Movie review: Private Tropical 27 "Dangerous Rex" (2006) (Diana Bold, Jem Tone, Jamie Crooks)

A dinosaur story that must begin on an airfield. Explorers are regular users of these dusty places with a spirit of kerosene, sweat and motor, and a spirit of adrenaline and adventure. First stop: Cambaie ULM Base Aerodrome near Saint Paul, on Reunion Island.

Trailer of Private Tropical 27 Dangerous Rex

1st part of the movie on Youtube

2nd part of the movie on Youtube

Layout worthy of a Rubens painting

In the opening scene, a film crew waits patiently in the main building of this modest airfield on this French colonial island. Helen Thompson, a generalist TV star, is on her way to join the expedition they are about to embark on. In reality, Helen travels completely deceived, under the pretext of shooting a promotional documentary for Madagascar in which she is going to be a presenter and at the same time attract the public at large.

Tony Willis (the one who checks his watch with a frequency close to paroxysm) is the renowned paleontologist in charge of this "safari" and he is bored of waiting. He walks like a caged velociraptor, wandering from here to there on the terrace, until he bumps into a flagship blonde.

What a coincidence that the gallants always make a stop along the way next to the blondes!

In 2022 they had already installed a roof so that keep the paleontological teams protected from the sun.

The pretty blonde greets him effusively because she knows perfectly well who it is. He remembers him from film productions such as Jurassic Slut or The Horny World. Flattered, Tony agrees to give her his successful cryptozoologist visiting card, looking for a future meeting with her, named Victoria.

Dirty hair, like archaeologists doing field research

Lack of pockets...

After saying goodbye to the young woman, and already with the feeling of not leaving empty-handed, he orders the team to collect their belongings. The wait is over. It's time to go to the hotel and have a good Dino Sour well loaded with Dominican rum.

"Let's go! What do I need to bend my elbow!"

They have invested the afternoon in testing the ultralights of Felix ULM in Reunión: now they are fully operational for future investigations. Now is the time to gather strength because tomorrow the real adventure begins.

Too many human settlements for Cretaceous species to survive.

Red danger

Alex, the silent cameraman, stays behind at the ULM base to receive Helen Thompson, who, as soon as she arrives, goes to the private beach where Tony Willis is tanning taking advantage of the last rays of the sun. Now we are going to discover a small raccord error that Max Bellocchio made and that all great directors make. For Spielberg, Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) goes barefoot as well as shod in the last scenes of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Look at the next two pictures.

Helen arrives at sunset...

Yet on Tony Willis Beach the midday sun still shines brightly...

Tony Willis has been convinced for some years now that some relict species, either lazarus taxa of individual dinosaurs, or at least a scaly clade descending from a common ancestor, have survived on some remote island off the east African coast. Dinosaurs in the middle of the cenozoic…

This unorthodox thought has been his obsession since his adolescence, and reminds us of other biologists infatuated with similar ideas. For example, the American Bret Weinstein of the University of California still collects alleged sightings of Steller's sea cows along the west coast of the United States, when they were supposed to have been extinct since the late 18th century. And also some biologists say that small groups of moas lived until the beginning of the 19th century.

This mania has made Tony the perfect target for countless slanderous libels against him, most likely spread by fellow scientists who see him more as a parapsychologist who should be in private security rather than outreach. They accuse him of sophistical techniques, however he prefers to define himself as an iconoclast.

Finally, Dr.Willis has managed to get Helen involved in a television production around the island of Madagascar, but without leaking the real reason: the search for the last Tyrannosaurus Rex left alive on the face of the Earth.

The participation of the figure of the prestigious presenter has been accompanied by a powerful investment by the Geo Channel, capital that has materialized in means of transport and state-of-the-art cameras.

Tony Willis has used Helen yes, but for a good cause; since finding living dinosaurs would be the greatest discovery of the human being so far in the 21st century. A milestone in the history of paleontology.

That first meeting in a bikini on the fine white sands shows us that Helen trusts the probity of Dr. Willis and also that there is something pending between them, although we still don't know what. As Tony leaves for the hotel, Helen tries to contact her boyfriend Peter, but he doesn't answer the call.

It's very angry when you get voice mail...

