Rating: 

The Info

Directed by: Steve Miner
Written by: David E. Kelley
Starring: Bridget Fonda, Bill Pullman, Oliver Platt, Brendan Gleeson, Betty White
Produced by: Michael Pressman, David E. Kelley

The Nutshell

A group of wildlife and crocodile experts goes up against a 30 foot crocodile.

The Review

   Lake Placid brings together two very different personalities: director Steve Miner who is best known for Friday The 13th 2 and David E. Kelley, the writer of Ally McBeal and The Practice. Kelley's TV shows are intelligent, popular successes, while Miner's films have more of a cult status. The result of their union is a surprising mix of comedy, action and special effects. Lake Placid is everything that Anaconda wanted to be but wasn't. It has a deliberate cheesiness, using cliched scenes from countless older films while giving the characters refreshing dialogue. Couple that to a group of actors who know the amount of seriousness their parts require and some dazzling special effects from Stan Winston (maker of the alien from Alien) and you've got a fun, two hour distraction.

    Steve Miner understands how to film campgrounds and lakes. He knows how to set them up to look spooky, how to add a sense of menace to any scene involving a canoe. He also knew that Placid was not a horror film, but more of an ode to films like Jaws and Alligator. Thus while there is an air of suspense surrounding many scenes, the film is never suffocating. Kelley brings his much-acclaimed brand of banter to the film, giving each character personality quirks that would otherwise be left out films of the genre. The characters are slightly stereotypical, but Kelley gives them enough funny things to say that we don't care.

    As you guessed from the previews, Lake Placid is about a giant crocodile. Oddly, it is not about Lake Placid, but rather Black Lake, in Maine. After the requisite opening scene where someone is killed by a monster unseen, we are introduced to the main characters one by one. Sheriff Keogh (Gleeson) witnesses the opening murder and starts the action rolling. Fish & Wildfire Warden Wells (Pullman) is a sceptical leader for the group. Kelly Scott (Fonda) is a palaeontologist who hates the woods, sent in to investigate a tooth left behind by the beast. And finally, Hector Cyr, a rich man who believes that crocodiles are partly gods, flies in in his private helicopter to study the critter. All four come together with no information and no clue of what they are facing.

    The film takes the characters through the familiar storyline of the monster genre. They go from bewilderment, to suspicion, to disbelief of what they face, to resolve, to panic, to final plan, to execution, to denouement. Along the way we are given memorable rip-offs of such scenes as the "shark-view" from Jaws, with the camera staring up a swimmer from underwater (there is even a hilarious version of this scene involving a cow). The music by John Ottman is fitting, cranking up the tension whenever the crocodile gets near. With the help of cinematographer Daryn Okada, Miner creates a beautiful lakeside paradise that becomes the scene of many a death.

    Kelley's writing style is wonderfully showcased in the film's characters. Kelly hates nature, preferring to stay in her museum. Due to her boyfriend-boss's adultery, she is chosen to investigate the tooth found in the film's first corpse. Kelly shows traits similar to Kelley's Ally McBeal. She talks quickly, is emotionally frail at times (especially in dealing with her dislike of wilderness), and is a bit high-strung. As the film progresses, she loses most of her fears, letting her hair down both literally and figuratively. Hector is a wonderful character, egotistical and sarcastic. He pokes fun at the simple sheriff while going after the nearby women. Sheriff Keogh is Maine incarnate, not trusting big-city folk, believing in the power and justice of his guns. Warden Wells believes in fighting for his ecosystems, but puts human life above the chance to save a rare species.

    The characters don't share the same views about the crocodile. Hector and Keogh trade insults constantly as Hector tries to explain why he wants to save the croc to the thick-headed sheriff. Wells believes in conserving life and endangered species, but can't bring himself to save a beast that has taken so many lives. Kelly Scott wants to use Hector's ideas to trap it and study it. Scott and Wells find romantic possibilities in their future. Perhaps the most surprising character in the film is Mrs. Dolores Bickerman (White), the old woman who lives on the lake. As Bickerman, Betty White is occasionally shocking as she uses vulgar language on several instances. The impact of seeing this ex-Golden Girl mouthing off in such a fashion is as strong as in the scene from Happy Gilmore where beloved Bob Barker beats up Adam Sandler.

    Sure, this film has cheesy moments. There are two scenes in which the croc looks fake. However, in every other scene it appears, it looks scary and real. The plights of the characters are all clichés. We know that Wells and Scott will wind up romantically involved in the end. We know that Hector and Keogh will somehow form, if not a friendship, a working relationship. We also know that the ending will be spectacular, and that the good guys will probably win. But it doesn't matter because the film is fun, entertaining, and never slow-paced. It's a perfect summer distraction.

Copyright - Tim Chandler

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