Rampage

Year: 2018
Director: Brad Peyton
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman, Jake Lacy, Demetrius Grosse


Plot: A space station carrying out top secret experiments is destroyed, causing a meteor shower that sends three canisters containing lethal pathogens to Earth. The pathogens subsequently infects a gorilla, a wolf and a crocodile, increasing their size and aggressiveness. It's up to the gorilla's handler, a disgraced scientist and a government agent to stop them from destroying Chicago.


Review: I vaguely remember the video game of the same name that Rampage is based on, where players get to destroy buildings using the giant animals. Quite fun. That aside, Rampage is every bit the summer popcorn movie it's being marketed as, though not without its flaws.

These days, when you put Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson in a movie, you know it has blockbuster written all over it. Johnson certainly has earned the right to be the most bankable star in Hollywood, with action film Skyscraper coming out later this year and Hobbs & Shaw coming next year. From his time in WWE, he has been a very likable guy and has no problem at all making the transition to movies, and he does seem like he's playing the same guy every time. Here, he's Davis, a former Special Forces soldier turned primatologist, who is best friends with an albino gorilla named George.

When a wolf, a huge ass crocodile and George get infected by the pathogens and turn into rampaging monsters, Davis teams up with Dr Kate Caldwell, who used to work for the company that made the pathogens, and Russell, a shady government agent with a few tricks up his sleeve. With a gorilla and a crocodile on the loose, it's like watching King Kong and Godzilla all over again. But is it fun? Yes it is.

Director Brad Peyton, who directed Johnson in San Andreas and Journey 2 The Mysterious Island, certainly knows how to destroy stuff. Here, he's a lot like Michael Bay, except he doesn't go overboard or throw in unfunny humor. While there is a lot of destruction to behold here, it only really kicks in during the second half, when the beasts arrive in Chicago and start crushing everything. There is a cool sequence featuring the giant wolf and a group of private military contractors going at it in a forest in the first half though.

As mentioned, Johnson is a likable guy and he brings that to the table as Davis. Naomie Harris plays the staple female brainy role as Caldwell, who has her own axe to grind with her former employers. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is basically Negan in a suit, but it works as his Russell character is just the guy Davis needs when the moment requires it. Convenient? Maybe. But it's perfect for him. Malin Akerman is suitable enough as Caldwell's greedy employer, with Jake Lacy equally fitting as her dimwit brother and the movie's defacto clown.

The CGI look good for the most part. But Rampage does suffer occasionally from a lack of focus when Peyton slows the film down so that Davis and Caldwell can exchange their sad pasts, or when the FBI show up to investigate Akerman's company, which feel really extraneous.

Overall, Rampage is a fun popcorn summer movie which ought to keep you entertained before Infinity War arrives. (7/10)