Dr. Willis's research has led him to the conclusion that plesiosaurs may still persist in the fathomless seas surrounding Madagascar, which is the third largest island on the planet, behind only Australia and Greenland.

He bases this deduction on the real case that occurred with the latimeria, known among the common people as coelacanth. This fish had been considered extinct until a specimen was caught in 1938 very close to Madagascar. Now the coelacanth, by way of recognition, has also been baptized with the pompous locution of "living fossil".

For this reason, the first day of reconnaissance takes place on board a wreck. The great evolutionists defend in their thesis that life has its origin in the sea, so it is not a bad place to start the search for Nessie and her friends: the last dinosaurs.

It doesn't look like a whaler...

The boat in Anaconda (1997) (Jon Voight, J.Lo) it had a similar shape; in the absence of white paint

¡Welcome to Route Quetzal! (Helen still didn´t know what are they looking for)

Helen is the only ignoramus on the team, and we hereby disapprove of Dr. Willis's tricks to dupe the presenter. They are not looking for canids or mustelids, they are investigating supposedly dangerous species and we consider it foolish that Helen does not have all the information.

Squad in position

As we can see, the tireless search for the great reptiles that once dominated our planet is carried out by land, sea and air. Paraphrasing the famous John Hammond, "they spared no expense" and in this case Geo Channel is the patron, as Helen Thompson has entered the equation

"¡Spared no expense!"

The curse of Hybris may befall Tony Willis without remedy. This myth says that those who believe they are so free as to ignore the laws that govern us will be punished. The last uncontacted dinosaurs may have to continue like this, isolated from civilization and from other animal species that would remain at the mercy of large predators.

The most experienced explorers venture between isthmuses towards an isolated bay...

When the cream of the recording crew climbs on a caique, Monica and Fiona decide it's a good time to relax because work has made them sweat profusely.

Sweet sweat

The two of them do not believe in all those old crazy stories that torment Tony Willis, and for that reason they decide to make the most of that window of time in which they are not under the inquisitive gaze of their boss. It is a splendid opportunity to let yourself go with the sailor and have fun.

Do you want to see my brontosaur?

Dr. Willis is inaccessible to discouragement, and although the search by sea has been inane and he faces a possible anathema every day from the scientific community, the dream of a current Cretaceous world prompts him to apply the method of self-deception functional. He will continue to use the brace like those who persevere and always look for all the answers to their deepest-rooted concerns.

The next excursion, the next day, is to the Croc Park on the island of Réunion, so that Helen experiences a gradual adaptation: in this place they will carry out the first contact with large reptiles and live animals. There, Tony Willis performs a paripé and introduces the place. He smiles mischievously at the camera knowing that the best is yet to come.

It becomes necessary to add, in relation to the Croc Park, that crocodiles are a species that already inhabited our planet 240 million years ago. In other words, they lived with the dinosaurs and overcame the great cataclysm caused by the meteorite in the Gulf of Mexico, which caused the fifth great extinction 65 million years ago now. They mainly endured because they don't need large amounts of food.

An elated Dr. Willis grabs Helen by the arm; she reacts with a reproachful look.

The cameraman wears a vest worthy of Robert Muldoon

Robert Muldoon reloading his shotgun on the Isla de Nublar

Helen's fanged hat is worthy of the Turok Dinosaur Hunter

Croc Park in Reunión

Croc park in 2009.

Croc Park Reunión in 2023 

The only dinosaur, or family of, that we are going to witness in the entire film

This outing typical of a children's camp despairs Tony Willis. He moves away from the center of the action to drink some tea from his paleo diet and, precisely in that moment of tedium, Victoria calls him, suggesting that he take a walk on the Nosy Be beach to release tension.

At first Dr. Willis makes himself interesting by pretending not to remember the girl, but then he quickly accepts the indecent proposition, claiming to have enough free time for it.

Paleontologist online, tell me

"Blonde sexy girl" at phone

At night, Helen, oblivious to Dr. Willis's mundane distractions, continues to train for the Madagascar documentary in her stateroom. Read carefully a book by Delwyn McPhun entitled East Africa Pilot, which can be purchased in a hardcover edition through the Amazon platform (this type of related merchandising purchase is only recommended for the most staunch followers of the tropical saga).

