The Wisdom of Crocodiles

Starring: Jude Law, Elina Lowensohn, Timothy Spall, Jack Davenport, Colin Salmon
Directed by: Po-Chih Leong
Rating: R
Genre: Thriller, Romance
1998

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A vampire (Jude Law) in London seduces women, and at the height of their emotional intensity, drinks their blood.

Review:

Tim: The Wisdom of Crocodiles is a movie with a lot of problems. First off, when it finally came to the United States, it went directly to DVD under the title of Immortality (which is a much better if more forgettable and generic title). The movie itself is definitely different, but not exactly strong.

The cast is decent, but don't really have a whole lot to do. Jude Law is at least fairly good as the ridiculously named Steven Grlscz (can I buy a vowel?), but he isn't spectacular. He has a few very good moments, but I didn't love him here. The rest of the cast is decent, but no one really stands out.

The problem with the movie is that it is not particularly interesting. Yes, I like the twist on the normal vampire movie. I think it is interesting that the vampire here doesn't just feed off blood, but the emotional intensity carried in the blood. I like that this movie takes a different approach to vampires. This is certainly not like most vampires movies- there is no action, no real excitement, and contains none of those vampire myths- can't be out in sunlight, etc. It was refreshing to see such a different take, unfortunately, it is not very exciting. I was thoroughly bored throughout this movie because it never makes a compelling case for itself. I was not even mildly interested in any of the characters or what might happen to them. The movie looks extremely cheap. This is not because they chose to go with no special effects, but because the film's budget was simply not big enough.

The Wisdom of Crocodiles puts forth some interesting ideas, but completely fumbles the execution. This movie is often a snoozer (save for a few impressive moments), and simply moves too slow. This is an ineffective movie and it doesn't surprise me that it had such a tumultuous history. I did not like this movie very much at all.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5



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