"Rogue" Movie Review

Are you looking for a fun action flick to pass the time on a lazy Sunday? Look no further. Rogue is exactly that. Don't expect a lot of brains to come along with the brawn. It's not meant to make you think. t's meant to entertain, and it certainly does.

The film follows Samantha O'Hara as she leads her mercenary team on a mission to rescue a governor's daughter and find that the kidnappers are actually human traffickers. When their chopper is shot down during their escape, the team is forced to find cover for the night until they can find a means to contact another extraction team. While looking for shelter, Samantha stumbles upon an empty lion farm. Two bodies were found inside, leading her to believe the lions escaped. What she doesn't know is one of the lions stayed behind and is out for blood. Now, Sam and her team must stay one step ahead of the pursuing traffickers all the while attempting to steer clear of the angry, bloodthirsty lion.

It seems like films featuring endangered wildlife is becoming more popular. Just last year we had Primal, a film about a big game hunter caught between escaped animals and a fugitive. Where Rogue differs, however, is that we slowly start to realize that this film is raising awareness for captive lions in an attempt to shut these farms down. It's a noble attempt and, who knows, it could make a difference. You never really know what will inspire people.

So, diving into the film, I feel that there were equal amounts of positive and negative aspects of the film. Shall we discuss the negatives first? The most glaring error was after the rescue when the team is crossing an ankle-deep river and one of the rescued girls is attacked by a crocodile. Let me emphasize ankle-deep. A crocodile of that size jumping out of the water and snatching someone only to disappear again is insane. It's obvious that was thrown in the film just for a surprise effect but it's more of an eye-rolling moment than a shocking moment. The next issue was the CGI. Now, it's obvious that the main lion doing the attacking is going to be CGI. There's no way any studio would put their actors in harms way by trying to simulate animal attacks. The issue though is that the CGI is pretty shoddy. It's not laughable like Lake Placid Legacy by any means, but it's entirely obvious that the lion is fake and takes the viewer out of the moment. My third and final issue is with continuity. Not story continuity, however, but effect continuity. There's several post-attack moments where I was rather disappointed in the practical effects. One moment shows a body that appears to be barely harmed aside from the throat but then later Samantha says he was "torn to pieces". No he wasn't. Another attack left a man with perfect squares cut into his arm rather than claw marks. Hmm. Another moment, we can see someone who is supposed to be dead still breathing. I almost chuckled. It just seems to me that this was sold as a passion project but not a lot of effort was put into it.

Now, enough about the negatives, let's see some positives. My first positive is with the method of the lion attacks. We actually see the lion stalking its prey and going for the throat, which they actually do. It seems like director Michael J. Bassett researched how lions actually hunt so good on him. My next positive is with the star of the film, Megan Fox. It was so refreshing to see her in a role that didn't put her on display as some sort of sex symbol or eye candy. She handled herself well and proved that there's more to her than just looks.

In conclusion, the film is average. As I said above, it's a fun film that tackles a real-world issue all the while giving us an entertaining story for an hour and a half. I enjoyed it for what it was but it probably wouldn't be the first thing I'd recommend to someone either. I give Rogue a 2 out of 4.