The book comes in French and includes nautical charts and anchor points on the east coast of Africa, for anyone who wants to emulate Dr. Willis looking for ichthyosaurs or placodonts aboard a yacht or catamaran.

It looks like it's the ship's skipper's bedside book

The reading is interrupted by a call from her boyfriend Peter, who only gives her a conversation for 30 measly seconds.

With a kiss at the end "Muak"

The boredom that has established itself in the relationship is easily deduced. Helen flies from the UK to Madagascar and Reunion, and her gypsy boyfriend has hardly anything to tell her or ask her. And in the call that Helen made earlier, he claimed to have left his cell phone in the office... Very little desire to talk.

The viewer does not have more information, but will soon have more news about it. For now, Helen, the next morning, brags to Tony about phone conversations, supposed MMS from her lover and even a possible video call. She's actually jealous because she knows that Dr. Willis has sneaked off with Victoria to scan the Malagasy skies for pterodactyls.

Right there we are before a key moment of the film because it transcends that between Tony and Helen there has been a sentimental relationship in the past.

Sunglasses of an actor in a x movie

Peter has also traveled to Africa, without notifying Helen, who is naive, she believes that she continues to break her back in the office. Specifically, Peter goes on vacation to the island of Mayotte, but not for work reasons, but to enjoy the weather and other pleasures. Again, his mobile phone is misplaced "in the office" and he goes to a quiet cove with two blonde women.

Peter has more then 30 seconds for other women

Ignoring the flirtations of her boyfriend and Dr. Willis, who has lost his oremus because of Victoria's overwhelming beauty, Helen continues with the Madagascar recordings and concentrates on her work.

Now it's time for a trip on a striking Visiobul boat with a translucent hull that allows you to probe the seabed and contemplate the formations of coral reefs. Helen and the team embark on this naval contraption at the headquarters of Sealife in port of Saint Gilles Les Bains.

Boat with plate of Reunión: a new adventure begins

In this frame of the film, that red pole on the left of the image indicates the exact point

Photo from 2016 of the same point in the port of Saint Gilles Les Bains, where these boats still operated. These are called Visiobul Sealife.

Visiobul inside, which seems more reliable than the Titan - OceanGate

It goes without saying that we continue, at this point in the feature film, without any hint of finding dinosaurs; neither from the Triassic nor from the Cretaceous… They are what is know in horror movies as an unseen villain. Dr. Willis has forgotten about his project and with an astonishing avoidance of responsibility, he spends more hours with Victoria than with the cameras trying to confirm his speculative theories. Surely Geo Channel has contemplated this type of breach in the contractual clauses.

Not even a trilobite will find like this...

What, of course, Dr. Willis does not intuit is that Victoria's physical attraction is, in effect, a trap and that her life is in serious danger.

On one of those afternoons of recreation and distraction, when Tony lies on the beach with the girl, a burly man in military clothing anesthetizes him with a handkerchief soaked in chloroform.

From behind, like traitors. 

A cruel and uncensored scene

With the drowsy viewer's attention restored, the next scene once again features Helen. The Neapolitan filmmaker leaves us heartbroken, while Mrs. Thompson comments on flea market trivia for her regional ethnographic museum documentary. As a detail, Helen mentions that they are filming in "Diego Suárez", which is what Antanamarivo was called until 1975. This is a nod to the way opinion leaders are likely to maintain the establishment.

In this case, we are facing a staunch defense of colonialism, because Diego Suárez was a Portuguese navigator from the 16th century, who gave this city its name, a name that remained in force for almost 500 years.

These gestures in which continuity is committed have also been captured on celluloid by other directors such as Danny Boyle in Slumdog Millionare with the presenter Prem Kumar, who tries to prevent the humble Dev Patel from winning the prize for his program, or as Adam McKay in Don't Look Up, with Brie Evantee, who doesn't accept or allow a commoner like Dr. Randall Mindy to question the presidential decision to drop the comet for minerals like yttrium, terbium, osmium or dysprosium.

Lookslike a Playbol magazine interview 

Jaw operation

With the intention that the viewer does not continue to suffer with the fate and physical integrity of Dr. Willis, in the next scene we return to the beach where the venerable Tony has been detained and tied up... We still have to know the intrastory and the reasons that have prompted that mysterious man in a militiaman outfit from the Balkans to commit such a crime.

