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The Rev. D.D.
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
203 Posts |
 Posted - 05/16/2008 : 10:47:56 PM
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(I apologize in advance if my memory fails me, as I caught this a couple of weeks ago but have had no time to write down my thoughts.
I will also try to discuss the film as best I can without giving away any plot points or spoilers, which may result in my being a bit vague at times. I can always clarify in later posts if people wish me to.)
Well, it took us almost 30 years, but we finally got another good giant crocodilian movie. In fact, I'd say quite good.
I wish I could say great, but...well, we'll get to that.
While Alligator is still the reigning champ, Rogue gave it a damn good try. In fact, I thought it might even succeed for a while. Shame about the last third of the film though...
Make no mistake, though--I did enjoy it, and will gladly watch it again.
<<Opening synopsis>>
We start with an American arriving at some out-of-the-way bar in the Outback. He's a bit of an "ugly American," and the bartender mugs it up a bit, giving us MOOOORE than enough "local colour." I have to admit I cringed a bit here. We've seen this kind of thing a lot, and it rarely bodes well.
Thankfully, nothing else in the movie quite reaches this level.
We eventually learn he's a travel writer, the kind of guy who goes on trips and writes about what he does. He's here to take a river cruise. I'm not quite sure what has possessed him to make this particular trip to Australia merely for this, unless he's got other things planned after this one. I love being on the water, and travel too, but considering his job description, I would expect him to go after something a bit more juicy. It's possible this is meant to be an "ironic" counterpoint to future events.
As he arrives at the river, the movie settles into a "meet the meat" stretch. It manages to not drag, and the characters are lightly filled in, just enough to give us a glimpse into them. Some will never give us more than this first glimpse, but we will get a bit more about others as the movie progresses. Since this is supposed to be a horror film and not a character study, I think they made the right choice. We learn enough to care about these people, but not so much that it takes too much time away from the chaos to come.
As they travel the river, the guide lady (who the main character engages in some very mild flirting with, which was rather refreshing) gives us a bit of history of the place, and of course mentions the saltwater crocodiles that come up the river sometimes. I do not claim to be an expert, but the couple of factoids she gives us sound about right--habits, size, etc.
A couple of locals show up in a speedboat and mock the tourists. One of them seems to have a bit of history with the guide. Again, this is all cliche, but to my surprise they don't delve into said history. Is he a jilted would-be lover, or an ex-boyfriend? We aren't sure, and frankly it isn't important. He's a bitter asshole, and his friend's a stupid asshole, they'll probably cause trouble in the future, and that's all we need to know. These two jaw with the protagonist and a couple other guys, and eventually take off, leaving the tour to continue.
Then, in a rather nice bit, a man with a video camera sees an odd glare in the sky. No one else sees it, but since he was shooting the scenery (which admittedly is gorgeous...we get some aerial views of the river, which is literally an oasis carved into the rock of the Outback, surrounded on either side by barren rock and dirt, that just take your breath away. The river itself is so lush and vibrant that it's a real shock to see what's literally surrounding it), he rewinds his disc, giving everyone else a chance to study it and determine it to be a signal flare. The guide says they must go and see if anyone needs help. The passengers grumble and complain, but she points out that, if it was them, they'd certainly want anyone to see their flare to help them, right? She radios to base to let them know, but naturally the response is garbled. (It seems like they'd have strong radios for this sort of thing. To be fair, though, they are pretty far up the river, and in a canyon, so I'm betting the signal wouldn't be too good regardless.)
Further up the river, they find a wrecked boat. No sign of survivors. Before long, something slams into their boat, and I mean SLAMS. The sturdy boat starts sinking, and they have to pull ashore on a sandbar in the middle of the river. As they try to figure out what happened, the speedboat returns. Naturally, they take this opportunity to have some fun with the stranded crew...fun which is cut short when that mysterious something smashes their boat into the air from below. Only the bitter asshole makes it to shore. As they try to come to grips with what is going on, the guide reassures everyone that, before too long, her dad and the others at home base will come looking for them.
The only problem is...they don't have near as much time as they think. If saltwater crocs come up this part of the river, that means they're pretty close to the ocean. Oceans have tides, which means they're on a little spit of land that's eventually going to be underwater. And as they're soon to discover, the water is absolutely the last place they want to be...
