Megan Fox, who made her name as the non-metallic bodywork eye-candy worshipped by Michael Bay in the the early entries of the Transformers movie franchise and then went on to cult-classics such as Jennifer’s Body, heads up the African-based action-fest, Rogue due out next month.
Fox plays Samantha O’Hara, a ‘a battle-hardened mercenary’ who heads-up a ‘lively squad of soldiers on a daring mission’. At first that mission is to rescue hostages from their captors in a remote part of Africa. But as well as dealing with a blood-thirsty group of rebels, there comes the danger of the local wildlife, in particular a lioness who does not take kindly to anyone invading her territory…
You can tell from the trailer that the film is goign for an full-on 80s-format action vibe with plenty of explosions, lots of gunfire and zippy lines of dialogue, supplemented by some decent, if not ground-breaking CGI for close-ups of the lioness in question. But there’s no denying the credentials of director M J Bassett who debuted her genre work with 2002’s Deathwatch work includes Solomon Kane and episodes of Strike Back, Iron Fist, Ash Vs Evil Dead and Motherland: Fort Salem. Bassett’s early work was as a wildlife photographer, so it’s clear she has an eye for the terrain and animals that are on show here.
Admit it: Despite the territory, this isn’t Roar! or The Ghost and the Darkness and the trailer probably encourages the cynic in you fully to expect Rogue to be the kind of film to win a Razzie for story and an Oscar for judicious editing… a production that you’d approach with low-expectations and the expectation of low-camera angles. However Fox and Bassett could still make a formidable team within an unapologetically familiar medium-budget action-template.
Bypassing cinemas, as most things are this year, Rogue is unleashed by Lionsgate (naturally!) to US audiences on blu-ray on 28th August and on DVD a few days later, 1st September.
