"Rogue" review

Rogue (2007)

Director: Greg Mclean
Writer: Greg Mclean

Radha Mitchell ...Kate Ryan
Michael Vartan ... Pete McKell
Sam Worthington ... Neil
Caroline Brazier ... Mary Ellen
Stephen Curry ... Simon


A bunch of people head upstream to check out all of the majestic beauty that Australia has to offer. They pile on to a tour boat and proceed to make their way through crocodile infested water. Nothing to worry about though since a crocodile would never, ever attack anything bigger than it is. Oh no, bad luck. They happen to run headfirst into a giant croc who loves to eat stupid tourists. The beast takes offense at people gawking at him and starts stalking his new prey . The rest of the movie has the tourists making various attempts to escape the beast as he waits in the shadows for them to make their next boneheaded mistake. Seriously people, don't stand near the water if there is a crocodile hunting you. Horror movie casts never learn.

Killer animal movies can be fun. Nothing better than watching some giant man-eater take a couple of bites out of some doomed fool and then swallow him down. Unfortunately, that's the main problem with "Rogue". It's not a lot of fun. Once the cast gets trapped on the little island, it breaks down into the usual bickering and arguing as they debate the proper way to avoid getting eaten by a huge reptile. Since most of the movie takes place on a mud hole of an island in the middle of the night, you'd think the filmmakers could have come up with a better cast of characters to tremble in fear over the killer beast circling them. Instead we get stuck with a dour group of individuals that yell at each other every chance they get.

Of course none of that would matter if the kill scenes were worth something. But most of the attack scenes are either off camera or take place in the dark. The crocodile hunts them mostly at night so we don't get to see much of the beast in action. When he does strike, he moves so fast that the camera can't keep him up with him. Quality kills were lacking in "Rogue".

Still, the ending was pretty good as our wayward hero stumbles into the monster's lair and does battle as only a horror movie hero can. The croc tried to get his giant head into a lot of nooks and crannies and managed to score a couple of contact wounds.

Overall, "Rogue" is a competently filmed horror flick but is lacking in scares and tension. It takes itself a little too seriously which drains a lot of the fun of watching a monstrous reptile chow down on tourists. But if you're in need of a giant animal flick, it may be worth watching once.

SCORE: 2.5 out of 4 blurry crocs