Caffeinated Clint
A classic, good-time monster movie!
I find it hard to believe that its near twelve months ago that I saw “Rogue” – in a screening with stars Michael Vartan and Stephen Curry, and writer/director Greg McLean – and can only imagine how frustrated the filmmakers must be having to see the film treated like the shitty indoor cricket player that nobody wants on its team. And like the young sportsman, I hope it gets a nice innings – if only to give the powers-that-be the big birdie.. ‘Drew’ is a fan of the flick. Here’s his review.
Be warned; ”Rogue” is similar to ”Wolf Creek” like ”Porky’s” is similar to ”The English Patient”.
A classic, good-time monster movie, it’s as far away from the all-too-realistic, nerve-shredding menace of writer/director Greg McLean’s auspicious 2005 debut and still be termed a horror movie.
From the first time you see the croc – a huge shadow rushing towards a tourist boat to strike – you know you’re on a cinematic rollercoaster borrowing, referencing and homaging everything from ”Jaws” and ”Alien” to ”The Creature from the Black Lagoon”.
Who’ll live? Who’ll end up as crocmeat? When will we see the monster? How much will we see? They’re the questions that keep you on the edge of your seat in any good monster movie, and McLean plays them all pitch perfect even while he messes with them a little.
”Rogue” introduces us to the victims, lets us in on their lives just enough to decide whether we like or dislike each of them, then drops them in a Top End lagoon with the titular beast stalking them as the tide comes in.
It’s a quasi-psychological social microcosm like that of Zack Snyder’s 2004 ”Dawn of the Dead” remake, and McLean knows and loves his source material and inspiration as much as Snyder did.
The action takes place over a single day and night in the remote north of Australia, where river tour guide Kate (Radha Mitchell) is taking a coddled tour group upriver through a picturesque gorge bound for disaster. Among them is American travel writer Pete (Michael Vartan), unimpressed at being in such a far-flung place, his luggage lost and stuck amid a disparate group of random strangers.
When Kate directs the boat further than the tour usually goes to answer a distress flare, something barely seen below the surface rushes the boat and rams them – something huge.
Frightened, their boat leaking, the company makes for the small island in the middle of the lagoon they’ve found themselves in. After hearing Kate’s tour monologue – which doubles as the exposition we need to know about crocodiles – we know that’s bad news.
As the premise and title suggest, they’ve stumbled into the territory of an outlandishly sized croc, one that not only won’t welcome their presence but will need several meals through the coming night.
With the tide creeping in and their only sanctuary disappearing under their feet, the who’ll-be-next guessing game ensues as the increasingly unhinged group try to formulate an escape while they’re hunted down one at a time in classic fright movie style…
After ”Wolf Creek”, some fans will be disappointed McLean isn’t intent on brutally assaulting the senses again. But ”Rogue” delivers on every level you expect, and if you want more, you need a very different kind of horror movie.
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Reviewer : Drew Turney
