| Director | Greg McLean |
|---|---|
| Budget | $25 million |
| Box office | $4.6 million |
In the remote swamps of Australia's Northern Territory, a wild cow drinking from the edge of a lake is suddenly attacked, and devoured by a ferocious, powerful crocodile.
American travel journalist Pete McKell joins a small group of tourists on a crocodile-watching river cruise in Kakadu National Park of Northern Territory, led by wildlife researcher Kate Ryan. After the cruise concludes, a passenger Everett spots a flare in the distance, prompting Kate to head upriver to investigate. While traveling miles upriver, the passengers become anxious, the silence is becoming heavy; the landscape is turning hostile and dense and realizing they have entered unmapped territory. They come across a half-sunken boat wreck with no survivors. As the group figure out about the origin of the flare, a big reptilian shadow beneath the surface crashes into the boat, damaging the starboard side.
Kate manages to steer the sinking boat to a small piece of land in the middle of the river. Kate believes they are in the territory of a large crocodile. She explains that they must leave the island by nightfall, before the tide rises, and submerges the land. After a brief scuffle between the tourists, Everett is silently dragged away by an unseen creature as he stands on the riverbank. Two locals Neil Kelly and Collin, arrive to track down their missing river cruise, but the creature upturns their boat. Neil swims to safety while Collin disappears.
At night, Neil devises an escape plan by carefully swimming to the opposite riverbank to string a rope between two trees, creating a guide line for the group to safely cross the river. Everett's wife Mary Ellen crosses first, only to freeze in fear halfway across. Impatient, Allen attempts to get himself and his daughter Sherry across with Mary Ellen still on the line. While trying to secure the rope due to the sheer weight of the family, Neil is ambushed and killed by the creature. The tree holding the rope breaks, and the three tourists fall into the water. After frantically swimming back to the island, the creature snatches Allen, throws him back into the river, and devours him. It is revealed to be a rogue, 7+ metre long saltwater crocodile.
Pete suggests baiting the crocodile to anchor it on one side, allowing everyone else to swim to the other side, using Neil's two dead gooses instead of Kate's dog named Kevin. After a long wait, the bait is suddenly pulled, and the group makes a break for the far shore. The crocodile eventually lets go, seizes Kate and drags her away underwater. Pete hurries across the river with Kevin in tow and into the bush behind the others. The next morning, Pete chases Kevin into the bush after he runs off. He falls down a narrow chute into a large cave, where he discovers Neil's mangled body. The cave is revealed to be the crocodile's lair and Kevin leads him to a severely injured Kate. Pete attempts to carry her out, but a startled Kevin runs ahead towards the cave entrance where he is ambushed.
The crocodile devours Kevin's torn corpse and falls asleep to digest its meal. Pete attempts to sneak out of the cave with the unconscious Kate. It senses their presence, and silently dives back into the murky water to attack Pete from behind, narrowly missing him. After several attempts to catch them, the crocodile takes a chunk out of Pete's hand while he grabs a piece of bone and stabs one of its eyes. Pete eventually props a large broken log against a boulder, with the sharp end pointing outwards to impale it. The beast lunges at Pete, and dies. Pete escapes from the cave with Kate, and carries her body into the open daylight of the swamp.
A newspaper article details Pete's heroic battle with the beast and his rescue of Kate, which happens right before they are tended by paramedics.