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Aztec Rex
Tyrannosaurus Azteca
USA / Germany 2007
produced by Christian Arnold-Beutel, Dennis C. Duckwall, David Dwiggins, John C. Ching (executive), Jeffrey M. Hayes (executive), David Kemper (executive), John F.S. Laing (executive), Deborah Y. Lau (executive), Jason K. Lau (executive), David Macaione (executive), Timothy McGrath (executive) for Rigel Entertainment, TalkStory Productions, Victoria Filmproduktion
directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith
starring Ian Ziering, Marco Sanchez, Kalani Queypo, Dichen Lachman, George Allen Gumapac, William Snow, James Locke, Jack McGee, Shawn Lathrop, Milan Tresnak, Marc Antonio, Zoe Chun-de la Cruz, No'u Revilla, David Hall, Grisel Reyes, Travis Rose, Christopher Latronic
written by Richard Manning, music by Gerald Brunskill, special effects by Archie Ahuna, special makeup effects by Bryan D. Furer, visual effects by Elliot Worman
review by Mike Haberfelner
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It's still the very early days of the conquest of Mexico when General
Cortés (Ian Ziering) and a small batallion of men (Marco Sanchez, William
Snow, James Locke, Shawn Lathrop, Milan Tresnak, Marc Antonio) are on a
scouting mission through the Mexican countryside, driven not so much by
their thirst for adventure but their greed for gold. They soon arrive at
an Aztec temple, see the many gold objects the shaman Xocozin (Kalani
Queypo) uses in a blood ritual - and decide to attack out of pure greed,
but are easily overcome by the Aztecs. To their surprise, the Aztecs speak
their language quite well, due to the old Spanish priest Gria (Jack
McGee), whom they had earlier accepted into their ranks. Gria tries to
broker a deal with chieftain Matlal (George Allen Gumapac) to set his
compatriots free, but with little success. In the meantime, one of
Cortés' men, Ríos (Marco Sanchez), who has been sent on a scouting
mission, has run into a tyrannosaurus rex, but has not only managed to
evade it but also save Ayacoatl (Dichen Lachman), the chieftain's
daughter, from the giant lizard. And when he returns to the temple with
Ayacoatl and offers to lead an expedition to find and kill the dinosaur
for the freedom of all the conquistadores, Matlal can't but agree - and
Ríos succeeds, too. But then he's tricked by Cortés and the others who
that night steal the Aztecs' gold but leave him and father Gria behind.
Thing is, there's a second tyrannosaurus rex roaming the area, and with
its companion dead it's in a rage, and goes both after the Aztecs and the
conquistadores. Ríos thinks he can still defeat the other beast, but he
has a mighty enemy in shaman Xocozin, who would even risk his people's
well-being out of jealousy, as Ayacoatl was initially promised to him but
has of course long fallen for Ríos ... Now there are quite
some good things to say about this movie, especially how it portrays the
conquistadores (all but Ríos) as the villains of the piece, and shows at
least some respect for Aztec culture. And some characters are actually
nicely rounded out. But in all, it's painfully obvious that the film's
budget (an alleged $1.5 million) fails to live up to its scope, and thus
we have a rather big historical fantasy brought to life by an ensemble of
less than two dozen. And other than that, the CGI dinosaur just fails to
convince, it never manages to shake that "right out of the
computer" look and thus fails to come across as a credible menace.
That all said, Aztec Rex is better than quite a few under-budgeted
dinosaur movies, and actually has hints of originality to it, starting
with setting the movie in the early 1500s, it just ultimately falls flat
of its potential, which is a bit of a pity.
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