Rampage – Film Review

When it comes to The Rock, you know you can expect big action set pieces with ridiculous antics. This is that in a nutshell. This film is just a giant popcorn flick that you turn your brain off and enjoy the big on screen action. There is a difference with this film in comparison to other dumb action flicks that are just there to have explosions. This film builds its foundation around the character relationship between a CGI Gorilla and the Rock. Dwayne really sells the bond between him and George throughout the film that doesn’t feel disingenuous or forced.

Though the dialogue is atrocious and the script leaves a lot to be desired. There were a few things that I did appreciate about it. The film is self aware and has fun with it, especially in how people die and in the comedy which I appreciated. The villains were moustache-twirly, unfortunately. I appreciate a female villain in a film, but with a great talent of Malin Ackerman, she is wasted. I wish they had developed a better written villain. Her zany brother was funny to watch, played by Jake Lacy.

Of course the wolf can fly.

I did appreciate in contrast Naomie Harris’ character, Kate. She felt very developed with a believable backstory and complexity. I find it both a good and bad thing that the character could have been played by anyone. It is a huge pro that it is a person of color as the female lead that not only has intelligence but has the ability to be proactive than reactive. I did like her performance and what she brought to the role. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was basically playing Government Agent Negan, but you know what, I didn’t care. He is such a charismatic actor with a distinct charm that you can’t hate it.

The visual effects looked great on the monsters and the destruction of the city of Chicago. I felt that there were a lot of clever nods to the video game that didn’t feel as forced. I did appreciate that the film only had 3 monsters and that the genetic editing aspect of how they grow didn’t feel too far fetched. Usually in big blockbusters there are a lot of visual noise with a hero to defeat, being George. As far as video game movies go with this and ‘Tomb Raider (2018)’ the genre has covered generic adventure and generic silly big blockbuster, it can only go up from here. It’s mindless big screen fun that should be seen on the big screen but isn’t the first thing you need to rush to see.
6.5/10