<<Review>>
I don't want to go into too much specific detail of the film, because it's got some nice twists and turns in store, and one really nice scare scene that made me jump, not in the "loud noise/spring-loaded *fill in the blank*" type way, but the good way, the "HOLY CRAP!!" kind of way. (I'll just say it's definitely influenced by one of the biggest hair-raising scenes in Jaws, and since it's not cheap or done wrongly, we can call it an homage rather than a ripoff.) For someone like me, that's saying something, as I've seen too many movies of this kind and I no longer scare easily.
You may have noticed me talking about the rather cliched characters in the opening there. Rather like Mortal Kombat, the movie assumes we're familiar with them and sketches them in lightly, rather than beat us over the head with "characterization." That in and of itself is nice.
What really sets it apart is how, once they're all stranded, and soon after realize the dangers they're in, they are capable of changing their behavior and attitude.
The big example is the bitter asshole. How many movies have we seen this type of character remain a jerk, regardless of the danger around them? Don't you think you'd put aside petty differences when your life's on the line? (I suppose it's done so we're happy when they die near the end of the film, as they always do.) Not here, though. Once he realizes the crap they're in, and the very real possibility of dying horribly, he becomes part of the team. He turns his negatives into positives, helping get everyone together on a plan to get out of their situation using the power of his personality. There's a well-judged moment where he and the protagonist are working together to bring their plan about. They still verbally spar, but even as they do, they're still working together. While they never become friends, they do at least turn their bickering into a grudging respect, in a natural, underplayed way. You know they're not friends, but seeing what we do, we can believe that they're willing to let bygones be bygones and make sure they get out alive.
What I'm trying to say is, the characters act realistically. Although many of them come off as cliches or archetypes, they're not overplayed. All of them seem like people you could meet in your life. Furthermore, the characters react in very real fashion to their predicament. Some become hysterical, but never in an unbelievably over-the-top fashion. Some try to remain calm and, in turn, calm the others. One decides to get drunk on some beer that washes up from the speedboat, being no help at all. Some care only for themselves, some only for their loved ones, and some about everyone else. These are believable characters. These aren't caricatures, they are people. Not only does this make them much more interesting to watch, but we care a lot more about what happens to them. We're invested in these people.
Further twists are made to our expectations as far as survival. It's been a while since I've seen a modern horror movie that didn't offer up a simple game of "Spot the Victim." If you go by what your experience in the genre tells you, you're not going to be correct on who lives and who dies. Out of habit, I was doing so during the first part of the movie. I was right about some, but I was surprised by how many I was wrong about.
Even a few of the ones I correctly marked for death threw me a bit, because they don't die when their analogues in so many other movies do. It's a little thing, but it just adds to the whole. There are three deaths that were quite surprising, but I'll let you watch yourself and see if you can figure out which ones, and why.
This feeling of "Who's gonna die next?" really ratchets up the tension, because you can't be sure who, if anyone, is going to make it (except, perhaps, the protagonist. But even that's not guaranteed anymore.)
Well, let's talk about our star, the big-ass crocodile. For the first part of the movie, we don't get more than fleeting glimpses of the tail or head, if even that (another Jaws influence, I think.) We do eventually get to see it, and...well, I have to say I wasn't in love with it. Most of the scenes are done with CGI, which I'm not a huge fan of. But it's not just that. The head seemed wrong to me, a bit more square, kind of like a gator's rather than a croc's. It also seemed a bit...well, chubby. Still, it's got a unique look, and the props they built for some of the scenes actually look great. In fact, the prop head looks a bit different from the CGI one, to me at least, to its credit. I could have done with a lot more props and a lot less CGI.
Gore is surprisingly low. For the most part. Near the end we get a nasty-looking corpse that wouldn't be out of place in an Italian zombie movie and a rather gruesome devouring. Otherwise, it's mostly bloodless (although during a night attack, I thought I saw a limb go flying from a shaken victim into the water. However, it looked like the person had their limbs still as they were dragged under, so maybe it was meant to be a shoe?...)
