Rogue

This film took me back a few years. Usually nowadays decently acted and directed creature films are of the reality ilk ("The Reef", "Open Water", "Cloverfield"): there is little story, it is more about the reality and putting audiences in the situation. That is no bad thing as it brings new tension to the genre; however, it is nice to watch a good creature flick that favours story telling and character development. "Rogue" is just this: a good old-fashioned monster movie given a bright, new modern lick of paint. The setting is the backwaters of Australia (think the crocodile rivers in "Crocodile Dundee") and an American magazine writer (Michael Varton) goes on a touristy boat trip (led by "Silent Hill"'s Radha Mitchell) where camera-happy foreigners get to snap photos of the crocs in their natural envoironment. It soon goes wrong, though: after encountering a pair of local bad-boy rednecks (Sam Worthington and friend), the party see a distress signal and go into forbidden waters. Here they become stranded on a small island and must face the dual problem of a giant man-eating croc and the tidal river rising to cover the island. Given that this film was directed by Greg McLean (the man who directed "Wolf Creek") I was surprised by the shift from reality (documentary-style) backpacking film to a more classic storytelling approach. It really works well and (in similar fashion to the creature movies of old) you get to see the beast gradually. The effects are stunning and totally realistic and the sense of scale of the croc is impressively given even more authenticity through the excellent sound work (it's snapping, chomping jaws and heavy tail smashing into the water). It's obviously not as good as "Jaws", but then most films (of any genre) aren't. It is right up there in the second-tier of monster movies, though, and if you are a fan of this sort of film then this is an essential purchase. The acting is quality, the setting and tension atmospheric and the effects realistic. I end up sending many of the horror films I buy to the charity shop, but this one will be watched again. Enjoy.

THIS is how you make a monster-croc thriller set in Australia. Get Radha Mitchell as a tour boat guide (always dependable as she manages to blend grounded normality with being very watchable). Get Michael Vartan of Alias fame along as a passenger and her flirtation interest, and throw in rising action star Sam Worthington as a local lout whose fate ends up tied to theirs, and you've got a great cast. Add in fantastic scenery and tense filming, and you're even better on course. But then throw in one hell of a croc, the reveal executed via some truly fantastic attack scenes, and you've got a true thriller. Wolf Creek director McLean shows he knows how to handle traditional monster movie thrills and faster action, and there are enough slight twists and turns to keep you genuinely guessing who will or won't survive the ordeal once the tour boat passengers end up stranded and hunted by the titular 'rogue' croc. A pulse-pounder of a monster movie thriller!

After seeing and being horrified by Wolf Creek, I decided to buy this item to see what the director could do with a nasty crocodile. The story begins with a American (Michael Vartan) arriving at Austrlia for a trip, he joins with other people on a boat to see the crocodiles led by Kate (Radha Mitchell). After being interputed by supposely her ex-boyfriend Neil (Sam Worthington), they soon go into waters they shouldn't go in and find themselves chased by one of the nasty crocs. They must fight for surrival as the island they are now trapped in is a dangerous place with rising water and getting dark. Who will live during this terrifiying time? I thought it was going to be a jumpy film, had to mute one scene but other than that I didn't scream like a usual horror film would. It had a good start, gripping moments but with a stupid ending that really annoyed me. Like why kill off five people out of the whole cast, leaving two main stars and many other surrivours? I thought croc films are there to get each one, leaving maybe one or two people that are going to get together in the end. Also when one of the characters went in the film, it lost the whole fun thing in this. Spolier aleart for this, why did it have to get the dog? Come on! So in all, it's a good film to watch with some good extras and okay pefomances from Vartan, Mitchell and Worthington but it had far too many annoying things to rise it higher than three stars.

I actually think this is a 3.5-4 star film. I love 'creature features' and this is one of the best. But, I've given this blu-ray a five star rating because the picture and sound quality elevate it so far beyond the DVD and film alone. This is a visually stunning film anyway, with director Greg McLean lingering lovingly on the sweeping shots of the Australian outback - and, having been there myself I can say he really does it justice! Once the action starts the film shifts to a lot of night scenes; and even then the picture quality excells. All in all, this is one of the best blu-rays I have seen. 10/10 for picture quality. Then we get the sound: a ground-shaking, wall-vibrating DTS HD-Master 5.1 track that really utilises my speaker setup. The extras look the same as the UK DVD edition. I get really annoyed reading blu-ray reviews that don't bother saying anything about the picture and sound, and in all my reviews I aim to give the reader information that is actually useful rather than just my opinion of the film. Finally, then, if you like the film (read other reviews for detailed plot information) then this is a definite no-risk upgrade to blu-ray.

THE STORY: Australian outback tour boat responding to a distress call suffers motor trouble and ends up grounded on a sandbar in a remote river channel deep in the heart of the remote wilderness. Surrounded by high cliff walls, her little two-way radio is unable to reach outside the valley to call for help. Very soon it becomes apparent that the feisty female captain & her group of hapless passengers are trapped in a swampy cul-de-sac that's home to a very large, very irritable and very hungry crocodile. As night begins to fall and the tide slowly rolls in, the tiny sandbar they're stranded on gets smaller and smaller and smaller. Will anybody make it out alive? THOUGHTS: ROGUE was more or less what I expected, but at the same time wasn't. That's a GOOD thing! It is far superior to the vast majority of other giant animal on the rampage, direct-to-DVD (or SyFy channel) gunk filling video store shelves these days. Is the movie 100% perfect? Of course not, but it is both satisfying & genuinely scary. It pleasantly surprised me by not adhering to the cookie-cutter formula that most of these genre films follow. It's scary without being gratuitously bloody & gory and, here's a real shocker... there are no bimbo coeds yanking off their tops or bonehead jocks getting drunk and acting stupid just before getting eaten. Don't misunderstand me, because ROGUE is definitely NOT family-friendly viewing, but at least the filmmakers didn't stoop to ratcheting the violence up to the Nth degree just to cater to the torture porn crowd. ROGUE is well-directed & beautifully photographed, with minimal (but excellent) CGI creature effects. Top notch acting and, in another refreshing change, no dumbly-written characters who do completely unbelievable things and who you just know are going to die, which so many of these films have in spades. Kudos to the entire cast & crew of this terrific little horror-thriller. THE DVD: Audio & video are very good on this DVD, which also includes a fair amount of bonus content. All-in-all ROGUE is well worth the money, and the time spent watching it. 5 STARS

I thought this would be somewhere between okay and interesting. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen. I won't spoil the ending, but the ending was clever and not disappointing.

Le film est super bien mais ça aurait été bien de l'avoir en français car je pensais que le film était en français et même pas en français en anglais à part regarder le film sans comprendre de ce qu'il raconte c'est super surtout qu'on ne sait pas parler en anglais je mets 4 étoiles car il y a pas en français livré par Amazon

I googled film critics before buying this movie.The critics said that this movie is much better than its commercial results. I agree completely. This movie shows impressive scenery of the Australian mountainside an its rivers. The story is thrilling and action packed and well played by the actors. You will not be able to guess the climax throughout watching this movie, its a really dramatic ending. Don't want to tell you more, you must buy it and experience the thrill yourself!

Good movie, in good conditions