Rogue

• Directed by M. J. Bassett
• August 28, 2020

A team of mercenaries gets trapped in Africa and must survive against local insurgents as well as a bloodthirsty lioness.

Given recent releases, Rogue looks like an attempt to reframe Megan Fox as an action star. If her time in the Transformers films couldn’t do that then I am not sure how Rogue could get that going. Not calling her or this film bad, but Fox as an actress is eye candy and not action.

Yet Rogue is a surprisingly good action film all things considered. I’m not calling it great, but my expectations were pretty low when I went in and it exceeded each and every one. Most surprising is Megan Fox who handles her part of team leader Samantha “Sam” O’Hara much better than one would expect. Then again much like Schwarzenegger in Conan she doesn’t seem to have a lot of dialogue. Rather she is the doer of the story and not the talker.

O’Hara is a mercenary with a bit of a heart of gold. Yeah, I laughed too. She and her men have been hired to rescue the daughter of a local governor who has been kidnapped by some sex traffickers that are planning to use the girl as leverage for control of the area.

The story itself opens on what is referred to as a lion farm which is capturing and raising lions for the pelts as well as for the bones to be sold for use in Oriental medicine and the like. After one serious “Oops!” the lions escape and apparently snack on most if not all of the people there. Finger licking good!

I was thinking this would be a man versus nature survival yarn, but it’s much more surviving against an evil local militia. The lioness, which is doing the hunting and one would think the movie gets its title from, is more lurking in the background and a bit of an element to save the day for a character that needs saving.

If you are into action films don’t go in expecting anything too over the top. There are no huge action sequences. That costs money and this is done on the lower cost side. I feel that is a bit of a benefit in this case. It keeps things relatively grounded other than the guy who survives getting mauled by a lion all the way to the closing credits. That bothered me, but since I liked the character I gave it a pass.

Based on a text blurb at the end, M. J. Bassett and her daughter Isabella who wrote the screenplay together have a point of view which prevented them from keeping a lioness as the main threat. And that’s fine. It even gets rehabbed a bit in the finale. Nothing wrong there though I do think she leaves a little too peaceably for something that was feasting at will.

The weakest point is the CGI used to create that very lioness. There are too many shots which clearly demonstrate the creature as fake. Lingering looks at the creature which show a lack of detail and nuance making it difficult to suspend disbelief ever. The shots of the lioness should have been kept shorter. If they showed anything it should’ve been close-ups of the feet and of the apparent fake head that was brought in from time to time to bite things.

As stories go, there’s not much here. At least in complexity. This is simple and straightforward. They just need to survive the night not only against the lion but the approaching militia. Once they do that they are golden. And they managed to get enough interesting elements out of that. The film managed to avoid mostly boring moments.

Rogue is a better-than-it-should’ve-been action film. Megan Fox turns in a better-than-expected performance in a better-than-expected story. While this will not rank up there as an action classic, it will certainly rank up there as an entertaining movie. You will not be disappointed but it is not worth going out of your way for.