Review of Rampage (2018) by Matthew L — 17 Apr 2018

Rampage is a movie I walked into with no expectations, that somehow managed to fall short of my expectations while leaving me thinking that, simply put, it works. It's a rough ride getting there, but somehow, with weaknesses abounding throughout the movie, it manages some genuinely good action sequences and a shockingly endearing giant albino ape! The supporting cast varies from fantastic to outright wretched.

The differences in the supporting cast seem to come down to one very strange reality within the movie. The 1% are represented as infinitely corrupt, while highly educated, highly intelligent person's that work in more menial jobs are depicted as unsung heroes.

Every interaction between characters in the movie (save the mysterious man that is everywhere through the movie, and it's bizarre), seem to be driven by this underlying bias against the bourgeoise.

The movie embraces cliches whole heartedly and it's actually better for it. If the movie had taken itself more seriously, I could genuinely see it being the beginning of another planted of the apes style trilogy.

It has some ideas throughout that it unfortunately treats lightly. Then the unforgivable moment comes where after a half hour of unforgiving action, the Rock says "I need a drink", which is just bad writing, right? Like hasn't he delivered some similarity line in every other "tailored-to-star-the-rock" action movie? Either way, the overall effect of the movie is positive.

I walked in thinking nothing, was disappointed (though thoroughly entertained) throughout, and somehow ended up liking it. Also, interesting side note, there is notable gore at parts of the movie, including an opening sequence in space that has some gnarly gore, sporting mediocre special effects.

Thank goodness the rest of the movie looks and sounds better. Early on, some of the camerawork is completely incomprehensible: the camera shakes as if in the midst of an explosion while viewing the explosion from a distance in an escape pod.

The movie also seems unable to decide whether it is a thought-provoking sci-fi creature feature or an unabashed video game movie. Some characters seem straight out of a video game (villains and aforementioned mystery man), while your main characters are much more grounded in reality.

Some of the science is fascinating and well thought out, and I came away wishing it would've developed more about the pathogen that affects the creatures. Speaking of the creatures, they are TERRIFYING.

A little bit of intentional horror may have been a lot of fun! Also, the emotional core of the movie is inconsistent, but mostly delivers a genuinely rousing finale. Anyway, go see it, it's entertaining, but with a little more self-confidence, a little less inconsistency in style, and a tighter script, this could have been a truly great based-on-a-video-game film.

It manages to be just above average.