|
diversions
Crocodile
Hunter movie is a head-on collision
By Ryan May
Daily Forty-Niner
Steve Irwin, the
ever-boisterous crocodile hunter, is making the transition
from the world of cable TV to the big screen in “The Crocodile
Hunter: Collision Course.”
A combination of documentary-style footage and would-be action
film, “Collision Course” has Irwin and wife, Terri, traveling
around Australia - portraying the same roles they do in the
Discovery Channel series - rescuing animals in danger.
On television, this is enough. But why would an audience
pay to see something they can see for free at home?
Clearly, this was the problem the film’s producers and director
attempted to tackle by weaving an international spy thriller
into the documentary footage.
When a high-tech piece of equipment from a destroyed satellite
falls to earth, competing U.S. government agencies descend
upon Australia to recover the tiny black box, containing images
taken from space that could change the power structure of
the entire world. The downed piece of equipment, the
size of a cantaloupe and shaped like a spinning top, is of
course swallowed by... a crocodile.
Sadly, these scenes have less creativity than the average
car commercial, with unmotivated and inconsistent characters
that alternate between hardened government agents and the
blundering burglars in “Home Alone.”
The Irwins could not have had less to do with the main action,
almost completely unrelated to and unaware of what is supposed
to be happening around them, an obvious flaw of cutting a
story into the pre-existing footage.
In fact, the Irwins were not involved in the spy storyline
for the first half of the film, leaving the viewer wondering
if they were to be included at all.
An attempt is made to fool the audience into believing the
Irwins and spy characters occupy the same space through the
use of overlapping sound effects, such as voice-over and gunshots.
The film reaches its worst moment when one of the spies looks
at a river through a pair of binoculars and tells his partner
the binoculars just picked up the Discovery Channel.
We are to assume he was looking at Steve and Terri as the
sound of their motorboat hums in the distance.
The different storylines are further (and glaringly) emphasized
by different aspect ratios, with the documentary footage formatted
in a narrower, TV-shaped format and the spy storyline shot
in widescreen. This only broadens the gap between the
two types of footage.
Steve and Terri hoped the film’s conservation theme would
be embraced, according to information from the film’s web
site. The message is indeed hard to miss as they encounter
various animals, including crocodiles, a bird-eating spider
and a king brown snake, each time advocating protection and
rebuffing the notion that such animals are monsters to be
feared.
Despite all its shortcomings, “Collision Course” has one irrefutable
strength: Steve’s trademark energy and charisma. At
the same time, this is the film’s biggest tragedy. As
someone who is almost always watchable, it is a shame he could
not have waited for a better script.
It is also a shame that a film centered on animal conservation
was not allowed to stand alone but instead was chopped up
with a lame and pandering side-story. And even though
this storyline is intended to be the central action, nothing
onscreen upstages the Crocodile Hunter.
|
|
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Search our site
DEPARTMENT
OF
JOURNALISM
ONLINE 49ER
DEPARTMENTS
ADVERTISING
ADMINISTRATION
DAILY
49ER ALUMNI
SUBSCRIPTION
SERVICE
GIVE
FEEDBACK
|