Sadly, near the end the movie loses steam. It goes from "group fighting to escape" to "one man vs. a seemingly unstoppable foe." This can be done well, but unfortunately we get quite a few Hero's Death Battle Exemptions (and one reaaaaally nice intervention from Lady Luck near the end...all I'll say is, what if the croc had turned its head the other way?), a dragged-out cat and mouse sequence, and a revelation that really let me down: not only was it a HUGE cliche, in a movie that seemed to work so hard to play with, and defy, convention; not only did it seem pretty much impossible; but it also completely negated one of the big shocks from earlier. Just like that, my spirits dropped a bit, and never quite recovered. I will say, however, the little denouement that plays under the first part of the closing credits is a nice little touch, bringing us full circle.
Cinematography is well-done. Those simply breathtaking aerial shots really stuck with me, but they also did well to light the night scenes in a way that let us see what was going on, but still kept things very dark around them, to add to the tension. (The big scare comes during the night sequence, and the lighting is perfect--eerie, but clear, so we can see what happens.) Editing was good as well; I can't recall anything too jarring.
The characters are nicely written, as I said. A couple of them act stupidly, but not unrealistically. The plot moves along well, only bogging a tiny bit near the end. The theory for the croc's behavior makes sense, and the thing with the rising waters is really rather clever, as well as ratcheting up the tension.
Tension...the movie's quite good with it, I must say.
To be honest, I almost think the last third of the movie may have been done by a different director. It seemed less well-written, more obvious, and suddenly went from almost no gore to quite a surprising amount, considering the preceding two-thirds. It's not enough to make me think ill of the movie; it was a good time. But it is a bit of a letdown, I think, and suffers for coming after some really nicely-done filmmaking.
Luckily, that last third can't erase all the good stuff in the first two, and overall I left feeling like my money had been very well-spent. And that's what matters, I think.
I definitely recommend it when it comes out on DVD.
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I need to let Mr. Begg know I posted this... |
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Nlneff
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2008 : 8:11:00 PM
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Good review. I was lucky enough to catch this in Denver and I thought it was pretty good.
The size of the Crocodile was absurd, but at least the CGI showed it did have mass. When it was hauling itself onshore late in the movie I could almost hear hear the croc complaining about his own weight.
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The Rev. D.D.
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
203 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2008 : 9:42:32 PM
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I did mean to mention the size, and how a realistically-sized 25-footer (or even a slightly bigger 30-footer) would've been more than enough monster. This thing was near-prehistoric size. However, I've seen so many giant rogue critter films do this that it seems a bit churlish to bag on this movie for it.
Good point about them trying to give it bulk, even though it was CGI. I did find myself surprised by that.
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And thank you for the compliment. |
Edited by - The Rev. D.D. on 01/15/2009 07:20:14 AM |
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Nlneff
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - 05/19/2008 : 07:12:53 AM
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Minor Spoilers
I also agree with parts of the third part of the movie being a let down. Specifically, the movie, after actually convincing me that anybody could die, enough that I actually expected the kid to become croc chow, which rachetted up the tension a lot, no one was safe, not even the dog.
Likewise, just before the final act, a attack on a major character was particularly effective and brutal, but the movie at this point wanted to have its cake and eat it too.
Looking forward to the DVD. |
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Nlneff
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - 05/19/2008 : 11:02:48 AM
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That should have read as follows.
Spoilers
Specifically, the movie, after actually convincing me that anybody could die (enough that I actually expected the kid to become croc chow) kinda didnt take that to its logicial endpoint.
Likewise, just before the final act, a attack on a major character was particularly effective and brutal, but the movie at this point wanted to have its cake and eat it too.
Looking forward to the DVD. |
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The Rev. D.D.
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
203 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2008 : 10:31:46 AM
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Will also be talking about the minor spoilers, in regards to the previous post. Highlight below to read, but please, only if you've seen the film. Don't spoil it for yourselves...
I completely agree, and that "brutal and effective" scene is the one that got the "HOLY CRAP!!" out of me, immediately followed by a murmured, "I can't believe they just killed *that person*!!!" Once again, playing with expectations based on the cliches and paint-by-number plots we get in so many of these things. I absolutely did not expect it.
And then they completely negate it. Just really knocked the wind out of my sails. It wasn't as bad as the endings to Nightmare on Elm Street or Saw (which actively infuriated me), but still a real let-down.
