It wasn't until I saw a recent spot that said the killer was named Gustave that I made a mental connection and realized it was a giant crocodile movie (the script was originally called Gustave and I read it early last year).

By the way, generally it was a fairly bad script. It had some interesting political undertones, but they are never really explored.

the killer isn't human

Rogue

Rogue's

Disney's giant crocodile movie

In the African nation of Burundi a British doctor is attacked and killed by a giant crocodile. Cut to an American newsroom: TIM (a successful news producer) is in trouble for a story he recently oversaw. As punishment, his boss, ROGER, wants to send him to Burundi with AVIVA (a beautiful young female reporter) to oversee a story on the capture of GUSTAVE, the legendary giant crocodile. Tim does not want to work on a fluff piece, but soon realizes that after his previous blunder he has no choice. Furthermore, because of Burundi’s close proximity to Rwanda, Tim hopes that he may be able to salvage a meaningful story. Along with their cameraman (STEVEN) and a renowned crocodile expert (MATT), Tim and Aviva begin their journey to Burundi.

Once they arrive in Africa, a local named HARRY aids Tim and his crew. Harry provides them with two guards and warns them to beware of LITTLE GUSTAVE, a powerful warlord who rules the area where they will be traveling. The crew begins their journey down the river to meet with DURAND, their Caucasian guide. Durand has a personal reason for tracking down Gustave – the giant beast bit the legs off of his wife. He keeps this a secret because Tim and his crew want to capture Gustave, while Durand’s sole mission to kill him.

Led by Durand, the crew moves towards the last spot that Gustave was seen. As they travel, Tim, Steven, and Aviva shoot background footage. Tim had assumed that Aviva was just one of Roger’s brainless bimbo’s, but spending time with her, he is surprised to learn that she is actually quite intelligent. The crew arrives at a village where a SHAMAN is performing a ceremony to honor two fishermen who were recently killed by Gustave. They notice bodies floating down river, the casualties of the continuing strife in Rwanda. Matt explains that the presence of human corpses in addition to the over harvesting of fish could explain why Gustave obtained a taste for blood.

JOJO, a small local boy soon joins the crew, offering to help them find Gustave. He worships America and is excited to work around people in the television industry. With the help of some hired hands, everyone makes their way through the jungle towards Gustave’s territory. Durand shows everyone a special concoction he created (made up of blood, urine, and pheromones) that is supposed to attract Gustave. Matt sets up a cage meant to trap Gustave and baits it with a live goat. Meanwhile, Steven sets up a night vision camera to capture the footage. They catch their first glimpse of Gustave and Matt is able to tag him with a tracking device, scaring the creature away in the process. It begins to rain heavily and everyone settles down for the night.

The next day, the goat is gone. The video footage is hard to decipher because of the heavy rain. Aviva is bitten by a snake, but it ultimately turns out to be harmless. Using a balloon, the crew is able to get incredible aerial footage of Gustave jumping out of the water, jaws grasping for the camera. After Gustave cuts the balloon line, the balloon starts to wander aimlessly, its signal being transported back to Steven’s laptop. Soon, the camera captures startling footage: a pair of men brutally murdering in cold blood the Shaman, his wife, and son. While talking with Aviva, Tim learns that Roger is actually gay and that Aviva isn’t his girlfriend, merely his cover. His attraction towards her grows.

In an attempt to attract Gustave, Aviva has put a scarecrow in the cage, propped up by a moving tripod. The scarecrow doesn’t seem to working, so in an attempt to help Jojo runs into the cage. Gustave immediately lunges pulling the cage under water. Durand tries to kill Gustave with a grenade, but he misses. Tim runs to rescue Jojo and after a close encounter with Gustave he succeeds. Meanwhile, back in the tent on of the guards has robbed Aviva and is moving towards her as if he is going to rape her. Suddenly, Gustave tears through the tent and snatches away the guard.

