Rogue (2007) Horror Crocodile

Rogue (2007) - This is a survival film which means some people are not going to make it. That said we get a very quick setup. Pete McKell (Michael Vartan) has taken an assignment in the outback of Australia. A cynical travel writer he has taken an assignment to write about a ride on Ryan's Wildlife River Cruise.  Kate Ryan (Radha Mitchell) takes the group onto the river in a large flatboat and talks a good game as they look for animals. We learn about Northern Australia extensive crocodile population and are introduced to some of the characters on the boat. There is a married couple  Mary Ellen (Caroline Brazier) and Everett (Robert Taylor) , a British family Allen (Geoff Morrell) and Elizabeth (Heather Mitchell) with a teen daughter Sherry (a young Mia Wasikowska before she hit it big), a bragging camera guy Simon (Stephen Curry), an Irish lady Gwen (Celia Ireland) and Russell (John Jarrett) a man leaving his wife's ashes in the river. Kate tell us about the saltwater crocodiles and how deadly they are. They can grow up to 25 feet and weigh a ton so we really get the scare of reality. They also have a run in with a couple locals who bother them a bit having history with Kate. This is a pretty basic setup we can see that it is a diverse group of white people all looking to see the creatures from  the safety of a boat.

  On the way home they see a flare and have to respond since when people are in trouble you really have to respond. The tension created by this is palpable as people are ready to go home. Some will miss the bus others are just slightly annoyed. So up river they go through a narrowing gorge. There are some really beautiful shots of the boat as they travel to respond. When they arrive up river to a remote marshland rain is coming in the form of booming clouds. The boat is hit by a crocodile and starts to sink but fast acting Kate beaches the boat on a mud island. Trapped and unable to get a radio signal the group falls into arguing over what to do. This is a classic setup, since the talk on the tour is of Saltwater crocs we quickly figure out that the island they beached on is going to sink under a rising tide. The establishing shots don't look like a tidal area but who am I to be judge.
  At this point a good script will raise the stakes and Writer/Director Greg McLean does just that. You have to have stakes and getting eaten by a crocodile is certainly that. The raised temperatures of the characters are suddenly stunted when Everett who was standing too close to the water is taken by a giant crocodile. There you have the threat and it is big and dangerous and hungry. When the locals Neil (Sam Worthington) and his mate Colin come and see the situation, it looks like a possible rescue. Unfortunately their boat is sunk by the crocodile adding Neil to the group but not Colin. I have always heard that the sound of an engine could attract alligators and crocodiles. This to me is all the more reason to give them their habitat and stay out. McLean has established the danger, upped the ante and now starts a ticking clock.

  When the tide starts rising Neil comes up with the plan of swimming a rope across to the main land then suspending it above the water for the group to cross. The scene is quiet and tense as everyone watches him swim across. Once the rope is secured Mary Ellen who insists she go first and who would deny her, her husband was just eaten, but she freezes on the rope about three quarters across. Allen watching from the wings decides that his daughter and he should go next against good judgement and even though Mary Ellen has not finished crossing. His impatient panic means too many people on the rope and sure enough he causes it to collapse into the water. The frantic swim of the three now in the water survivors back to the island is cover for the crocodile who swoops in to eat Neil on the far bank.  This group is running out of options and members as the crocodile keeps returning to his food source. What to do? Tensions between the survivors mount as the island shrinks under the tide. Attempting to trap the crocodile to give most survivors time to swim across seems like a plan baiting the crocodile the group readies for the attempt. Elizabeth can't swim so that is a problem but the mustache gentleman decides to help her. Kindness in the face of cruelty the plan remarkably works but we lose another of the group. It is a plan and Kate and Pete will execute it while everyone else makes the swim for the mainland. The plan actually works as the beast goes for the bait and the group makes the dash. Unfortunately Kate falls victim and now Pete is alone getting off the island by himself.

  Pete is behind the group and can't find them as he wanders around in the dark he loses the dog, Kevin and tramps around looking for it. This stumbling and bumbling is fortuitous in that the dog found Kate and thus so did he. The crocodile had taken her to be stored as a mail for later  in a cave like den. terrified and terrifying the scenes in the crocodile den are brutal to watch. Kate is alive but pretty chewed up and unconscious and the return of the crocodile means Pete has to do something and quick. He places her up on a ledge and tries to hide. Leave the sleeping crocodile lie is the old saying, well maybe not but when it rests Pete has his chance to get he and Kate away. So much tension as he creeps along trying to keep an eye out while carrying her.  It becomes a personal fight against the crocodile up close and personal. Sort of fun but also a bit unbelievable still this is what we knew would happen. Since Pete and Kate are final people they are destined to win this one but still its a lot of fun to get there. Director McLean is a good film maker and has started putting together a good stretch of pretty good films, two Wolf Creek films, The Belko Experiment (2016) and The Darkness (2016).  I liked this film and certainly recommend it.