Rogue

This is the second Australian horror I've reviewed in as many weeks, following Jody Dwyer's debut feature Dying Breed.  If you think of dangerous things in Australia, the most likely to come to mind are snakes, scorpions and other creepy crawlies, sharks, stingrays and jellyfish and crocodiles.  The latter have already been the subject of an Australian horror with David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki's tense and atmospheric Black Water.  Now, Wolf Creek director Greg McLean gets in on the act, making a film that he first wrote over a decade ago.
 
Travel writer Pete McKell (Alias' Michael Vartan) is in Australia to write a brief puff piece about the Northern Territories and Alice Springs before returning to his native Chicago and, as part of his remit, takes in a river cruise in Kakadu National Park to see the much-vaunted crocodiles.  The tour captain, Kate Ryan (Radha Mitchell) takes a dislike to Pete, dismissing him as a typical American tourist but her view changes when he sticks up for her when an ex-boyfriend of hers rudely interrupts the tour.
 

On their return journey, and after seeing crocodiles in the water and one jump up for some meat, one of the other passengers notices a flare in the distance.  Though the area will take them through Aboriginal waters and make several passengers miss their bus, Kate decides that it's their duty to investigate and changes course.  In a secluded area, they find a craft that is mostly submerged and no sign of survivors, but then a large croc gives them a 'little nudge' and Kate is forced into hasty action, grounding the craft on the nearest piece of land - a small island.  They work out that the island will gradually disappear under the rising tide, the daylight is quickly running out and the crocodile is a 'rogue' territorial that will not stop until it has eaten or captured them all.
 
As a big fan of Wolf Creek I went into this with high expectations and with a fine cast, led by Vartan and Mitchell but with John Jarratt (from Wolf Creek) and Sam Worthington (who went on to star in Terminator: Salvation), I anticipated a tense and gripping affair.  I was not disappointed as McLean assembled a fine ensemble cast and used the breathtaking locations to superb effect, contrasting the beauty of the National Park with the high probability that, if lost, help is not exactly around the corner.
 
The characters are, as you would get on such a trip, a mixture of obnoxious tourists and ordinary folk with their own problems and are an interesting bunch, with all the bickering and group tensions that usually come with high stress situations.
 
McLean begins with a Tourneur-esque approach to the crocodile but changes as the creature becomes more prominent in the narrative to the extent where it dominates the screen.  He employs a very smart mix of animatronics, models and CGI to create something very plausible and very scary.  The creature may look huge but, as the opening scene shows, these amphibians can be enormous and he mentions in the commentary about one that was found recently which was over 7 metres long.  If the creature looks unbelievably big, that's because they can be - the Guinness Book of World Records has the largest living crocodile measuring 7.1 metres and, in 1957, an 8.6 metre crocodile was shot!
 

The Disc

 
Extra Features
First up is a commentary with Greg McLean which is a well delivered and informative track where he talks about the locations, casting and development of the crocodile.  He mentions the shooting process helped Michael Vartan overcome his phobia of snakes as there were that many around that he became used to them and that the temperature was over 50°C at times!
 
The extra features are all in standard definition, led by the 46 minute The Making of Rogue which contains interviews with all the principal cast and crew.  It is an interesting watch with plenty of revealing material, especially the proximity of big crocs to the cast during the shoot, that Radha Mitchell had to re-learn her Australian accent (she had a dialogue coach!) and how much of the film is effected by CGI in some way.
 
There are three shorter featurettes, running at about 15 minutes each: The Effects, The Music and The Northern Territory.  The titles are pretty self explanatory and the pieces themselves are interesting and well worth a watch.
 
Finally, The Real Rogue is a 3 minute piece in which members of the crew talk about their research into crocs and spending time in the crocodile farms at the Darwin Zoo; some of this material is duplicated from the other featurettes.
 
The Picture
The film looks amazing in high definition with the footage of the boat snaking through the river in the Kakadu National Park on a par with anything in a BBC nature programme.  The heat and humidity are palpable as the actors really look hot and bothered with superb skin tones, deep contrast and lush colours.  The construction of the crocodile, as I mentioned earlier, is a complicated affair which is utterly convincing.  I didn't think McLean would be the sort of director to embrace this level of CGI but it is the only way of getting the story told.
 
The Sound
The DTS-HD Master Audio track is excellent with crystal clear sound.  The dialogue is crisp and the use of string instruments as the basis of the score evokes Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Psycho in the use of cello and violin.  When the film needs to be loud, it is, but not to the detriment of the sound quality which maintains its clarity throughout.
 
Final Thoughts
Rogue is basically a monster movie at heart but it's not the romanticised type like King Kong or Creature from the Black Lagoon where there is sympathy for the creature - it follows a group of people who become prey to a giant rogue crocodile and must use their wits and bravery to survive.  It is also one in a reasonably long line of 'crocodile' films such as Alligator, Lake Placid and Black Water.  This is probably the best of the bunch, stylishly directed by Greg McLean and with superb performances throughout.  There are plenty of 'what would you do?' situations and is thoroughly gripping watch.  In the commentary, McLean points out how this version differs from the theatrical version but since it wasn't theatrically released here, I can't comment.
 
It's surprising how long it has taken for Rogue to get DVD (or Blu-ray) release in the UK - it premiered in 2007 and has been available in the US for over a year - especially considering how well Wolf Creek was received.  It's worth the wait and is highly recommended, see it in HD if you can.