Rampage (2018)
Warner Bros. Pictures
Directed by: Brad Peyton
Written by: Ryan Engle, Carlton Cuse, Ryan Condal, Adam Sztykiel
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Akerman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello, Marley Shelton, P.J. Byrne, Demetrius Grosse, Jack Quaid
Runtime: 107 minutes
When Rampage was first announced I have to admit that I really didn’t care for it. Rampage was first released on April 13th, 2018 and its DVD and Blu-Ray is set for release on July 17th and if you are like me and you didn’t care for Rampage the first go around do yourselves a favor and give it a chance when it hits the shelves next week.
Rampage follows a very generic story of a big science corporation by the name, Energyne, that is run by Claire Wyden, (Malin Akerman) and her brother Brett Wynden,(Jake Lacy). Energyne is responsible for creating a drug that makes its host grow in strength, size, and agility. In good sci-fi fashion, everything goes to hell in the first minutes. Davis Okoye, (Dwayne Johnson) is a former US Army special forces and is now living the rest of his life as a primatologist and he loves his silverback ape, George. From the very beginning of the movie, we see a connection between Okoye and George that you know it will be explored and explained as the movie progresses. The experiments that Energyne have been working finds its way to our favorite silverback George and now it is up to The Rock himself to stop George and find a way to cure him before its too late. The movie turns out to be a very fun and at times deep narrative with its occasional cheesy scenes.
When I was a kid there was just something so fun about the game rampage, but that’s all the game was just something that was meant to be played when you wanted to turn off your brain and destroy half a city. When the movie Rampage was first announced I didn’t care for it since the game Rampage didn’t have a story to go along with it. Rampage was never like an Uncharted or The Last of Us game where it would make sense to see a movie out of those games. Rampage was mostly about destroying buildings, racking up points and moving on, but I am glad that they decided to make a movie out of this game. What we get in this movie is a fun summer film that doesn’t ask you to think too much but it’s not like a transformers movie where everything is explosions and very little story. Rampage may not be Oscar-worthy but it’s a movie that is full of heart, charisma and it’s just a thrill to watch. One of the things that I really enjoyed about Rampage, and its something that I enjoyed in the last two Jurassic World movies, is how the movie makes you care about the human characters but also about the creatures. Rampage made me care about George and it made me want to see where they would take these characters next.
Like you have come to expect from every Dwayne Johnson movie, the acting in this movie is so bombastic and so over the top that you can’t help but smile as you watch these characters perform on your screen. There is one particular scene where Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character meets Dwayne Johnson’s character for the first time where you can feel the intensity between these two characters and it makes for a hell of a good time. Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Dwayne Johnson steal the show when they are together, they make a great duo, but not all characters share the same chemistry. Rampage falls flat on its face when Malin Akerman’s and Jake Lacy’s character are on the screen. The scenes in which these two actors share is downright cringey and it makes the movie feel like its dragging when these two are on the screen. It is a true shame that these two characters drag the movies at times, but please bear with the movie because the rest of the movie is pure fun.
The Blu-Ray and DVD come packing with 7 extra features and each of them is about ten minutes long. Each of these extra clips dives deeper into what it took to make the film and the origins of the film making them worth your while. If you are not going to watch all of these extra clips I recommend at least two one where they talk about Rampage and all the cool Easter eggs they have dropped in the movie to make it align to the video game and the second one I recommend is how the producers were able to bring George to life, it makes you appreciate this movie in a whole different level.
Rampage is a good movie that in my personal opinion didn’t get the love it deserved. As Rampage releases on DVD and Blu-Ray, I ask you that you give this film a chance and like me, you too will not be disappointed. Rampage takes all the fun from the original video game and multiplies it times a thousand making this a story that is not only fun but its a story full of emotion and high stakes.