Primitive War' Review: A Fist-pumping Action Flick With a Message, "Don’t Go Into the Jungle"
- Shauna Bushe
- Oct 10, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 28, 2025
By Shauna Bushe - October 10, 2025
Director Luke Spark’s macabre adaptation of Ethan Pettus’s novel is set in 1968 Vietnam and centres around the “Vulture Squad”, who are tasked with venturing into the deep jungle to carry out a search and rescue mission. Events soon take an unnatural turn when they encounter a threat more ancient and terrifying than they could’ve ever imagined. Whilst the final product is rough around the edges, fortunately, Primitive War is a creatively audacious horror-action-hybrid that embraces its bold roots.
What is 'Primitive War' about?
We’re first introduced to the Vulture Squad led by Sargant Baker (Ryan Kwantan, True Blood) and his misfit team Eli Taylor (Nick Wechsler), Gerald Keyes (Anthony Ingruber), Logan Stovall (Aaron Glenane), Miller (Albert Mwangi), Xavier (Adolph Waylee) and rookie Leon Verne (Carlos Sanson Jr.) who are reassigned by mean spirited Colonel Jericho (Jeremy Pivon) to venture into the jungle and complete a search and rescue mission: locate and bring back the missing Green Beret Platoon – the platoon we happened see ambushed and killed by unknown creatures at the beginning. It all seems straightforward until Colonel Jericho claims all intelligence is classified. The team heads out anyway, completely unaware of the true nature of their expedition.
Once the Vulture Squad lands, they pick up the trail of the lost Platoon and discover strange markings on the ground, such as inexplicably large footprints and unknown animal feathers. Further into their mission, they are ambushed by highly intelligent, aggressive creatures that revel themselves to be dinosaurs. They fight them off but find themselves separated and hunted down by even bigger predators. Baker and Leon are found and saved by Soviet Scientist Sofia, who was abandoned and, through her isolation, became addicted to morphine. Realising this is her only chance to escape, through her disillusioned state, she reveals the truth: the origin of the dinosaurs is revealed to be because of General Grigory Borodin, his secret experimental particle collider malfunctioned, opening a wormhole, transporting hundreds of dinosaurs into the modern world. Now running out of options, she needs the Vultures' help to stop the general from committing complete global extinction. Simultaneously, the other members of the Vulture Squad try to reunite with their missing team members, whilst evading the primeval monsters as well as other human enemies.
Meet the Vulture Squad
You spend a lot of time sitting with the Vulture Squad. Their narratives, internal struggles, and compassion for one another give a heavy degree of backstory and psychological depth. Baker is a determined leader, mission-oriented, but his brothers are his sole focus. Xavier is very philosophical and contemplates the nature of war. Leone, the rookie who matures rather quickly after witnessing so much horror. Eli, the group's loudmouth but incredibly loyal. Charlie, noted for suffering past addictions but always shows up for his team. Keyes, the glue whose heroic sacrifice is felt significantly, and Logan, who also sacrifices himself after the loss of his best friend, are too much to bear. The development of each character is well thought out, making their fates all that more meaningful.
Apocalypse now meets Jurassic Park?
Primitive War is a B grade blockbuster that doesn’t need a blockbuster budget to make a splash. Rejected by multiple Hollywood Studios for being too similar to the Jurassic World franchise, Sparke refused to give up on his passion project and decided to fund independently with a budget of around 7 million. With Ethan on the creative team, the pair gained a strong audience reaction despite Hollywood’s earlier scepticism.
Blending military suspense with creature feature elements, Primitive War is bloody and unapologetically fun. The unique combination draws parallels between the brutal reality of war and viciousness of dinosaurs, enhancing the film from feeling borderline travesty to a tough action flick with a lot of heart. There’s plenty of carnage, gore, explosions and chase scenes to pad out the lengthy run time – that being said, the 2 hours and 15 minutes duration can feel overly prolonged. Losing substance and becoming repetitive in some parts, but the characters and menacing monsters do a great job help at keeping you engaged until the end.
Finally, should you watch 'Primitive War'?
The landscaping is vast and deadly, with each corner lurking hungry predators. The score is funky, bringing an 80’s Predator vibe. Overall, Primitive War has a great atmosphere, and the group of lawless characters and prominent threats will keep you invested. It takes a minute to steady its feet, stumbling in a few areas, but the unhinged chaos is fully charged and has a great time not taking itself too seriously. If you love firepower, gore, dinosaurs with a bad attitude, and a solid soundtrack, this is definitely a film you should see.
The film had a limited theatrical release in the US on August 21, 2025, and was released on Video on Demand (VOD) on October 3, 2025
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