Scene in the Lair alone is fantastic

I rented this expecting it to be some horribly acted C movie with really sh#tty special effects- I'd never heard of it, but it sounded like another 'Primeval' type movie- man was I in for a surprise! The acting here is very good, the effects are done by Weta (Lord of the Rings, King Kong), and the movie is just gorgeous in showcasing the landscape.

One thing I have to say is that the scene in the lair is the first time in many years I have actually been really, really on edge watching a movie- I think my pulse jumped a few beats a minute, I really do. THAT is suspense- there are a great many 'directors' who could take a page from Mclean. The Croc was very large, but not implausible- there HAVE been actual crocs recorded at over 7 meters, and they gave it much more realistic behavior and movements than the one in Primeval, which went sprinting after the 7-Up guy over dry land.

The main point of contention here would be the lair it's self- a croc simply doesn't take it's food out of the water, carry it through a jungle, find a hollow under a tree and store it there. It's a bit simpler- they'll stash the corpse under a bank or an underwater log until it is softer and easier to tear apart. It was a bit more energetic than real crocs, but it has to be or it'd be a pretty boring movie. I highly doubt it would die in the way it did, but it IS a movie, after all.

Great example of 'less is more'- the same strategy Jaws employed to it's advantage in 1975- you don't have the Croc right in your face from the first minute as with some lesser films- you, in fact, do not see it for most of the film, and that's a good thing (it looks fine, but what you DON'T see can often be even scarier).

I, for one, highly recommend it.