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Rating: 2.5 out of 5
I know you have been in an arcade or even Dave & Busters and seen Rampage. Rampage is a classic arcade game from Midway. If you don’t know the background of Rampage, in the game, humans are transformed into strange, big-ass animalistic building destroying monsters. The three monsters are George, a giant ape; Lizzie, a giant ass lizard thing; and Ralph, who turned into a giant ass wolf. I’ve spent many tokens playing this game, getting my ass handed to me or destroying many buildings, and cars and watching people fly across the screen. If you go into an arcade, please play Rampage. It’s not a challenging game.
This brings me to the movie Rampage starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. I was very hesitant to watch this film as I recently watched Doom. The movie and the Rock were god-awful in that one. I thought, “Here we go again,” with the Rock trying to do another video game film. I will be the first to admit that this one wasn’t great, but it wasn’t awful. It was right in the middle of being decent.
Based on the famous arcade game, Rampage starts off on a space station called Athena-1. The space station is owned by gene manipulation company Energy. Shit goes wild as one of the test rats becomes big and destroys the station. Dr. Kerry Atkins is ordered by CEO Claire Wyden to retrieve research canisters containing a pathogen. Atkins manages to escape disaster in her escape body but, upon re-entry, learns that the body was damaged and is burnt up to a crisp. Each canister lands in a specific place, such as Everglades in Florida, where one is eaten by a crocodile, a forest in Wyoming, where a gray wolf is exposed to the pathogen, and a sanctuary. Primatologist Davis Okoye, a former US Army Special Forces and member of an anti-poaching unit, works at the San Diego Wildlife Sanctuary. He is best friends with George, an albino gorilla that communicates by sign language. When one of the canisters exposes George to the pathogen, George grows and becomes more aggressive. Looking for a cure, Dr. Kate offers her assistance when each monster is soon called to Chicago. As the mutants descend on the city, will an attitude be found in time before Chicago is leveled?
I have to admit that this film was decent and entertaining, although some points were truly over-the-top. What was interesting about the story was how the creatures were formed. Always have a pharmaceutical company messing around in space and blowing shit up because things go terribly wrong. The samples fall into three specific areas where George, an albino ape, a wolf, and an alligator find them and turn into big ass creatures. In this one, the Rock plays a primatologist who was a former Special Forces soldier and member of an anti-poaching unit. The Rock’s primary goal is to help his friend George. I have to admit that Geroge and the Rock have funny moments.
With this film, you know you need some action and destruction. The first major scene is with Ralph against the mercenaries. This scene was good and intense as Ralph went to town on the mercenaries. Hell, Joe Manganiello stood absolutely NO chance against Ralph. The way the camera action showed fear, hesitation, and not knowing what was going on was really good. It was a nice start-up scene for things to come. The question the film led you was how they would get all these big ass creatures together.
Well, Claire Wyden, the CEO of Energyne, decided to activate a beacon, and all hell broke loose as the monsters were drawn to the beacon. George, who was being carried by plane and sedated, woke up and destroyed the aircraft. When they managed to get to Chi-Town, the monsters really didn’t care about each other. They were only concerned about destroying the building, which is understandable. Also, when Claire got eaten, it was a little head-scratching, but it is a video game movie; gotta progress the story somehow.
The film’s fun but over-the-top part was when the creatures got out of their trances. It was a battle of Godzilla vs. King Kong vs. whatever the dog beast was. It was all over the place with chaos and destruction. It seemed like the focus was on George vs. Lizzie and Ralph. George being the smarter of the two, managed to trick Lizzie into taking out Ralph. Also, it was so cool seeing Ralph fly. A wolf that could fly was interesting, and I never remembered that in the game. Now, George was getting his ass handed to him by Lizzie. This is where the Rock became the Rock. Homeboy jumped in that helicopter and shot all types of weaponry. The Rock also ran with grenades against Lizzie. Once again, over the top and crazy to watch, but in the end, George managed to win.
This brings me to the chemistry of the Rock and George. I found it hilarious that one of George’s specialties is sticking up his middle finger. Yes, the gorilla learned the sign language, but it was funny. I loved the ending because you thought George had passed away, and Rock showed tears until we see that George was faking the whole thing. It was a playful moment.
The acting is what you expected. The Rock seems to play the same roles over and over again. If it works, don’t change it because it’s getting you paid. Naomie Harris as Katherine “Kate” Caldwell was okay. She did her job as the intelligent scientist who helps and wants to see the company taken down. I actually really enjoyed Malin Åkerman as Claire Wyden. Nothing like a strong but cutthroat woman. My favorite person was Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Harvey Russell. He was like this Texan government agent who works for some mysterious government agency. He had some of the best lines, and he was pretty funny when Claire’s brother died.
Overall, Rampage is a decent video/arcade game film. It’s not god-awful, but it’s not memorable. It will do its job of entertaining you and your mind moving on to the next thing. The Rock does the Rock, and that is okay because it makes the movie work. I would say watch the film, go to the arcade, and play a round of Rampage. I would say pick Ralph the Wolf because he is awesome.
