Rogue Review
Written by: thegoldensimatar
Greg McLean’s long awaited follow up to his first film Wolf Creek is a movie that is well worth waiting for. After viewing Rogue I can say that Dimension had nothing to fear from the other killer crocodile flick Primeval. However, it is doubtful the film would have done well in cinemas as it is more tension and buildup to the finale and less attacks every 10minutes.
Rogue takes place in Australia’s Northern Territory where a riverboat full of tourists strays into a river inhabited by a large crocodile. The ship runs aground on a small island in the middle of a lake and as the sun sets, the tide rises and their only avenue of escape harbors a very angry reptile waiting in the water.
I’ve been looking forward to Rogue ever since I first heard of it; I loved WolfCreekand was aching to see what else the Australian filmmaker had to offer. Stylistically Wolf Creek was much more inline with the gritty pseudo-documentary feel, Rogue on the other hand has a much more steady camera and is more epic in its scope.
The film might be a bit difficult to get into for the more modern horror crowd. Most genre films provide an opening teaser of nameless folks slaughtered to give us a peek of what is to come. Instead we are given a slower; far less revealing opening where we meet the buffet…I mean characters.
The river boat cruise gives us the usual look at the people that are about to get into the situation and learn a little bit about them. There is no long dialogue between each character giving the others their history, which I rather liked. However, the amount of characters in Rogue I found myself not really caring all too much about them. While they are distinctive in their characteristics, there isn’t much to give them full sympathy. However, this was a bit of a benefit as I was spared twenty minutes of people talking about where they came from, color of their house…the usual fluff filler.
The first part of the film drags a bit. The multiple sweeping shots of the Australian wilderness, while absolutely stunning (Australia isn’t one big desert, much to my surprise) there are a bit too many of them and some could have been trimmed. As well as the shots of the boat puttering along the water could have been trimmed. Minor things like that to shave off a few seconds here and there…nothing major.
But if you can go through the cruise, your time will be rewarded. Once the first death happens, the noose tightens and we all wait for the next person to buy the farm. I found the time to build up the film to the climax refreshing as it’s something very few horror films do nowadays. What I also found refreshing was that the humans, though somewhat shallow, were proactive in their attempts for escape and didn’t spend all the time sitting around and talk about their normal lives.
McLean is flexes his muscles with simple shot tension punctuated by viscous attacks. The first escape is simply shot and the simplicity of wide shots with a correct medium shot mixed in with no musical score works far more effectively here in my opinion than a montage of close-ups with a fast moving camera that turns everything into a blur.
I won’t reveal much as there is a few surprises that will hopefully make the film more enjoyable for the audience. The final confrontation in the crocodile’s lair is one of the tenses climaxes that I’ve sat through recently. The action that people were probably expecting from the film is most prevalent here.
What would be a horror show without human…the other white meat? The cast is a good group of actors that are a cut above what we normally get in a genre film. There are a few recognizable faces in the group as well. Fans of Alias should recognize Michael Vartan and genre fans should notice Radha Mitchell from Silent Hill and John Jarrett of Wolf Creek in a complete 180 from his performance in that film. The acting is solid and while their characters aren’t overly deep, the actors are able to bring across a sense of place with them and do in some respects show a bit more depth than the dialogue gives them. The biggest standout of course is John Jarrett who delivered one of the finest powerhouse horror performances of the last decade in Wolf Creek now plays a reserved, quiet widower. A complete shift from evil Outback redneck to quiet suburban man that shows a lot of diverse ability.
But what of the other star of the show? Well, the CGI crocodile looks brilliant. I’m not one who really likes when things are all done with CGI (however during some scenes a animatronics head is used) as it usually rips you out of the movie, however the computer reptile blends in with the film so its not as jarring as I would have thought. The crocodile is never really shown in full light so that helps cover the computer imagery. The other CGI in the film is done well, though some of it not done quiet as well as the crocodile, but it doesn’t rip you from the movie.
Since the film is getting released in the USA as Unrated (I got the Australian disc which is rated M, their R) the question of the red stuff comes up. Yes there is some blood and body parts and people being thrown around. However it’s not gratuitous and over the top so gorehounds will be disappointed.
The score is a big surprise as it is string orchestral. At times there are orchestral scores with guitar and metal and other heavy sounds thrown in but here the score is strings. I used to play the violin and I couldn’t imagine string instruments being used to successfully score anything more than romance scenes.
To best sum up the pace and style of Rogue is that Rogue is Jaws for crocodile films. Several well placed attacks that build up in tension to the final, vicious and heart pounding climax. The only drawbacks are the slow opening and the amount of characters didn’t allow for ample time for us to get to know them. However, after that everything is gravy. Though Rogue isn’t as good as Jaws, it’s still a damn fine film that works as a pot boiler and at the very least is worth one viewing.
As for the DVD. I own the Australian disc which has everything except McLean’s commentary, which is a bit of a surprise for me. The “Making of Rogue” documentary is about an hour or so long and is very informative and not just a collection of fluff EPK-everyone smiling and patting themselves on the back sort of thing. It lasts long enough to give a well rounded idea of the making of the film without overstaying it’s welcome. The Mini-documentaries however are fluff and after the main documentary, are not needed. More or less they’re pod-casts focusing on certain points of the production of “Effects”, “Music”, “The Northern Territory”, and “The Real Rogue”. After watching the main documentary, no reason to watch these. Filling it out is the film’s trailer. A solid extras package and while part of it is unneeded, it’s a case of less special features but with much higher value.