Review of Rogue (2007) by Jj B — 27 Jul 2009

Rogue is an amazing piece of horror cinema up until the final showdown with the massive 25-foot croc. Pity.

But Greg McLean still deserves a lot of commendation for making a horror film that relies on pure old fashioned suspense as opposed to gore and a huge body count. The premise is totally believable and scary.

The setting is as great a setting as you will find in a movie. Just like his previous film Wolf Creek, McLean sets the action against the Australian outback. He shows the environment as its own character, one that poses its own kind of threat to the characters. These locations are downright incredible to look at.

Also praiseworthy is the A-quality acting that comes out of all the actors. They create real characters that you sympathize with. I totally bought how everyone reacted to the situation.

Rogue is definitely a horror film worth watching, and I really want to give it four stars. But the ending just didn't do it for me. The CGI is flimsy, and the final encounter between Michael Vartan and the croc feels too much like Arnold vs the Predator. I won't say what happens, but it requires too much suspension of disbelief. It would have worked for me if the film was going for the cheesy B-movie creature feature feel, but it wasn't. Maybe if Arnold WAS in this movie instead of Michael Vartan....I don't believe he's fought a crocodile yet.