We soon learn that this is another actor, who has gone mad because Tony deprived him of a successful and award-winning life at the Kodak theater. He explains that he lost a role in the movie Moon on the sea, because Tony Willis told fallacies about his alcoholism and lack of seriousness before an important producer of the guild.

Miguel Barreta looks very angry

Kick in stomach

Now Barreta has lost all his money and is left without a wife... But he doesn't want money, he just craves sweet revenge, ripping open Tony Willis's throat like a turkey on Christmas Eve.

However, they are not alone, as Victoria contemplates the entire scene hidden among the lush vegetation and she does not agree to go to such extremes. Victoria was the hook for a kidnapping with a reward, but without consilium fraudis before a hypothetical murder.

As we can see, it uses advanced camouflage and concealment techniques.

Before carrying out the bloody crime, he prefers to tie up the loose ends by also eliminating Victoria. She had been the perfect bait for a testosterone-ridden dinosaur hunter but now she finds herself contrite.

It is never a good idea to leave a prisoner alone. First year of action cinema.

Helen Thompson isn't too worried about Willis' disappearance

While Miguel Barreta is looking for the blonde, his criminal lawyer makes a call to Helen on his presumed behalf to communicate a very simple request to implement.

"Don´t call the police"

They don't demand a reward...the only thing they ask is that you not contact law enforcement. Later we will know the real reason.

Meanwhile, Victoria frees Tony Willis, who lies in pain on the sand, tanned by the sun, and with fear gripping his brain cells.

¡Victoria to the rescue!

And their ways separate...

With the strength of someone who comes back to life and thought he was already dead, Tony Willis jumps into the sea and stars in one of the greatest heroics ever filmed: swimming for miles in the open sea, aimlessly and aimlessly, until he reaches Helen Thompson's ship, the one that surprises with an approach in the purest Pirates of the Caribbean style.

Special mention deserves its traces to swim... without submerging the head in the water and turning the head only to the right side.

Long distance triathlete... Future Epic5 finisher

With the joy of the reunion, Helen finally opens up and tells him that since the call from the alleged kidnapper, she has felt butterflies in her stomach and has realized how much she loves him. Their hearts must unite once more and their relationship will prosper. A film with many emotions that culminates in an embrace of pure and authentic love.

Love travelers

From now on, the professional life of Dr. Willis will be divided between researching neontology and being a solicitous and subservient lover of his muse Helen.

Before finishing this FSC review, one last secret must be revealed... Miguel Barreta is actually Michael Barrett, a CIA agent with a special mission: to dissuade Tony Willis from his attempts to find that "island of San Borondón" which is certainly still inhabited by some species of dinosaurs today.

Therefore, the anecdote of the alleged actor vilified by Tony Willis who saw a meteoric career cut short in Hollywood is just a false story, a smoke screen...

Michael Barrett, secret agent

The United States government has been aware of this remote and isolated place since an expedition in the mid-19th century, but has kept it a complete secret so that it does not become a tourist attraction. This unknown island is permanently guarded by a military detachment that operates at a safe distance, as a security ring, in international waters.

The call from the supposed lawyer of the kidnapper was made by an agent who uses the nickname of Max (like the villain of Mission Impossible I) and did not request money because the CIA does not need alms (Felix Leiter dixit) but what he wanted to avoid was that alert the Malagasy authorities, as foreign law enforcement cannot operate in another country's jurisdictions without proper permission.

Dr. Tony Willis is not the first nor the last paleontologist who has had to be "silenced"... but one day the truth will be known. As Jules Renard said in a famous apothegm: "from time to time tell the truth so that they believe you when you lie."

THE END

RATING: 6/10

Info:

Private Tropical 27 "Dangerous Rex"

Year: 2006

Genre of the plot: adventure

Paradise destination: Madagascar and Reunión

Actors: Sharka Glue, Jamie Crooks, Katy Paro, George Bull, Bob Demolition, Oliver Sangus, Diana Bold, Jem Tone, Justine Langley

Where can I find it: Private or Google

Spanish version