ROGUE, an Aussie horror film about a group of tourists menaced by a huge killer crocodile, is a B-movie done good. The last film along these lines that I watched was the excellent THE REEF, about sharks, and ROGUE is nowhere near as good as that film, but as it stands it's a hell of a lot better than the usual killer crocodile movies made by the likes of the SyFy Channel and other B-movie directors (Tobe Hooper, perchance?).

For starters, it has a decent set-up; nice and slow, building up the atmosphere, and making great use of Australia's barren landscapes to build the tension. The characters are well-drawn, too, with nice roles for the familiar faces (Sam Worthington, Radha Mitchell and John Jarratt). Once the story segues into the trapped-in-a-single-location scenario, the tension ups nicely, with some meaty scares and a rarely-seen beastie that's all the more realistic for being kept off-screen for the most part.

Sadly, the ball is eventually dropped with a lacklustre final reel, which is just way too predictable and not frightening enough to work as well as it really should. Never mind; fans of killer animal movies will still enjoy themselves with this, a perfectly acceptable outing for the genre despite its flaws.

Pete McKell (Michael Vartan) is a travel writer who takes a tour in the croc infested waters of the Australian outbacks. Kate Ryan (Radha Mitchell) drives her tour boat with a dozen or so tourist to see the crocs. When they go off course to investigate a flare sighting, they are attacked by a giant croc and get stranded on a disappearing island.

This also stars Sam Worthington as a yahoo local, and Mia Wasikowska as one of the tourists. This is a simple creature feature like Jaws. This is set up well, and it follows the simple formula. The CG animal looks good enough, and the best part is that he is hidden for half of the movie. There are no great lines. The action could be better, but it is good enough.

In the Northern Australia, a group of tourists goes on tour in the Ryan's Wildlife River Cruise to see crocodiles in the Australian Outback in the boat The Suzanne with the guide Kate Ryan (Radha Mitchell). When they are ready to return, one tourist sees a distress flare 3 km upstream the river and Kate heads the boat to an unexplored territory. They are attacked by a huge crocodile, the boat sinks and the hysterical group is trapped in a small muddy island stalked by the crocodile. However, the high tide forces the group to move, and the American journalist Pete McKell (Michael Vartan) has an idea to hold the killer croc while the group swims to the other side of the river.

"Rogue" is a light version of the tense, realistic and dramatic "Black Water", which is based on a true event. The beginning is well developed and tense, but in a certain moment the story becomes unrealistic and corny with a silly conclusion. Anyway, "Rogue" is an entertaining adventure, and the viewers that have not watched "Black Water" or appreciate a commercial happy ending, will certainly like this flick much more than I did. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Morte Súbita" ("Sudden Death")