“Here there be dragons.”
In the year 2066 a band of Space Marines are beamed down to the surface of an uncharted planet with a group of scientists. Their mission is to look for signs of life. They received an SOS signal from the planet surface. The team is there to find where the signal came from and research who or what sent it.
They find an empty Elizabethan style village, and Velociraptors. Captain Mace (Steven Bauer) is the leader of the mission. Dr. Anna Rogers (Vanessa Angel) is the leader of the scientists. Not long after reaching the planet’s surface the group is attacked by the dinosaurs. Two of the scientists are killed and eaten. Two of the other scientists Dr. Tygon (Ted Raimi) and another scientist named Petrovitch seem to know more about what is going on than the rest of the team.
Later they run into an alien insect. He is the last of his species. Apparently Dr. Rogers understands termite. She translates for the others. His race built the village that they are in. They call themselves Pathfinders. He explains that the dinosaurs were the dominant species on the planet until they came. They were used as work animals and pets. Then the dinosaurs began to attack the Pathfinders and kill them all. They ask about some alien weaponry they found. The alien says they operate by sound frequency. Before he can say more he dies.
When a radiation storm comes up the team is stranded on the planet surface. Communications are also out. More attacks result in two of the marines being injured. Sgt. “Jack” Moore (Musetta Vander) finds the beacon that sent the message. It appears to be some sort of alien technology.
“Planet Raptor” AKA “Raptor Island 2” was released in 2007 and was directed by Gary Jones. The movie is a made-for-TV SYFY channel affair filmed in Romania. As such it is low on budget, low on CGI, low on dialogue, and low on just about anything and everything except testosterone. I understand how SYFY channel quickies work so I was OK with it.
The movie is a sequel to “Raptor Island” 2004. The dinosaurs are mostly CGI and I believe some rubber ones tossed in. The acting is over the top Rambo type stuff. There is a lot of gunfire. The raptors look OK but they move kinda funny.
Altogether it’s not exactly Oscar material. The SYFY channel has been making movies since 1993, and they have been making them badly. Well, most of them. There have been a few that were good. That too is subjective. “Planet Raptor” is as good or as bad as you expect.