June 16, 2008

Mini-review of Aztec Rex

A correspondent tells us what we missed in Aztec Rex, the Sci-Fi Channel's take on Indians and dinosaurs:I sat through it. Aside from the title and a late-in-the-film reference to Aztecs, I saw no other hint that the natives were Aztecs. The women wore standard-issue animal-skin bikinis, and the men dressed down (by comparison with known Aztec garb). Its one modern concession was that the natives did not worship it as a god. Otherwise, it could have been written in the 1940s or 1950s (or been a pulp serial by ERB or another such author).

Why did the scriptwriters use Cortez? They could have invented an exploration party and really cranked up the suspense (before killing everyone except the one decent guy).

SciFi Channel is the new grindhouse for SF and fantasy films.
Comment:  That's about what I expected, alas.

If the Natives tried to placate the tyrannosaurus by feeding it victims, they were treating it in a respectful if not worshipful way. Real wild animals don't stop with the morsels you feed them. They eat whatever they want to.

Just ask Timothy Treadwell. He thought he could mingle with grizzly bears because he had some sort of rapport with them. If you saw Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man, you know what happened.

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.

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