There’s not much to say about this new Aussie horror endeavour except: It lives up to expectations. It’s by the same guy that made Wolf Creek (Greg McLean), and is about a bunch of tourists (including the usual whinging Poms, Yank Wanks, jolly Paddies and lovable Aussies) getting picked off on a Northern Territory river cruise by a big croc.
That’s not to say it’s a bad film. In an industry so mired in pretentiousness (the previously mentioned Wolf Creek a case in point), it’s refreshing to see a film so joyfully steeped in its own cliché. McLean is masterful when it comes to direction, building up a surprisingly subtle sense of dread without very much gore at all, and the croc – a.k.a the world’s ugliest Muppet – is way scarier than any all-CGI creature.
The cast are stock standard, and revel in their nameless caricatures characters. Yes, it is enormously irritating to have the sexy American bloke (Michael Vartan) become the hero of the piece when Stephen Curry, John Jarratt, and Radha Mitchell are all on board and have potentially interesting backstories that don’t seem to go anywhere, but it’s the film’s only real drawback. Well, that and the fact that Vartan’s travel writer seems to like communing with grasshoppers.
There are major plotholes, and the last third is uneven, when half the cast seem to disappear and leave Vartan to fill centre stage, but the croc and the carnage make up for it nicely.
Want brilliant dialogue and intriguing characters? Go see something else. Like seeing a large animal twist, break, and dunk puny humans as if they were Oreos? Rogue is the movie for you.
That’s not to say it’s a bad film. In an industry so mired in pretentiousness (the previously mentioned Wolf Creek a case in point), it’s refreshing to see a film so joyfully steeped in its own cliché. McLean is masterful when it comes to direction, building up a surprisingly subtle sense of dread without very much gore at all, and the croc – a.k.a the world’s ugliest Muppet – is way scarier than any all-CGI creature.
The cast are stock standard, and revel in their nameless caricatures characters. Yes, it is enormously irritating to have the sexy American bloke (Michael Vartan) become the hero of the piece when Stephen Curry, John Jarratt, and Radha Mitchell are all on board and have potentially interesting backstories that don’t seem to go anywhere, but it’s the film’s only real drawback. Well, that and the fact that Vartan’s travel writer seems to like communing with grasshoppers.
There are major plotholes, and the last third is uneven, when half the cast seem to disappear and leave Vartan to fill centre stage, but the croc and the carnage make up for it nicely.
Want brilliant dialogue and intriguing characters? Go see something else. Like seeing a large animal twist, break, and dunk puny humans as if they were Oreos? Rogue is the movie for you.
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