Film Review: Rampage (2018)

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Rampage (12A)

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Akerman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Director: Brad Peyton

The Plot: Dastardly genetics company Energyne has been performing secret experiments in space on a pathogen that mutates animals, causing them to grow to gigantic sizes and enhancing their aggression. When the experiments go wrong, three samples of the pathogen crash-land on earth: one in Florida where it's consumed by a crocodile, one in Wyoming where it affects a wolf, and one in an animal sanctuary in San Diego where it's found by George, an albino gorilla that understands sign language. Primatologist and former special forces solider Davis Okoye (Johnson), George's carer, tries to stop the military from taking his rapidly growing friend but soon realises there's an even bigger threat - Energyne is sending out a signal summoning the animals to their building in Chicago, and the military is powerless to stop them. Okoye must team up with former Energyne scientist Kate Caldwell (Harris) to find an antidote at their building, before the animals destroy the city . . .

Check out the trailer for the film here.

 

Review: I'll give you a moment to recover from my description of the plot and the trailer, if you watched it. Yes, this is a film about The Rock trying to stop giant mutant animals from destroying a city - this should tell you enough about what kind of film this is and its intended audience. It's very loosely based on the 1986 arcade video game Rampage where players controlled three giant mutant animals (called George, Ralph and Lizzie) and attempted to gain the highest score by destroying cities and eating humans. Warner Bros acquired the rights to it back in 2011, but it wasn't until The Rock came on board in 2015 with his production company 7 Bucks that the project gained any steam - the script was written, director Brad Peyton (who directed Rock in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and San Andreas, and will direct him in forthcoming sequel San Andreas 2) was recruited and shooting took place last year. The result is exactly what you'd expect - big, silly and lots of fun. I really enjoyed it.

  

The Rock (I can't refer to him as Johnson, he was and always will be The Rock to me) is box office gold these days. The charisma that electrified pro wrestling audiences has carried over to his film career and by now he's proved that attaching Rock to a project, no matter how silly it is, virtually guarantees success - he's reached the level where people will go to watch a film simply because he's in it. Rampage benefits from this and it's fair to say that it wouldn't work as well as it does without him being there to carry the film from each action set piece to the next. His character doesn't have much of an arc - it's established quickly that Davis prefers the company of animals to people, hates poachers, and this doesn't change - but it doesn't matter in a film like this. He's likeable and charismatic enough to make you accept that a hulking great special forces soldier can also be an expert primatologist and teach sign language to a gorilla. He and George even exchange a bro fist, after the gorilla first flips him the bird. That's the kind of film this is.

The film makes no apologies for what it is - it's a big, silly popcorn film that invites you to leave your brain at the door and enjoy the action. As such it excels where you'd expect it to, namely the visuals and the big action sequences, and also falls flat where you'd expect it to as well, in the quality of the plot and the acting. But do you really care about how stupid the plot is in a film like this? Do you care that the talented Naomie Harris is wasted on a role like this, when she sparks well with The Rock? Do you care that Malin Akerman (as Claire Wyden, CEO of Energyne) plays the most stereotypical villain ever? The answer is no, you don't - these things aren't important, and don't effect your enjoyment at all. You're here to watch large monsters fuck some shit up (within 12A limits), and you won't be disappointed in that regard.

The action and spectacle are where the film really delivers. The CGI is, mostly, very good and does a really good job of conveying the scale of how large the animals have become, particularly the crocodile. Following George's initial escape and another in which he wreaks havoc aboard a plane, there's an exciting sequence where a team of military contractors are sent by Energyne to put down the wolf and get wiped out. This is all building to the film's grand third act where all three of the animals, driven by the signal being sent out to them, arrive in Chicago and chaos ensues. The action on display here rivals any disaster movie as whole buildings get levelled and the military is wiped out by the beasts in an orgy of destruction, and then goes one further when George (in a plot thread you saw coming from the film poster) is cured of his rage via the antidote and teams up with The Rock to take the other animals down. This is exactly what you came to see and it delivers. To the films credit as well it doesn't try to make Rock appear superhuman - while he's a dab hand with a helicopter and a grenade launcher, he isn't taking the animals on hand-to-hand and it's George who puts in most of the work.

Oh yeah, and the wolf can fly. Because why not?

The film turned exactly as I predicted it would when I first saw the trailer several months ago. It's big on action and spectacle, it's funny in places, and it's a vehicle for The Rock, which isn't a bad thing. Bonus points for Jeffrey Dean Morgan and his drawling OGA ("Other Government Agency") spook who does the world's most obvious character turn. You don't come to a film like this for the quality of the script, or the acting, or the direction. You come for a visual thrill-ride and that's exactly what you get - it would be unfair to penalise it for its obvious flaws. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and you will too.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Exactly what you'd want a film like this to be - big, dumb, and high on spectacle. The Rock is entertaining as usual, it's funny in places, and the visuals are terrific. Leave your brain firmly at the door and escape for an hour and three-quarters.