Movie Review - Rogue

So I havent seen too many Aussie films this year. There have been a few good Aussie films in recent times, such as Wolf Creek and Jindabyne. There have also been some this year that I have not yet seen, but that look good, like Noise, and Club Land. But, I havent been out to see any yet.

Rogue, which is a thriller/horror/attack of the killer crocs film, will be the first. You have to love a good psychotic animal movie. There arent enough of them are there? Walking in, my expectations were not high, I was just happy to kick back and enjoy whatever came along.

Rogue ended up being a pretty good affair. Nothing great, but entertaining enough. There are plenty of familiar faces in the cast, including Radha Mitchell, Steven Curry, and John Jarrett. All play their parts very well. The characters in this movie are the only really believeable part of it, and this gives support to the feelings of despair and angst that arise when our heroes are being hunted by the ravenous beast.

The story and the action were good, following the typical scary movie formula: 'no, dont do that, no, not there, WHY DONT YOU JUST RUN!!!!'. Because the characters are believeable, I found myself quickly drawn into the story, wanting them to make it, wanting them to survive, willing them to run. This is not Oscar winning stuff, but there have been plenty of horror movies where you just dont care about the protagonists. This is not the case in Rogue.

The story basically follows an American writer who is in town to get material for his holiday writing. He joins a river tour, which goes wrong after they spot a flare in a remote location and try to investigate. They run aground on a tiny bank in the river and soon learn that a giant rogue croc is on the prowl. The party then tries in vein to escape before high tide, and a number of them are picked off by the hungry reptile.

The set-up and the plot provide plently of material for the tense moments in the film. While the story is not particularly believeable, it is good fun, and it is scary. There are some particularly hairy moments where our hero finds himself face to face with the beast in its underground den. Eventually some members of the party make their way to safety, but it goes without saying that their numbers are severly depleted.

The special effects in the film did, at times, lead to some raised eyebrows. There arent a lot of them, and the director made good use of 'fear of the unknown' to build suspense. They develop a lot of tension without needing to show anything much. We know there is something out there, but we dont know what, or where, or when it will attack. This is a very effective technique, which both leads to great suspense, but also avoids overuse of the special effects. Some of the effects were pretty funny. But I guess that is what you get when you are trying to create an enormously oversized croc.

Overall it was a good movie. I enjoyed it, but dont think I would watch it over and over again.

Would I buy it on DVD? Maybe, but not for more than $10