Review of Rampage (2009) by Kevin M — 04 Apr 2011

I went into this movie wondering what to expect. I had always wanted to see a movie along these lines, but in the end it didn't really work as I thought it would have.

The basic concept here is that the lead character Bill (Brendan Fletcher) is sick of his life and society which drives him to the edge of sanity. He lives in a small town with his parents, has a low-paid job and his only friend is a very left-wing philospher. He is constantly bombarded with the problems of the world on tv sets, radio and from his friend. He believes overcrowding is the cause of all these world problems, so he sets out to reduce his towns population. He builds himself a full-body suit of kevlar armor and takes two full-auto machine guns to make this happen.

This movie is very brutal, the lead character is esentially going on a killing spree in his home town, killing everyone in his path. I like the concept of a person being insane and doing something like this, but it needs more substance then just that. There are certainly times throughout his rampage where you can really feel that he has lost all touch with sanity, but at times it just seems silly and very un-realistic. I don't expect movies to be 100% realistic, but this movie is at times so un-realistic that it takes away from the entire point of the story.

Overall there was great potential with a story like this but I don't believe it was realized. So much more could have been done with this concept that would have made for a great movie. The main characters were portrayed well, the shock value was there but something is missing. I would recommend it to people who like violent movies, but I wouldn't go in expecting much.