At least we didn't get any indication of the cliched "people in adverse circumstances fall in love" bit, which helped a little.
And they did end up cacking the dog, which was a surprise after how long he survived. It usually happens pretty quickly or not at all, you know?
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You can read this part here if you want! |
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Nlneff
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2008 : 10:48:49 AM
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Just posted my own review at stomptokyo and badmovies.org under Eric45, Here is is.
[url][/url]http://badmoviezone.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?s=5b517c43a91f713e7c112a387dfb10cb;act=ST;f=5;t=11821
Its largely in agreement with your review, but if you want to read it here, here you go.
Its been slim pickings for giant animal on the rampage movies lately. As a kid growing up one of my favorite movies was King Kong (Despite the psychological trauma of seeing my favorite dinosaur horribly killed on screen.). And I always loved catching a classic embiggened animal flick on a lazy weekend.
Lately the boxoffice for these movies has stunk. The few well budgeted wide release movies have either flopped (8 legged freaks) or just flat out stunk (Anaconda) or both (Anaconda 2). There was a time when I hoped that the expanding international market would enable well budgeted monster movies to succeed financially. Surely with 10 times the potential market there is enough room for a few good old fashioned monster flicks with traditional B movie values but better budgets, maybe even fresh perspectives. Alas, that really hasn’t panned out (Yeah, I saw The Host, It was ok…and still a exception to the rule). I’m a capitalist, and honestly can’t blame movie makers from shying away from genres that don’t make money when boiler plate garbage like Prom Night makes $40 million dollars a pop. So I was surprised when Australian Greg Mclean (Wolf Creek) took a shot at a giant Crocodile rampage flick. I just got a limited release in 10 US cities, fortunately one of them was Denver, so I managed to catch it.
Rogue starts out well, with spectacular footage of various Australian vistas. The cinematography is a consistent high point throughout the movie. It reminded me of a IMAX Australian film I just saw. The production values, editing etc leave nothing to be desired. We are introduced to our characters, jaded American travel writer Pete, (Michael Vartan.) looking to take a tour of the local river, tour guide Kate (Radha Mitchell, looking fine if I may so pigishly say.), and various cannon fodder characters, or so we assume at first. None of the performances are grating, and there is just enough background information to distinguish the characters. The heavy from Wolf Creek plays a grieving widow, there is a Hank Hill character who sticks up for the tour guide when she is getting crap from her ex and his friend. A mother dying of cancer, her husband and daughter. A refreshingly spunky middle aged woman. Cleric, Ranger, Paladin, we got them all. While the background info on each character is sparse, all are played competently and they are all distinctive.
I’ll take a moment to point out there is a extremely gratifying lack of teenage models in this movie. The actors playing the two leads are 40 and 35, there is only one kid who remarkably you really don’t want to see die.
While looking at the gorgeous Australian scenery, the tour boat is interrupted by Niel and Colin, two local yahoos who harass Kate (Niel and Kate have a history.) This is a interesting scene considering what comes later, Niel is being a jerk, is being set up as a jerk, and ordinarily would be the designated dead jerk. Nevertheless the confrontation here is not handled well by either side (realistically enough), Pete deliberately provokes Niel while Kate pulls a stunt that that while satisfying to the audience was actually pretty reckless.
After turning back for home someone notices a distress flare, and after some discussion they decide to detour to try and help. They find a destroyed boat, no survivors and a grumpy Crocodile that would give Deinosuchus a run for its money, size wise. Soon they wind up stranded on a island about 50 feet from shore, night is closing in, and to make things perfect the island will be submerged from the tide within hours. Hijinks ensue.
Rogue is a straightforward movie. There is no real comic relief (Some black humor, nothing unnatural to the situation.) The tension is gradually ratcheted up, and in a grateful change from most of today’s horror movies, there is almost no use of shaky cam. The scenes are fairly clear, even the night scenes, (So much that I began to wonder where all the light was coming from.). For most of the movie safety is literally just a few feet away.
