbery, straight-to-TV-style effects. But, somehow, it’s a fake-out. The CGI drastically improves afterward, blending surprisingly well with the practical effects. The close-up shots have a satisfyingly tactile quality, like they actually built dinosaur heads to chomp on stuntmen. Speaking of chomping — the sound design for the T-Rex bite is hilariously over-the-top in the best way. It’s less “natural predator kill” and more “metal trash compactor devouring watermelons.”
Because no war movie can resist dragging in Cold War conspiracies, the Russians are involved, naturally. And the dinosaurs? They’ve leaned into the bird-like aesthetic — feathers, talon swagger, the whole prehistoric-chicken package. The gore is plentiful and creatively staged, with the dinos feasting on unlucky soldiers like it’s an all-you-can-eat grunt buffet. These human body triscuits being tossed around is where the horror comes in.
One genuinely clever touch: the T-Rexes aren’t just random monsters — they’re parents. Disturbing their nest? Big mistake. Turns out military strategy doesn’t translate well to “angry dinosaur mom”. And accidentally separating the parents spells doom for all the bipedals roaming the jungle.
The tone walks a wild tightrope between horror, action, sci-fi, and pure pulp fantasy. Sometimes it’s intense. Sometimes it’s ridiculous. Often it’s both at once. And you know what? It works. This isn’t some grimdark war epic; it’s a creature feature with M16s and emotional baggage.
Don’t miss the credits, either — they treat you to doctored archival war footage featuring dinosaurs stomping through history like they were always there. Honestly, I must’ve slept through this part of the curriculum in high school.
Primitive War isn’t perfect, but it absolutely knows what it is — a genre mashup that never apologizes for how gloriously absurd its premise is. If you’re in the mood for soldiers vs. sauropods with a straight-enough face to sell the chaos, enlist immediately. The only drawback may be that it does overstay its welcome at 133 minutes.
