Film Reviews

Crocodile Hunter

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: David Wenham
• Details: Aus / 90 mins / (PG).

The major problem in reviewing Steve Irwin's first foray onto the big screen is managing to negotiate the entire review, without using the words 'Blimey', 'Beauty' or 'Crikey'. Of course, as regular viewers of his show, The Crocodile Hunter on the Discovery Channel, will readily testify, this is nigh on impossible, as Irwin himself can barely manage to construct a sentence without slipping one of those words in. Still, Irwin seems well aware that his cult following is as much down to his larger-than-life personality as his escapades wrestling dangerous animals - both of which feature heavily in the decidedly un-cinematic but mildly entertaining Crocodile Hunter.
Essentially, a feature length episode of the TV series built around a nonsensical plot involving the CIA and a satellite, the Crocodile Hunter sees Irwin in the Outback with his missus, Terri. Over the course of the 90 minutes, he wrestles a couple of crocs, as well as handling poisonous snakes, an extremely large spider and dispenses some justice - "Stevo style" - to some American undercover agents. Irwin's buoyant humour keeps things bubbling along, but there isn't really enough invention here to encourage anyone other than die-hard fans to fork out their hard earned. Wait for it on the Discovery Channel.

Review by Garreth Murphy