Rogue (film)

The film stars Michael Vartan and Radha Mitchell and was directed, written, and produced by Greg McLean, who also directed the 2005 indie-Australian horror hit, Wolf Creek. It was also produced by David Lightfoot and Matt Hearn. It was made on a budget of $26,900,000 AUD.^[3] The film was inspired by the true story of Sweetheart, a giant Australian crocodile that attacked boats in the late 1970s.

Cast

Plot Synopsis

While carrying out research for his travel writing, cynical American travel writer Pete McKell (Michael Vartan) joins a group of tourists on a river cruise in the Australian Outback. He is immediately drawn to the feisty female tour captain Kate Ryan (Radha Mitchell), though she seems to regard him as a bit of a yuppie. After a run-in with two of the locals, Neil (Sam Worthington) and Colin, the cruise winds to a close, and Kate prepares to take the group back to base.

One of the passengers spots a flare shooting up in the distance, and Kate tells the group that they must investigate to find out if someone is in distress. A few miles up river, they come across a half-sunken boat with no sign of the occupants. Suddenly a dark shadow is seen approaching the tourists' boat underwater. Something huge crashes into them, water gushes in, and Kate has no choice but to shore the boat on the nearest land - a small island in the middle of the river. The group disembarks and begin discussing what to do, when one of the tourists disappears, pulled into the water by an unseen predator. As darkness approaches, the tourists realise that the tide is rising: in a matter of hours their small island will be submerged.

Neil and Colin arrive on the scene in their boat, and it seems that the tourists' ordeal is over. But their hopes are quickly dashed when something unseen smashes Neil and Colin's boat almost out of the water, and their boat sinks also. Neil swims and scrambles ashore, but Colin has disappeared.

As night falls, Neil proposes that he swim to the mainland and string a rope between trees, creating a zip line to allow the group to cross high above the river. Neil succeeds in crossing the river and setting up the rope, and the crossing operation begins. However one of the group freezes in fear half way across the river, another two climb on to the rope in a panic to escape, and one of the trees supporting the rope breaks and falls into the water. While trying to re-secure the rope, Neil is attacked and devoured by the creature. The three tourists in the water scurry back to the island, but as the last of them crawls up the beach, the creature suddenly shows itself, a gigantic crocodile, which plucks him off the beach and pulls him under.

Later that night, with the tide continuing to rise, Pete has an idea: delay the croc with hook and bait on one side of the island while everyone escapes off the other. Kate hooks two dead birds onto the boat's anchor, and Pete secures the anchor rope to a boulder and throws the bait out into the river. After a long wait, the anchor is suddenly grabbed and pulled, and the group make a break for the far shore. Pete tries to stop the boulder being pulled over as Kate swims across behind the group. The croc suddenly releases the hook and, as Pete screams at her to hurry, seizes Kate in its massive jaws and drags her underwater. Pete hurriedly makes the swim across the river with Kate's pet dog in tow, and heads off into the bush to meet up with the others.

As day breaks, Pete is crossing the stream when the dog runs away. Pete chases the dog into a cave and falls down a narrow chute into a larger cave, where he sees the bodies of one the tourists: the cave is the croc's lair and food cache. To his surprise, Pete finds Kate badly injured, unconscious, but still alive. He attempts to carry her out, but has to hide when the croc returns, devours Kate's dog, and falls asleep. Trying to reach the entrance carrying Kate, Pete accidentally wakes the beast, and it makes several attempts to devour both him and Kate as he retreats into the narrow confines of the cave. Finally, after a long fight in which he gets tossed around the cave and is bitten in the hand, Pete makes one last stand in front of a large boulder. He braces a broken log with a sharp end against the boulder. The croc lunges at him, and Pete successfully impales it through the head. The ordeal is over. Pete carries the unconscious Kate out of the cave and back to the river, where the other tourists and paramedics are waiting. As Kate is air-lifted away to hospital, she asks Pete, "So, how did you like the tour?"

The film closes by zooming in on a news-clippings board that was shown at the beginning of the movie, in a bar Pete visited. We see a picture of Pete under the headline "Tourist Defeats Killer Croc".

Reception

Reviews from critics from Australia have been overall favourable. Melbourne's Herald Sun critic Leigh Paatsch gave the film three out of five stars stating that "If you must see at least one killer croc movie before you die, it may as well be this polished little Australian schlocker".^[4] Sydney's Sydney Morning Herald critic Sandra Hall gave the movie three and a half out of five stars saying that "As scenes of carnage go, it's almost elegant. Its only disadvantage is it conjures up inevitable comparisons with Jaws and that is a benchmark the film has no hope of achieving".^[5]

As of September 4, 2008, the film has a 100% apporval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.^[6]

Box Office

Rogue debuted in the Australian box office on November 11 making $667,194 AUD. After 11 weeks in the nations cinemas it left making $1.8 million Australian Dollars. It was released on the 25th of April 2008 and in it's first weekend made $7,711. It remained in theatres for three more days before making an exit on a low $10,452. As of August 8 2008, Rogue has made $3,475,708 AUD worldwide. As it has been released in many countries allready, it may not recoup its $25,700,000 AUD budget.

DVD Release

Rogue was released on DVD in Australia on May 29, 2008.^[7] It is rated M for moderate horror violence and coarse language. Rogues DVD special features include a making of Rogue documentery, five featurettes and a theatrical trailer. The US DVD was released in August of 2008.

References

^ Rogue - Village Cinemas
^ Rogue - Box Office Mojo
^ Putting the bite back into horror The Age November 12, 2007. Retrieved on December 12, 2007.
^ Film Review: Rogue - Herald Sun Herald Sun November 9, 2007. Retrieved on December 12, 2007.
^ Film Review: Rogue - Sydney Morning Herald Sydney Morning Herald November 10, 2007. Retrieved on December 12, 2007.
^ "Vogue at RT". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-09-04.
^ Rogue @ EzyDVD

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