Adapted from the classic arcade series, “Rampage” is the latest film from frequent collaborators Dwayne Johnson and director Brad Peyton, who’ve previously given audiences such cinematic fodder as “San Andreas” and “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”. They’ve returned to the big screen with some even bigger creatures and an even bigger city to destroy. When the dust settles, is the film still standing, or does it crumble to the floor?
Dwayne Johnson has made a career out of being a genuinely likable and charismatic star, with real success in the comedy genre. Numerous times, however, he’s also been the bright spot in some pretty bad movies. While the same isn’t entirely true here, he is the best part of the film. His character, Dr. Okoye, has a kind of warmth and trust that he instills upon the audience that makes his character immediately likable.
Jeffery Dean Morgan also proves to be a charismatic “cowboy” kind of an agent. He’s quick with his southern wit and plays well off Johnson’s big softy persona. The rest of the cast is fine, though no one stands out as well as Morgan and Johnson do. Naomie Harris’s Dr. Kate Caldwell is a decent enough female lead who manages to do a good job despite mainly spouting exposition.
Jake Lacy and Malin Åkerman are delightfully goofy as the film’s villains, but eventually their shtick becomes overplayed and a little annoying. Some of Johnson’s close friends who are initially introduced are also forgotten about completely after about 25 minutes into the film, wasting some charming and likable characters.
“Rampage” is a big dumb movie. It clearly exists as an excuse to provide audiences with big creatures destroying a city and each other. In that respect, it succeeds. By the time they reach Chicago, the action has boiled over and leaves viewers with a visually enjoyable third act of top shelf popcorn thrills and destruction.
It also knows the importance of building tension, and because of this “Rampage” builds an impressively slow and worthwhile first act. Things take some time to get going, and the explanations for the mutations, while simplistic, make sense and are delivered in such a way that they’re completely explained in enough time to provide for some seriously fun animal attacks.
There is one big problem with “Rampage” however. It’s just very simple. There’s no depth to its characters, action, story, or ideas. It does bring up a few times the idea that aggression isn’t the best answer and that big tough guys aren’t always tough, but it never commits to these as crucial themes in the film, and if it had, they’d be completely betrayed in the third act.
Simple doesn’t mean bad though. “Rampage” does manage to provide audiences with some popcorn thrills all wrapped up in some likable characters, decent writing, and surprising heart. Don’t be shocked if the film’s portrayal of the bond between George and Okoye remains the one thing that sticks out after the credits role.
“Rampage” is a big dumb movie that’s still a hell of a lot of fun. Cool action scenes and likable characters help to hold up a drawn out third act and an overly simplistic plot and ideas. It’s fun and it isn’t awful. It’s also saying a lot that it’s probably the best video game adaptation ever made. “Rampage” is a lot of things; it's not that memorable, it's not that original, it's not that great. But it's also not half bad either. 3/5
Photo Courtesy of New Line Cinema, Flynn Picture Company, Wrigley Pictures, Asap Entertainment, Seven Bucks Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Pictures.
