A Brief History
On April 12, 2018, fans of the video game, Rampage, will be treated to the big screen adaptation of their beloved game, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in his typical heroic, wise-cracking best. It is easy to see how female fans can so profoundly be attracted to The Rock, with rippling muscles and a genial personality to go with his characteristic wit and sense of timing. Lovers of spectacular special effects and vivid RealD 3D in an action film setting will be in their glory watching this eye-candy monster movie spectacular.
Digging Deeper
Rampage brings all the ingredients to a movie smash hit to the screen, an action hero (The Rock), a damsel in distress (Naomie Harris as Dr. Kate Caldwell), a super-villain (Malin Akerman as Claire Wyden), the monster with a heart of gold (George, the White Gorilla infected with the DNA altering concoction that makes him gigantic), and the evil monsters that must be defeated before they lay waste to the world (“Lizzie” the gigantic, mutated crocodile and a giant flying Wolf-thing).
Unlike the video game, that concentrated on destroying as many buildings as possible, Rampage the movie centers on Davis Okoye (The Rock), a former Special Forces soldier turned anti-poaching enforcer turned Primatologist and former DNA lab scientist Kate (Harris) who are trying to stop the monsters created by the evil corporation headed by Claire Wyden and her goof of a brother Brett (Jake Lacy) that have unleashed the monsters on the World. The other main character is Jeffrey Dean Morgan (“Negan” from The Walking Dead on television) as the mysterious government agent Harvey Russell trying to get to the bottom of the creation of the monsters. (Is this a guy a great actor or what!?!)
The special effects and RealD are eye-popping and outstanding, the cast is great, and although sometimes the dialogue is a little corny, it all works together in serendipitous way that makes for a highly entertaining film. Rampage is a film that should entertain the entire family, even older people unfamiliar with the video game as the plot easily stands on its own by way of explaining and showing how the monsters came to be and why. The youngest children may get scared from the mayhem and carnage inflicted by giant monsters tearing Chicago down, so a bit of discretion may be advised for particularly sensitive pre-teens.
Rampage takes the time to develop the characters just enough to engage the audience with who is good and who is bad and why, while never bogging down in over-development. With a running time of 107 minutes, the film never lags and when the action in the city starts, it is relentless. (Even the space scenes are particularly realistic looking, something some dedicated space set movies could take a lesson from.)
Once again, the audience clapped, and so did we! We heartily recommend Rampage for all audiences, not just fans of The Rock and the video game. (We predict if you are not already a Rock fan, you will be. A combination of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham rolled into one big likable action hero.) Enjoy!
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Landis, John. Monsters in the Movies. DK Reprint Edition, 2016.
Warner Brothers. Rampage: Total Destruction. Nintendo, 2006. (Video Game)
