29th November, 2007

CHOE BRERETON

Rogue (M)

In A Word: Intense

IS THIS A BAD TIME?: Radha Mitchell (as tour guide Kate Ryan) looking a bit worried. "On a par with Jaws, this is on the edge-of-your seat cinematography, and Mclean, with his handpicked cast, does an elegant job of making you sweat with anticipation right until the end."

If, like me, you prefer your leading characters to be large, scaly with an adjoining mouth of razors, then Rogue is the must see movie to sink your teeth into this summer. Set in Australia’s Northern Territory, Rogue depicts chilling home-grown scenes of the horrors a single and, admittedly large, crocodile can inflict. You never see people get torn apart or savaged, they simply just disappear. With minimal gore and blood this movie is not so much about grossing you out as it is about making you wonder what in heavens you would do in such a situation.

The writer, producer and director Greg Mclean, famous for his debut film Wolf Creek, achieved a long-standing dream with the recent release of Rogue as it rolled out earlier this month on silver screens worldwide. But unlike Wolf Creek, Rogue is very much on a par with Jaws or Jurassic Park and carries no sinister undertones or scenes that are blatantly designed to disturb.

Michael Vartan takes the principal role in this teeth-grinder as a disgruntled American travel writer Pete McKell who would rather be anywhere else than in the northern territory’s stifling heat with a launch full of nine typically grating tourists. Melbourne-born Radha Mitchell, best known for her performances in Pitch Black and Man on Fire, co-stars as Kate Ryan, the Northern Territory tour guide that inadvertently leads her party into the hunting ground of a ravenous and savage seven metre croc - with terrifying consequences.

Beached with a sinking boat on a mud island that rapidly begins to disappear due the surrounding tidal river, the raw intimidating fear of people in crisis rapidly becomes evident and crescendos to desperation as the rogue crocodile begins to sullenly pick off the bunch one by one.

On a par with Jaws, this is on the edge-of-your seat cinematography, and Mclean, with his handpicked cast, does an elegant job of making you sweat with anticipation right until the end. The story is entirely believable as is the creature, beautifully brought to life by shockingly realistic mechanical effects and computer-generated imagery.

With mind-blowing scenery, unrelenting atmosphere, and the battle between man and beast on a grand scale, Rogue leaves other movies in its genre way way behind.

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