<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>

Directed by Alexandre Aja. Starring Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper, Morfydd Clark, Ross Anderson

Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes

You can pretty much tell from the trailer how bad this film is going to be. What the critics on Rotten Tomatoes were thinking by giving it a good rating, I have no idea. One of THE worst films I’ve ever seen. 

Now if you want a better ‘scary creature in the wild attacking humans’ movie then watch the recently released 47 Meters Down Uncaged. Far superior in direction, editing, acting and thrills.

It’s hurricane season in Florida (also in real life) and young swimmer Haley (Kaya Scodelario) goes to check up on her estranged dad (Barry Pepper) who may be trapped by the floodwaters. She finds him in the basement where’s he’s been doing something, and an alligator pops out to get ‘em. And that’s about it. They get bitten, limbs are torn off, but they still manage to swim around and climb ladders. So much for a bit of realism.

Interspersed in this is some very hammy and cliched dialogue about being an ‘apex predator’ and doing her best. Very rarely are he championship swimming skills utilised during the film. Anyone else trying to rescue them are promptly devoured.

The filmmakers have thrown in a little doggie to make things a bit more nail-biting for people who don’t want to see a dog being gored by a gator. Don’t worry, she survives a lot better than the dumb humans in the film.

What’s worse than the terrible CGI is the weak script that has you zoning out as the father-daughter duo try to lob motivational lines across the rising water to each other. It’s pathetic. There’s no finesse to the film, which robs it of any ability to instill fear. It goes through the paces without a single twist. And there’s no explanation for the multitude of gators swimming about except for the totally unsaid climate change causing the hurricane.

I have to say that this is by far one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. I watched a foreign film called Yomeddine the next day about a leper and an orphan that evoked more emotion, thrill and joy than Crawl did. Go watch 47 Meters Down Uncaged instead.