2018 Film Review: Rampage (2018)

Directed by: Brad Peyton
Written by: Ryan Engle, Carlton Cuse, Ryan J. Condal, Adam Sztykiel
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris,  Jeffrey Dean Morgan
IMDb Link

It isn't saying much, but this is easily the best video game movie of all time, largely by virtue of foremost being a kaiju movie with a solid human element.

A corporate pathogen infects three animals, turning them in to potential weapons of mass destruction, with increased size, speed, strength, regeneration, aggression, the works. One of the animals is George, and albino gorilla and best friend to primate specialist Davis Okoye (Johnson). Okoye must team up with geneticist Dr. Kate Caldwell (Harris) in order to save George and stop the monsters from wreaking havoc upon the world. It's a big, cheesy blockbuster monster movie with an increasingly far-fetched plot and a seemingly never-ending excess of destruction, and the film is perfectly content to be just that.

A giant gorilla, an even bigger flying wolf and the biggest overly mutated crocodile all smash their way to and through Chicago, in an effort to get to and destroy a radio releasing a signal that sends them in to a blood rage. Limbs fly, blood splatters, people are mushed left, right and centre, and building after building gets a chunk taken out of it or comes down altogether. All of this is happening because of some cartoon-level bad guys (played with an appropriate level of camp by Malin Akerman and Jake Lacy) who want to test their unintended subjects, blame it on Kate, and try and get her killed in the process. It's completely preposterous and the movie revels in that fact, trying as hard as it can to cover for its front-heavy plotting with a sincere energy, supported by all the actors at play, particularly Jeffrey Dean Morgan, quite literally a government cowboy just here for a bit of fun and a pleasantly surprising redemption arc.

While senseless ruination is on full display, the thing that keeps the movie together is Johnson and his relationship with George. No matter how messy or overly convoluted the plot details become, the core concept of a man who loves animals like family remains focused and simple. It's interesting to see Johnson play a character like this; still an unkillable action hero, but one that's far less charismatic and even a little awkward around other people, preferring to spend time at home with his dogs than go one a date, that sort of thing. It's endearing, and it's sold consistently by how he is with George as opposed to everyone else, with an intrinsic care and understanding that's far less exaggerated than his usual characters and actually somewhat grounds the movie (at least at first, by the end it's totally ridiculous how hard he is to kill and a lot of the action feels drawn out and deflated because of it, but I have to give the movie and Johnson credit for genuinely trying to give this movie a bit of heart).

The Short Version: The friendship between Johnson's Okoye and George the gorilla is a solid and focused bedrock for a decent mindless destruction movie that doesn't play coy with its sheer explosive nature.

Rating: 6/10

Published April 15th, 2018