TheLittleSongbird Review of Ragin' Cajun Redneck Gators

Ragin' Cajun Redneck Gators (2013)

Lacking, but for SyFy some elements made it tolerable

[4/10 · 12 December 2013]

Ragin Cajun Redneck Gators was lacking in a lot of areas but it did look as though there was more effort than usual. The scenery and the way Ragin Cajun Redneck Gators is shot and edited in a way that looks good and doesn't look that amateurish, Michael Baird is charismatic and likable(and this viewer agrees that he had the best accent, most of which out-of-kilter, in the cast), Amy Brasette is a blast as Candy, the story does have a good idea and actually has a story to tell in a somewhat coherent way and the gators do have moments where they're fun and menacing. The gators do look terrible though, their movements are awkward and their design has a rushed look, and while their personalities do come through they could have fared much better if the attacks had so much more tension and inventiveness and the gore less artificial. With the story while you can tell that there is one and that you can follow it, there is a sense that the movie didn't know what to do with it, good ideas but not explored very well, like when the movie takes a darker and more violent tone in the second half, it does feel like a different movie to the almost too-silly tone the first did. While the ideas are there there is a going-through-the-motions quality(the forbidden love stuff is a good angle but doesn't really register, often getting lost within the silliness), much of it is not that exciting or atmospheric, and the material is of the kind that runs out of steam far too early(with an ending that is every bit as silly as the first half but to bigger heights, to the point that it's difficult to take). The dialogue ranges from mostly forced attempts at deadpan humour(Candy's was genuinely funny though) and banal soap-opera quality, the pacing's inconsistent- feeling rushed in the first half and lacklustre in the second-, the science is wacky to the point of the nonsensical and the stereotypical characters are mostly cardboard-bland with some being annoying too, especially that of the banjo player(his purpose and premise comes across as truly ridiculous and with the subtlety of a sledgehammer). The direction is of the kind that does its job but without much character, journey-man-like is a good word, while the acting on the whole is a mix of hammy-to-the-point-of-annoyance(Thomas Francis Murphy) to forgettable. Jordan Hinson is not terrible at all, she is at least appealing but she does pale in comparison to Baird and Brasette so she doesn't come across as memorable. All in all, not bad for SyFy but very lacking on the whole, effort was clearly made but Ragin Cajun Redneck Gators is a good example of a movie failing at trying too hard. 4/10 Bethany Cox