As for the music the masses got this time around, the opening cut, 'Never Let Me Down Again,' started things off wonderfully: a compressed guitar riff suddenly slamming into a huge-sounding percussion/keyboard/piano combination, anchored to a constantly repeated melodic hook, ever-building synth/orchestral parts at the song's end, and one of David Gahan's best vocals (though admittedly singing one of Martin Gore's more pedestrian lyrics).
Cheapo creature features live with the forgivably bad Million Dollar Crocodile, a knowing B-movie starring a CGI crocodile and lots of actors who’ve done better work. Guo Tao leads this Pan-China cast as Useless Wang, an underdog cop who saves the city, earns the respect of his son and gets the girl when he goes Steve Irwin on a rampaging monster crocodile. Well, maybe that’s how a hyperbolic plot description used on international sales flyers would describe the film. In actuality, Million Dollar Crocodile is a low-tension monster movie that’s more funny than frightening, and readily serves its function as amusing, throwaway crap for undemanding audiences. Director and co-writer Lin Lisheng seems well aware of the type of commercial cinema he’s making, and has the smarts to let the audience in on the joke from time to time. Million Dollar Crocodile isn’t a standout film but it’s better than its craptastic genre trappings would suggest.
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