The Characters in Rogue are a cut above what we expect in horror movies nowadays. While we really only get to know 3 of them much, they are still a bit more complicated then usual. They show a range of reactions to despair, altruism, and pure selfishness. More importantly its clear that anyone can be killed, jerks, heroes, a little of both… While the body count is low, much of the movie is spent worrying if the kid will get et, or even <gasp> the dog. The movies general indifference to the moral qualities of its victims pays off in a big way later in the movie. In particular, the character of Niel defies convention, and his interaction with Kate and Pete rings true. Other characters have thier moments, sometimes proving to be a little more resourceful then expected, sometimes less...
The crocodile itself is a mixed bag. The special effects are excellent, this may be the most realistically portrayed giant reptile ever, (Including all the Jurassic Park movies) largely because the filmmakers decided to give the creature a sense of mass, i.e. the giant crocodile doesn’t move around like a hyperactive squirrel. It can strike quickly, but fast movement is limited to the water. The CGI is so good I had difficultly spotting any transitions between it and real props they used. On the other hand, the size of this Croc is ludicrous. There is a snippet at the end of the movie suggesting its 7m long. This is the largest 7m crocodile the world has ever seen (This may also be the only time a giant crocodiles size is underestimated rather then over, I’d say 9m and twice the weight of a 7m, at least 3 tonnes or more.) Honestly I don’t think a 3 tonne crocodile is much more scary then a 1 ton critter, at least in a sense meaningful to a 150lb croc appetizer. (On the other hand, the exposition delivered by Kate regarding Salties while still on the tour is actually fairly reasonable, by movie standards anyway.) But this is a personal gripe, and the biggest real complaint I have is that we don’t see much of the crocs attacks (A distinction shared with the much lower budgeted Black Water.) There are only a few on screen deaths, and while I understand the intent was to follow Jaw's “Less is more” ideal I think they may have gone a bit too far. Particularly when you try to digest the movies ending.
I’ll try to avoid excessive spoilers here, but basically the movie sets up its premise, increases the tension, has its two major set pieces which finally culminate in the desperate swim by the survivors for land. There is an excellent, shocking payoff here, and the movie had delivered on all my expectations, despite a low body count and very little gore. But then the final act kind of undercuts the effectiveness of the payoff. It’s still well done, but an awful lot of the movie rests on that shocking scene. The ending could have worked, if it had a something to fall back on, but it really doesn’t.
Having said that, Rogue is a good movie. Depressingly, it was a complete box office failure in Australia, failing to recoup more then 10% of its budget. Its US distributor tried to sneak it into the US in just 10 locations and succeeded, as it made only ~$7000 in its first week (I account for almost a quarter of a percent of that.) This really could be the worst things about the entire situation. Releasing a awful horror movie that tanks is one thing, but a competent, professionally made quality release that makes almost nothing, that’s can be a genre killer. I hope it does well on DVD (Region 1 in the US comes out in August I think.) I would suggest catching this when it comes out. |
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The Rev. D.D.
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
203 Posts |
Posted - 05/23/2008 : 08:22:26 AM
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Damn, it's poised to lose money? That's a crying shame, that is. When a high-quality horror movie can't make money, and yet stinkburgers like the string of American remakes we've had the last couple of years do, it really proves once again why Hollywood doesn't seem to want to bother with quality in horror movies, when apparently the public at large is happy with utter crap.
That is indeed depressing.
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As Steve McCroskey once said, "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking." |
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2008 : 3:02:05 PM
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Funny to see so many of you guys didn't like the final third. I did enjoy the first two thirds, even if I got the feeling I had seen that many times before. At least, and looks like you too noticesd, they did well trying to play with the viewers' reactions. I couldn't guess either who was going to die next, and the jerk turning into a competent help was a welcome change.
But I think the last part of the movie is wheere it really gets to shine. As outlandish and preposterous as the whole thing is, I found it nothing short of fantastic. The atmosphere and the setting alone makes that part stand out. |
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The Rev. D.D.
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
203 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2008 : 10:44:33 AM
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I just think it turned too cliched at the end, after playing with those so well earlier. I do agree about the setting, and it wasn't a bad final fight in and of itself. It just felt like they were done being serious about their film and decided to let the cliches take over. I dunno.
As I said, the ridiculous and unnecessary negation of the big shock scene soured me a lot. I might have been more forgiving of it without that.
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And as always, YMMV. |
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Nlneff
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2008 : 1:54:22 PM
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| Bumping this to mention Rogue came out in the US on DVD today. |
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Rogue
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