Crawl

Silly but Amusing...

Movies have always been a form of escape for people. Sometimes, you really do just need a break from it all. You need to sit back, zone out and effortlessly focus on a silly film that won't make you think too hard. Crawl is definitely one of those films. It's one of those horrors we know all too well. The kind that's marketed to look scary but will just end up making you laugh from all its ridiculousness. There's actually a very significant amount of violence but Crawl is so silly, it'll just go over your head.

Crawl follows Haley Keller, (Kaya Scodelario) a University of Florida student who receives news of a fast-approaching category 5 hurricane. She ignores the evacuation orders to search for her missing father Dave (Barry Pepper) whom she suspects is at their old family home that he refuses to let go of. Upon arriving, she finds him wounded in the basement, having been attacked by alligators who are still there. Haley tries to drag him from the house when the hurricane starts to hit and the alligator's return. The rest of Crawl is a cliched over the top survival flick that has enough jump scares but not enough content to support them.

While Crawl failed to suck me in as an audience, it did remind me of how fascinating filming in Water must be. I imagine the actors had an absolute blast filming Crawl and while Crawl was a very lazy film in terms of quality, I really can't say I blame the actors. They have a very easy script that doesn't require them to act too much, they get to film in what must feel like a giant water park and then get paid a decent salary from Paramount for it. I can't help but smile as I write this because when I watched Crawl, I could actually picture this being the case.

That's actually one of the two things I appreciated about Crawl. I didn't find it struggling to become something bigger than what it was. Crawl is a film that has no self-esteem issues. It's perfectly comfortable being a laughable box office bomb. I actually don't know how it's doing at the Box office but I imagine not too well. Paramount always seems to have so many high grossing action flicks throughout the year though, so I guess financially, it could afford to contribute to a film that's as destined to fail as Crawl. The other thing I appreciated about Crawl was the violence. It's gory but it's not serious. I found it very amusing and those rare audiences with my dark humor will find it amusing too.

Overall, I'm very much aware that most people go to the movies to be entertained. If you want to bite your nails at the edge of your seat, you will not enjoy Crawl. If you want a film you can loudly laugh at and make comments to your friends during it without being told to be quiet, Crawl’s the ticket to purchase.