Review of Rampage (2018) by Pipec — 09 May 2018

All gods must fall down. "Rampage" is the typical American blockbuster. And not necessarily one of the good ones. Titanic beasts, pompous action sequences, openly fanciful storylines, characters pigeonholed into lifelong stereotypes and one disaster, one apocalyptic disaster that incoherently assures the conception of a new franchise. We're so bushed of this situation that we're bursting with joy when an original idea doesn't become a shameless exploitation.

Although many agree that Brad Peyton's newest movie chaos has been the best of video game adaptations due to critics consensus, actually, it's fairly incorrect and unfair to ensure that, based on the film itself, it's noticed that the 1986 arcade game launched by Midway Games doesn't conform even 20% of the DNA of Peyton's film, is a story frankly distant; It's better to say that it's a source of inspiration, but drastically not an adaptation.

Toying with animalistic hybrids growing disproportionately and destroying almost all the City of Chicago, especially to Hollywood, looks suggestive, looks juicy, smells like money, an authentic CGI milking, and ultimately, that's what it becomes. There is not a story that really thrills the spectator, there are no attractable or special characters leading this unfortunate journey, there are no powerful twists and credible plot decisions for the film, in fact, there is not even a good execution of the action sequences, which, to be honest, have been one of the most frighteningly insipid, synthetic and soporific in a big-budget adventure movie, putting different kind of beasts in an urban quadrangle to fight each other is no longer as fun as before, just ask "Pacific Rim: Uprising.".

The references and "homages" are obvious and offensive. The fight sequences between these gigantic animals bring back memories of the great classics of Japanese monster cinema, especially Kaiju and Daikaiju. Many of the set-pieces in which these creatures dispute without contention brought to my memory immediately the hyperstylized and bombastic "King Kong: Skull Island" by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, the dramatic and slow-burning "Godzilla" by Gareth Edwards and, of course, Ishiro Honda's Japanese masterpieces. The disappointing thing is that it never fulfills its purpose, a disrespectful honor, they simply use them to bestow a personality, that is already nonexistent, to a film that is as clumsy as long.

There is something special to highlight Andrew Lockington's soundtrack. In different parts of the film, mostly in the first and second act, the compositions imposed on certain scenes were paradoxically appealing, I had never heard such unusual melodies in an action film, the effect I had on the scenes was minimal but moderately unusual and new. Jaron Presant's cinematography looks good, not spectacular, new-generation video-game zooms are well-used, four is the perfect number, but there are no risky or innovative ideas, a factor that should be key in this genre in which the script is terrible, the pictures must shine, Hollywood must attract people into theaters, at least, for their exaggerated production and art designs, but actually, if Warner's box office results for this movie are fabulous the only justifiable cause is The Rock, as its mediocre CGI and its futile premise end up being, rather a good focus of attention, a red alert for our money. As for Bob Ducsay' and Jim May's edition, there are not many good things can be said, as the film is tortuously long to be a pre-summer blockbuster, almost two hours of obscene visual gags coming from an albino monkey and frankly ineffective sequences that prey on the spectator's interest and end up overwhelming the experience, a cutting tactic, an endless nightmare that made me yawned fifteen times, but relax, long runtimes are only acceptable with films as "Blade Runner 2049.".

"Rampage" by Brad Peyton is not a lousy feature film, but is not a moderately enjoyable one either, has a fantastic cast — which is unfortunately thrown into the trash — but poorly structured, all-dimensional characters. The action sequences, the main offer of the studio for audiences, are odd-looking — not in the good sense of the word, — its edition does not give any impact to the cinematic experience it supposedly offers. The film won't harm the unstoppable career of The Rock, however, compared to the average of his films and the previous and much more exciting disaster movie with the same filmmaker ("San Andreas") is sadly inferior. A useless toy, grandiloquent and empty entertainment that will earn millions of dollars, but that will be forgotten as fast as the destruction of Chicago; excessively long, monotonous and clumsy; Warner Bros' last bet in the universe of video game adaptations slips back to the last position of the list.