An American journalist on assignment in the Australian outback encounters a man-eating crocodile while trapped on a rapidly flooding mud island. An idyllic wildlife cruise disintegrates into terror when a party of tourists are stalked by a massive man-eating crocodile. Pete McKell, a cynical American travel writer, joins a disparate group of holiday-makers on a river cruise through the waters of Kakadu National Park. Initially Pete clashes with their tour captain, Kate, a feisty young woman who assumes he is just another 'city-slicker' in search of a quick thrill. After an uneventful day cruising the river, Kate is reluctantly persuaded to steer their boat into unexplored territory. They discover a secluded lake but terror strikes when their craft receives a powerful blow from beneath the murky depths and begins to sink. With little choice, she beaches the vessel on the closest dry land -a tiny mud island. With a rising tide and only half an hour of daylight left, fear grips the group as they realize they are trapped in the lair of a 'rogue' crocodile, governed only by its need to hunt and kill. Begrudgingly, Pete and Kate join forces to keep hysteria at bay and in the process start to see beyond their initial impressions. Their first attempt to escape fails, but then Pete has an idea - they must trap the crocodile to enable the group to flee to the other side of the island whilst Kate swims for help. Pete volunteers to stand guard, but without warning, the beast breaks free and targets Kate who fails to resurface. As darkness descends and the muddy waters rise, a terrifying struggle ensues with only one probable outcome death. This film is meant to be inspired by a real series of attacks, by a five-metre saltwater crocodile, in the 1970s, for me, it was going to be just like watching another Lake Placid, another large reptile causing chaos, but I was up for it, directed by Greg McLean (Wolf Creek). Basically cynical American travel writer Pete McKell (One Hour Photo's Michael Vartan) is carrying out journalistic research in Australia's Northern Territory. He joins a group of tourists and holiday-goers on a crocodile watching river cruise in Kakadu National Park, led by wildlife researcher Kate Ryan (Olympus Has Fallen's Radha Mitchell). The river cruise has a run-in with two senseless locals, Neil (Sam Worthington) and Collin (Damien Richardson), Kate prepares to return the group to base, but Everett (Robert Taylor) spots a flare in the distance. Kate tells the group that they must investigate to determine whether someone needs rescuing, a few miles upriver, they come across a half-sunken wreck. Suddenly, something crashes into the side of the boat, creating a crack, Kate's only choice is to run ashore on a small island in the middle of the river. The group disembark and discuss what to do when Everett is suddenly pulled into the water and killed by an unseen predator, Kate concludes that they are in the heart of a large crocodile's territory, meaning it will be more aggressive. They have no flares to signal for help, and there is no reception for mobile phones, the tourists realise that the tide will start to rise by nightfall, and the island will be submerged in a matter of hours. Neil and Collin arrive and taunt the tourists, they are attacked by the unseen beast smashing into their boat, Neil manages to swim to safety, but Collin disappears. As night falls, Neil suggest swimming to the riverbank to string a rope between two trees, creating a zip-line to allow the group to cross the river. Neil successfully sets up the rope, Mary Ellen (Caroline Brazier) crosses first, only to freeze in fear halfway across, Allen (Geoff Morrell) becomes impatient and aggressive and attempts to get himself and his daughter Sherry (Mia Wasikowska) across with Mary Ellen still on the line. Trying to secure the rope, Neil is attacked and killed by the crocodile, the tree holding the rope breaks, and the three on the line fall into the water, they manage to swim back to the island, the gigantic 23-foot beast suddenly lunges out and takes Allen's arm off, before dragging him underwater and killing him. Later that night, Pete suggests delaying the croc with a hook and bait to allow everyone to escape to the other side of the river, Simon (Stephen Curry) is sceptical of the idea, but Russell (Wolf Creek's John Jarratt) agrees to try. Lacking bait, everyone suggests using Kate's dog Kevin, before using two dead birds Neil and Collin showed them earlier, they are hooked onto the boat's anchor, the rope is secured by a rock, and the bait goes into the river. After a long wait, the crocodile is lured by the bait, the group make a break for the far shore, Russell assists Sherry's mother, Elizabeth (Heather Mitchell), who can't swim. The crocodile suddenly lets go of the hook, as Kate swims across behind the group, she is dragged underwater by the croc, Pete rushes across the river taking Kevin, and heads into the bush to find the others. As day breaks, Kevin runs away, Pete chases the dog into a cave, falling down a chute into a bigger cave, he finds Neil's corpse, he realises it is the beast's lair, and to his surprise, he finds Kate badly injured, but still alive and unconscious. Pete attempts to carry her out, but hides when the croc returns and eats Kevin, it enters the cave and falls asleep, so Pete tries to reach the entrance, carrying Kate. The croc wakes and makes several attempts to kill both Pete and Kate, finally after a long battle, during which he is tossed around, and his hand is bitten, Pete makes one desperate last stand, he braces a broken log, the beast lunges at him, and Pete successfully impales it through the head, killing it. Pete escapes from the crocodile's jaw, carrying Kate, he finds the other surviving tourists being treated by paramedics, the credits rolls as the camera zooms on a newspaper article details Pete's heroic battle with the crocodile. Also starring Celia Ireland as Gwen and Barry Otto as Merv. It is like any other scary B-movie featuring a massive reptilian monster, the deaths come thick and fast, tension is maintained most of the way through, the outback setting is fine, the special effects are reasonable, and there are small moments of humour in amongst the chaos, overall it is a fairly fun horror thriller. Worth watching! A few years ago,a movie which had really impressed me was Wolf Creek.I went to see it with moderate expectations,and the final result was an excellent horror film,which had an unusual level of tension and cruelty.That made me have very big expectations about Rogue,director Greg McLean's next film.And I think that such big expectations played against the movie.Do not misunderstand me…I liked Rogue,and I think it is a competent horror film,but I did not find it too memorable,and it disappointed me a little bit in sight of McLean's previous film.Let's first see the positive elements from this movie.For one sight,it gets a good level of tension on some scenes,and McLean could create a good atmosphere.With one exception,the cast is very competent and the actors fit very well on their roles.And,finally,the view of the Australian landscapes result truly impressive.Now,let's go to the negative elements.The exception from the cast I had mentioned is Michael Vartan.He seems to be lost with his character,so he does not exactly know how to react on the scenes.Besides,at the difference of the rest of the cast,he does not fit too much on his role.On one specific moment,the rhythm from the movie goes a little bit down.I think a better edition there would have helped.Besides of that,there are not too big fails on Rogue.Its biggest problem is that I did not find it too memorable.However,I think this film deserves a recommendation,because it kept me entertained in general.
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354 weeks ago