Rogue [DVD]

This film took me back a few years.Usually nowadays decently acted and directed creature films are of the reality ilk ("The Reef", "Open Water", "Cloverfield"): there is little story, it is more about the reality and putting audiences in the situation. That is no bad thing as it brings new tension to the genre; however, it is nice to watch a good creature flick that favours story telling and character development. "Rogue" is just this: a good old-fashioned monster movie given a bright, new modern lick of paint.The setting is the backwaters of Australia (think the crocodile rivers in "Crocodile Dundee") and an American magazine writer (Michael Varton) goes on a touristy boat trip (led by "Silent Hill"'s Radha Mitchell) where camera-happy foreigners get to snap photos of the crocs in their natural envoironment. It soon goes wrong, though: after encountering a pair of local bad-boy rednecks (Sam Worthington and friend), the party see a distress signal and go into forbidden waters. Here they become stranded on a small island and must face the dual problem of a giant man-eating croc and the tidal river rising to cover the island.Given that this film was directed by Greg McLean (the man who directed "Wolf Creek") I was surprised by the shift from reality (documentary-style) backpacking film to a more classic storytelling approach. It really works well and (in similar fashion to the creature movies of old) you get to see the beast gradually. The effects are stunning and totally realistic and the sense of scale of the croc is impressively given even more authenticity through the excellent sound work (it's snapping, chomping jaws and heavy tail smashing into the water).It's obviously not as good as "Jaws", but then most films (of any genre) aren't. It is right up there in the second-tier of monster movies, though, and if you are a fan of this sort of film then this is an essential purchase. The acting is quality, the setting and tension atmospheric and the effects realistic. I end up sending many of the horror films I buy to the charity shop, but this one will be watched again. Enjoy.

THIS is how you make a monster-croc thriller set in Australia. Get Radha Mitchell as a tour boat guide (always dependable as she manages to blend grounded normality with being very watchable). Get Michael Vartan of Alias fame along as a passenger and her flirtation interest, and throw in rising action star Sam Worthington as a local lout whose fate ends up tied to theirs, and you've got a great cast. Add in fantastic scenery and tense filming, and you're even better on course. But then throw in one hell of a croc, the reveal executed via some truly fantastic attack scenes, and you've got a true thriller. Wolf Creek director McLean shows he knows how to handle traditional monster movie thrills and faster action, and there are enough slight twists and turns to keep you genuinely guessing who will or won't survive the ordeal once the tour boat passengers end up stranded and hunted by the titular 'rogue' croc. A pulse-pounder of a monster movie thriller!

A very well-made creature feature with a good, effective blending of CGI and animatronics.That it has some basis in real-life incidents, is beautifully shot in the grandeur of Kakadu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory and has a very fine cast makes this a superior film from the general run of horror films of this genre.The DVD release presents a sharp, 16x9 aspect ratio picture with subtitles in English and HOH if required; it is supported by a selection of informative extras dealing with the making of, locations and creative aspects of the movie.A satisfying, entertaining film and with those extras it will provide a good night`s viewing.

After seeing and being horrified by Wolf Creek, I decided to buy this item to see what the director could do with a nasty crocodile. The story begins with a American (Michael Vartan) arriving at Austrlia for a trip, he joins with other people on a boat to see the crocodiles led by Kate (Radha Mitchell). After being interputed by supposely her ex-boyfriend Neil (Sam Worthington), they soon go into waters they shouldn't go in and find themselves chased by one of the nasty crocs. They must fight for surrival as the island they are now trapped in is a dangerous place with rising water and getting dark. Who will live during this terrifiying time? I thought it was going to be a jumpy film, had to mute one scene but other than that I didn't scream like a usual horror film would. It had a good start, gripping moments but with a stupid ending that really annoyed me. Like why kill off five people out of the whole cast, leaving two main stars and many other surrivours? I thought croc films are there to get each one, leaving maybe one or two people that are going to get together in the end. Also when one of the characters went in the film, it lost the whole fun thing in this. Spolier aleart for this, why did it have to get the dog? Come on! So in all, it's a good film to watch with some good extras and okay pefomances from Vartan, Mitchell and Worthington but it had far too many annoying things to rise it higher than three stars.