Humans battling the forces of nature is a rich vein for filmmakers to mine and is unlikely to ever be tapped out, with yet another example seen in the first trailer for action thriller Rogue.
The movie, sadly, is not a standalone feature for the X-Men‘s power-absorbing southern belle, but the title instead refers to rogue lions, big cats without a pride. These are typically young males chased away by an older leader they were unable to overpower and usurp, but the trailer makes explicit mention of the antagonistic animal in question being female, probably indicating she’s unusually ferocious.
The story sees a group of mercenaries sent to rescue a young woman kidnapped by a militia group in Africa, but after being stranded, they seek refuge in a remote building, only to become menaced by the killer kitty of the title, trapping them inside as the enemy closes in on them. It will likely result in a woman against woman showdown after the soldiers are taken out one by one by the stalking predator and Megan Fox’s squad leader inevitably becomes the only one of them left alive. If you ask me, the marketers really missed out by not capitalizing on the ‘Lion vs. Fox’ potential tagline.
Although director M.J. Bassett’s Hollywood career had somewhat inauspicious beginnings with the lackluster fantasy Solomon Kane and unwarranted sequel Silent Hill: Revelations, her earlier work in the UK horror scene with Deathwatch and Wilderness shows she certainly knows her way around stories featuring a group in an isolated location being menaced by an unstoppable force.
Rogue has a very basic premise that will most likely result in a simple story and limited characterization for its variously doomed assortment of heroes, but such a setup can also result in relentless and compelling action, which the movie will hopefully deliver.
