Terror bajo el agua

I saw Rogue this morning at a preview screening in Melbourne, I've been looking forward to this film for some time. I don't want to say that it was a disappointment as it is a solid effort. There is nothing that stands out as something I think should have been done differently.

Some wandering British and American accents from the mostly Australian cast can be forgiven.

The obvious difference between the locations in the Northern Territory and those in Victoria caused a brief chuckle (mainly because director Greg McLean introduced the film and commented that he hoped the transition would be seamless), though this may go unnoticed by foreign (non-Australian) audiences.

Visual effects were highly competent, I doubt that the average cinema-goer will pick the matte paintings or have an issues with the CG croc.

The main issue I have is that the film lacks the suspense and excitement of a truly great monster/horror film. Due to the nature of the material this will have to be compared to Jaws and Rogue will inevitably suffer. A fairer comparison has to be Lake Placid, and in that scenario Rogue also comes off second best. Rogue lacks the suspense and the humour of the American monster Croc effort.

This follow up to Wolf Creek was written long before the surprise Aussie hit, Rogue has the hallmarks of a first feature script, hitting all of the genre conventions without ever attaining any moments of originality.

If you enjoy this kind of monster movie (and I do) you'll find it a decent way to spend a couple of hours, you won't be missing much if you see it on DVD. Apart from Radha Mitchell looking great in khaki shorts, and believably playing a 28 yr old, though she has to be at least 35.

Nice job over all, good job, not great but good.

In the Northern Australia, a group of tourists goes on tour in the Ryan's Wildlife River Cruise to see crocodiles in the Australian Outback in the boat The Suzanne with the guide Kate Ryan (Radha Mitchell). When they are ready to return, one tourist sees a distress flare 3 km upstream the river and Kate heads the boat to an unexplored territory. They are attacked by a huge crocodile, the boat sinks and the hysterical group is trapped in a small muddy island stalked by the crocodile. However, the high tide forces the group to move, and the American journalist Pete McKell (Michael Vartan) has an idea to hold the killer croc while the group swims to the other side of the river.

"Rogue" is a light version of the tense, realistic and dramatic "Black Water", which is based on a true event. The beginning is well developed and tense, but in a certain moment the story becomes unrealistic and corny with a silly conclusion. Anyway, "Rogue" is an entertaining adventure, and the viewers that have not watched "Black Water" or appreciate a commercial happy ending, will certainly like this flick much more than I did. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Morte Súbita" ("Sudden Death")

Greg McLean is looking to be someone to watch out for. After scaring audiences witless with his Aussie outback shocker "Wolf Creek" and hurting the Australian Tourism Board immensely his back at it again. However, this time he replaces a serial killer with a 7 metre saltwater crocodile who's hungry for humans and luckily a boat full of them arrives at his doorstep.

McLean doesn't waste time with a huge story, it is very basic and to the point. Pete McKell is an American travel writer who travels the world and writes about the places he visits. He is sent to the Northern Territory to go on a river cruise which is lead by Kate Ryan (Radha Mitchell). On board there are plenty of other tourists waiting to become bait.

The movie starts off with some beautiful scenes of Australian outback, they are absolutely stunning. When the action starts, though, it never lets up. For the rest of the movie I was on the edge of my seat, McLean really knows how to racket up the tension. It helps that the river is murky and we don't see too much of our monster until the end. And when we do see our crocodile friend it is amazing. Part CG and part animatronics, the crocodile looks very good and very menacing.

The acting is good all round, although the characters aren't hugely deep, the actors do a good job of making us love them or hate them. Particularly good is John Jarret (of Wolf Creek fame) and Radha Mitchell (Silent Hill).

For those that like blood and gore you won't be too disappointed, there is some and it's nice and bloody when it comes.

3½/5

Before i saw this movie i said to myself probably it will be like any other crocks movie which most of them were pretty obvious and not really suspenseful and the acting were mostly bad . In most of them the crock didn't look real and the size was not realistic enough. In this movie it looked really fine and they did a good job to show the crock only when it was the right time and by that they made it more realistic and interesting.This movie caught me by surprise, it was a quite suspenseful movie with good build up and acting and the end was quite good. I recommend to watch it, i'm sure you will enjoy. I'm giving this movie 8 out of 10.

It took me two full years to get around to seeing Rogue. Its been on my watch-list since its release, mostly because it was directed by Greg Mclean who did such an excellent job with "Wolf Creek", but I figured it would just be a step or two up from a good SyFy channel creature feature... maybe on a par with Lake Placid or its ilk, so I took my sweet time getting to it.

Wow was I surprised!

Just like Wolf Creek, Rogue builds slowly and steadily, introducing us to a group of sympathetic, yet humanly flawed characters. This is a great change of scenery from the usual Hollywood "model" stereotypes that usually fill such films. There's not a teenage jock or beach babe in sight. Likewise, the film takes its time to really set the location down in stone, with lingering shots on the wildlife and scenery that make you really feel like you're in the location with the characters.

When the action starts, it moves quickly but believably. Remember in "Deep Blue Sea" when the entire plot pivoted on the fact that a helicopter winch unexpectedly shorted out? Well, there are no such illogical coincidences or convenient plot accidents here. Everything the characters do, and everything the animal does, is explained logically and realistically. This makes the whole scenario frighteningly believable because very rarely does any character do something that makes you say "Oh C'mon!". Another refreshing change from the Hollywood norm.

The plot itself is pretty basic - our protagonists are stranded on a tiny island in a tidal river. They have a few hours before the tide engulfs the ground beneath their feet. Their boat is wrecked. It would be a case of simply swimming to the embankment and walking home if it weren't for the fact that a territorial 25-foot Crocodile has them pinned to the landmass. It could be the setup for a terrible, poorly done, B-movie, but Mclean takes his time and paces it so well as to make the whole thing seem very real and very dangerous. It's not entirely predictable either... if you could accurately guess at the opening of this film which characters live and which die I would be impressed. I've seen the large majority of animal attack offerings and this is one of the first that kept me guessing.

I'm truly amazed that Rogue doesn't get more conversation and critical acclaim. I'd say as far as animal attack horror movies go, this one should take a place on the winners podium right up there alongside "The Host" and "Jaws". It's a fantastic movie and it deserves the recognition.