This recap/review does contain spoilers, so if you haven't seen the movie, you've been warned 😉
"Rogue" is the newest collaboration between MJ Bassett and Philip since their brief reunion on the Season 5 (or 6 depending on how you count) finale of Strike Back. According to Philip, the character of Joey Kasinski, was written specifically for him by MJ. There's a tadbit of the serious, military man Stonebridge under the wisecracking, Backstreet Boys loving character and it blends wonderfully.
The story combines the problems of human trafficking and lion farms that plague Africa. Joey is a member of the ragtag group of for hire soldiers lead by Samantha O'Hara (Megan Fox) that has been hired to bring back the kidnapped daughter of the governor before she becomes victim of Zalaam, the local human trafficker. As with many a well laid movie plan though, it does not come together.
The "asset" as the daughter is called, ends up being set for a move sooner than Sam and her group thought. A trademark "Bassett Blast" (aka a big explosion) provides a diversion and Joey and Bo long range cover, as Sam and Elijah moves to the building they believe the asset is in. MJ tosses in the Stonebridge/Scott joke of if they go on one or zero right before they enter the building, only to find... nothing. No girl, as Nuru's contact had promised. The only other logical building she could be in requires Joey and Bo to expose themselves to the bad guys and draw their fire so the rest of the team can get to it.
Once inside, they not only discover their asset, Asilia, but two other girls locked in separate cages. Sam is only interested in rescuing "the money", however and is willing to leave the others behind knowing what will become of them. The guys on her team pressure her into getting all of the girls out even though that's not what they are getting paid for.
A makeshift back door blown in the back wall gets them all out and into the two escape vehicles but their celebration is short lived. The bad guys are quickly in their own transport and hot on the team's trail. No amount of fancy driving and shooting or the incoming Osprey chopper can keep the team safe. Joey gets a flesh wound on his arm, they lose two men, and end up cornered at the top of a cliff overlooking a river. They take out some of the bad guys but not before another team member gets a mortal wound and stays behind to provide cover as the rest of the team make a daring jump off the cliff.
They all survive the plunge and move on to put distance between themselves and the baddies. Sadly, one of the rescuees, Chloe, gets eaten by a crocodile at a river crossing before they make it to an abandoned house. This turns out to be the lion farm from the opening scene in the movie. Only now, it's oddly trashed and abandoned. They soon discover that a lioness who the lion farmers tried to kill is still alive, wounded, and very pissed off. Now the rescue team is caught between her and Zalaam's team and help won't becoming until dawn, 5 hours away.
The lioness picks off all of Sam's team except her and Joey and makes quick work of most of Zalaam's as well. Joey gets badly wounded by her but manages to stay alive and discover why she is still around when the other lions left.
Sam lures Zalaam into the barn with the promise of handover the governor's daughter. Instead she traps him, herself, and the lioness inside. The lioness attacks and kills Zalaam and Joey shows up with a peace offering for her... her cubs. Momma hears her cubs cries and busts out of the barn instead of killing Sam. She leads them off into the the sunrise as the cavalry arrives, albeit a bit late, for Sam, Joey, and the two girls.
Overall the script and movie are good, well executed, with good acting. Philip does a great job with Joey's wisecracks, that can be heard even when Joey isn't on camera. He has a good knack for the comedic. He even has a good singing voice as Joey has a boy crush on the The Backstreet Boys and is constantly singing the chorus of their song "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)". Kenneth Fok, as Bo, makes a good partner for Joey. They play off other well, both in serious and not so serious moments.
I'm not sure Megan Fox was the best choice for the female lead, but she did make Sam's struggle with the "doing it for the money" and "doing the right thing" and just keeping command of the team fairly believable.
Philip obviously shined when it came to the action parts of the movie. Both he and MJ had their extension knowledge of how to make it look real from their days on Strike Back. So there was little doubt those scenes would be anything but great.
What most people will take issue with is the CGI lion. But something to consider is that there was no safe way to use a real lion to do what was required. Nor would it have been humane to try and do so. The live animals that they did use were kept safe (as were the actors) and had no special task other than to move from one cage to another which is easily accomplished with some tasty treats. As for the actual CGI, could it have been better? Well, yes but the budget for it was no doubt limited leaving Weta (Lord of the Rings series) and ILM (Star Wars series) out of the candidate pool.
I, honestly, would have loved for the script to delve more into the farming and illegal trading and poaching that is decimating the wildlife in Africa, as well as other parts of the world. But maybe that is what is in the works as Philip heads off to work with MJ on her next project in Kenya? Only time will tell.
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