Review: Rogue

Rogue (2007)
Genre: Horror
Format: DVD
Director: Greg McLean

An American journalist out to review the local Australian hot spots boards a river cruise with a bunch of other tourists and they all end up being stalked by a huge crocodile. McLean apparently is obsessed the idea that they are some terrible evil out there in the Australian wilderness: a serial killer in Wolf Creek and a serial killing croc here. Though structurally similar to Creek, this tale about a man-eating crocodile is less effective endeavor especially during its second half. The slow build up that was evident in Creek is also found in this movie but since there are many characters abound, you never invest much emotion in any one of them. The tension runs high when the first attack happens but soon after, the movie becomes haphazard and implausible. The final confrontation that happened a little too soon between the journalist and the croc is anti-climactic.

The CG works on the croc itself are average at best. The moments when you only see portions of its body looked great while the full reveal was just utterly bad. The body count and gore scenes are both very disappointing and how one particular person didn't die after being wrangled by that huge monstrosity just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. McLean should stick with human villains instead of trying to make a poor man's Primeval. I was desperately hoping that John Jarrat, who acted as the sadistic killer in Creek but got a pretty boring role here, would just jump into the water, kill the monster, and then kill the other characters brutally one by one. What a load of croc.

RATING: 2 out of 5