Bullet Points: Crawl
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve come face to face with a hungry alligator I would have exactly zero dollars. You probably thought I was going to make some claim that I’ve nearly been eaten on multiple occasions but the truth of the matter is that I don’t put myself in situations where a damned alligator could eat my ass. I’ve seen them from a distance many times but that is exactly where I like to keep them… At a distance.
Synopsis: A young woman, while attempting to save her father during a category 5 hurricane, finds herself trapped in a flooding house and must fight for her life against alligators.
- Family drama: Most families have their fair share of drama and this one is no different. Haley (Kaya Scodelario) and her big sister Beth (Morfydd Clark) haven’t heard from their dad in quite a while. It’s especially concerning at the moment because a hurricane is making its way into the Florida area where he lives and he’s not answering his phone. That means it’s up to Haley to go check in on old pop to see what is happening.
- Crawl-space: A good wandering around the house means that Haley finds her dad knocked out and bleeding in the crawlspace under the house. Surprise! There’s also a big ass alligator in there! She does a pretty great job of dragging his lifeless body out of harms way while getting her leg chomped on, but he finally wakes up when all the heavy lifting if through. And guess what? It’s Barry Pepper!
- Stop biting me bro: Getting attacked, bitten, eaten, dragged to the depths of the murky water, and any other horrible thing that gators do to others is about as bad as it gets in terms of losing your life. Shoot me before that happens. Haley and her dad (let’s just call him Barry Pepper) spend a majority of the film trying to find a way out of the crawlspace and into the house. Given that there aren’t many things that can happen in that small of a space the film does a good job of introducing things like the sheriff deputies and the looters next door.
- Looters beware: Recent events and my own experiences with Hurricane Katrina have taught me that people will take advantage of terrible situations in order to get themselves a little something extra. Often times that mean stealing. In a survival scenario you can accept a certain level of theft. I’m gonna steal what supplies or food I need for my family to live. What you don’t need to see is a group of people actively stealing an ATM machine. You just know that shit ain’t gonna fly in a movie like this.
- Barry Pepper is your dad: I don’t need to tell Haley that Barry Pepper is her dad but don’t be surprised when he starts kicking ass, cause he’s freakin’ Barry Pepper! He is the savior of all mankind, you know! Barry gets a chance to do some heroic stuff in Crawl but he is not saving humanity in this one, sadly.
- Straight into the gator den: There are only so many places you can go when you’re stuck in a crawlspace. Luckily, Haley is a collegiate swimmer (for the Florida Gators, duh) and she makes a break for the drain pipe only to find that it’s the gator mommy’s den. Oh shit….
- When the levee goes: The two survivors finally get the hell out of that crawlspace and the levee breaks and they get rushed back into the house. What a crock of shit! It also turns out that there are a whole bunch of gators out there and Haley has to out-swim, and out-smart those little buggers to survive. She and her dad finally get some pretty sweet moments where they get to show their mettle in some very desperate times. Thank goodness her father pushed her so damned hard to be the best as a 10 year old.
The Verdict: I have reviewed several (too many, probably) killer gator/croc movies over the years and Crawl has to be one of the best. I still don’t think it’s as good as Lake Placid but that has more to do with the actors involved than the material on screen. Crawl doesn’t try to be more than it is. It’s survival from the moment the gators attack and the end of the film is when they are spotted by the rescue helicopter. The main actors (there are really only two) pull off all the thrills and scares that they need even though they should have bled out by the end. The biggest flaw with Crawl might be that there isn’t much of a body count. Give me one more meaningful character to die and I’m over the moon for it. Still a really entertaining film and one of the best gator/croc films in existence.
