Rampage

Dir: Brad Peyton

2018

***

Rampage has received some pretty damning reviews since its release, it’s almost as if people have taken it too seriously. Don’t get me wrong, big dumb action blockbusters aren’t always a means of escapism, I like to switch off my brain occasionally and watch something big and ridiculous just as much as the next guy (and I eat my popcorn by the tonne) but there is a fine line between fun and not fun. A good example of not fun would be director Brad Peyton and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s 2015 earthquake actioner San Andreas. Expectations of their third collaboration (they also made Journey 2: The Mysterious Island together) were pretty low indeed, probably made worse by the fact that Rampage looked a bit like San Andreas but with the inclusion of a big monkey and a large dog. Expectations exceeded – but in the opposite direction. I enjoyed it quite a lot. I can’t justify a four star rating but I have to say I am tempted, as it was a film worthy of the largest size bucket of popcorn the cinema had to sell. I vaguely remember the original video game on which the story is based and remember being unimpressed with it but liking the concept, I had no idea how they could adapt it into a film. I’m still rather staggered by how they achieved it to be honest, because even though the concept is utter nonsense, it was weirdly believable. Jurassic Park’s science is flawed but we all love that, Jaws passed down family-specific vengeance in her genes – utter nonsense but it’s a classic, and with all the love in the world, Independence Day is one of the stupidest films ever made – I’ve seen it a hundred times. I was fine with the premise that secret genetic experiments are happening on a space station orbiting the earth - I love a bit of space action. The idea that the dangerous samples crash-landed on earth and were discovered by two wild animals and a giant zoo-dwelling albino gorilla was also acceptable. The fact that said space station was destroyed by a giant rat did stretch me believability somewhat but it was an idea that was more than okay with me. In the original Midway Game, the large angry animals were all originally humans that had been experimented on, so this idea is far simpler and made sense in a funny sort of way. The science is flawed for sure but the idea is free from convolution. Sure, there was always a helicopter lying around when our heroes needed one and the script and certain scenarios could have been tweaked but apart from that the film is refreshingly pure. It’s giant gorilla, big wolf and humongous alligator vs the city and then eventually vs each other. There is also a justified reason for Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s character to be involved. The suited executives are the bad guys and the only government official you can trust is dressed like a cowboy – it’s standard big dumb action movie logic and its okay. Who doesn’t like Dwayne Johnson? The scenes with him and his mate George the giant albino gorilla are rather sweet and the animal vs animal scenes are genuinely exciting. The film’s villain has one of the best exits I’ve seen since Shark Attack 3 and not one of the cast members or character annoyed me. It is big and dumb but it is heaps of fun, mainly down to the ridiculously good science fiction elements and the fact that the concept is stupidly cool. The negativity I’ve read for this film seems a little harsh in light of how charming Rampage is. To fault it on its science is silly, to dismiss it based on Peyton’s previous efforts is also unfair. It goes without saying that it isn’t for everyone and it’ll never go down in history as a classic but there is plenty of fun to be had. If that’s not enough to convince you then consider this – infamously bad director Uwe Boll threatened to file a lawsuit against Warner Bros. if the studio did not change the film's title. Boll, who produced and directed an unrelated Rampage film trilogy, claimed that the Warner Bros. film would "shrink" his brand and revenues he could use for future installments of his Rampage films. He also went on to say that the Warner Bros. film "confuses the audience" and is "one of those typical feelgood, popcorn bullshit movies that the studios use to brainwash America even more!” If Uwe Boll questions a film’s quality, then it can’t be that bad!