Once the group reassembles in the tent, they prepare to leave. But before they are able to, the other guard points his gun on them. He robs them and walks them over to the swamp in order to kill them. Just before the guard fires on Steve, Jojo shoots and kills the guard.

Back in the hut, everyone reassembles. Durand finally reveals his real motives, and by this point everyone agrees that killing Gustave may be their only way to escape. Before they know it, Gustave has managed to knock the supports out from underneath the hut, destroying it. After a valiant fight, Durand is killed, followed by Matt. Tim, Steven, Aviva, and Jojo cling to the remnants of the hut and huddle together for the night.

The next morning, a helicopter comes by in response to a distress call placed by Aviva the previous day. Just before the crew is able to reach the helicopter, one of Little Gustave’s henchmen, ATO, drives by firing his machine gun. The helicopter is forced to pull away. Tim, Steven, Aviva, and Jojo run for cover – stuck between Ato and Gustave. As they run, Steven is caught by a snare and turned upside down. Tim and Aviva quickly free him and they all run for cover in some nearby huts. Steven then realizes he dropped his camera and runs back to retrieve it. He proceeds to capture some amazing footage of Gustave before dropping his camera and being swallowed alive.

Tim is able to retrieve Steven’s tape, but, by now, Ato has burned down all of the huts, forcing Aviva, Tim, and Jojo into the open. Ato eventually gets the jump on Tim and is about to kill him before Aviva shoots and kills Ato. Seemingly out of nowhere, Harry arrives on a jeep. He was sent to rescue them after the helicopter failed. After Aviva, Tim, and Jojo enter the jeep, Harry makes his real motives clear: he is Little Gustave and he needs to get the tape that shows him killing the Shaman and his family. Tim tells Harry that he doesn’t have the tape, but he has a tracker that will lead them to it. He proceeds to show Harry the device that tracks Gustave’s location.

As the group travels to Gustave’s location they notice a group of baby crocodiles. Gustave is a female – and she just had babies. Harry becomes irritated with Tim as they followed the tracking device but have not found the tape. He is about to shoot and kill Tim and Aviva when Tim douses him in Durand’s special concoction. Gustave bursts forth and eats Harry as Tim, Aviva, and Jojo run for their lives. They make it to the jeep but Gustave smashes through the back windshield, his jaws unable to fully open. Tim tries to drive, but Gustave is weighing them down. He sprays Gustave with a fire extinguisher, forcing her out of the jeep. The trio escapes safely and they are soon on a plane back to America, video footage in hand.


COMMENTS:

Gustave is in many ways an average or even sub par genre film. What elevates it slightly above the standard creature film is the interesting subplot about civil unrest in Africa. When dealing with this side story, Gustave is at its strongest as it is creating genuine tension and interest on multiple levels. However, eventually, because it is never quite sure whether to be an old fashioned creature feature or a political commentary, Gustave remains somewhere in between – never exploring either situation to its fullest and ultimately becoming quite unsatisfying.

As for the adventure sequences, they lack the sheer visceral impact of good adventure films. Part of this can be attributed to the fact that many of the sequences are extremely derivative and lack the freshness needed to be truly exhilarating. In fact, entire sequences seem stolen from Jurassic Park and Deep Blue Sea. Additionally, the film’s pacing is quite bad. The sequences towards the beginning involving Tim and Roger take too long and don’t really set up the characters very well. This is another problem with the script, though it tries to set up back story’s for the characters, it never succeeds in creating anything but caricatures that are really no more than crocodile fodder. In an attempt to compensate and achieve some emotional response from the audience, the script actually manages to put both a child and a dog in danger at various points. Both of these are copouts and do not make up for the fact that with the exception of some of the points made about Rwanda, the film lacks any emotional resonance.

crocodile?!?!?

It appears so.

went out of their way to paint the movie as a supernatural thriller along the lines of The Others, Sixth Sense, What Lies Beneath, etc. But there was nothing like that in the movie at all, just a routine thriller. All the 'supernatural' scenes in the trailer were completely taken out of context.