Review #1,369: 'Rampage' (2018)

Of the two major video game adaptations to be released so far this year - Roar Uthaug's Tomb Raider and Brad Peyton's Rampage - it's clear which project faced the most difficult task in successfully translating from pixel to screen. The Tomb Raider franchise first emerged in 1996, successfully combining action and adventure with an iconic hero at its centre in Lara Croft. The games had already inspired a move adaptation back in 2001 with Angelina Jolie in the lead role, and a sequel in 2003, and the filmmakers tasked with the reboot had over two decades of stories and established characters to work with. Rampage, however, was based on the 1986 arcade game, in which the player would control a human-turned-monster and lay waste to cities as the army tried to bring you down. That's pretty much it, but it was enough to convince the studio heads that a blockbuster could be made out of the rubble.

In terms of box-office, both movies failed to live up to expectations, and the mediocre takings of Rampage proved, if anything, that Dwayne Johnson isn't invincible. But in terms of reputation, Peyton's unashamedly brainless actioner is starting to pick up steam as a guilty pleasure. It does, after all, feature the muscly charms of the man-mountain formerly known as The Rock, a giant who is about to throw down with an even more impressive specimen, and possibly gain an extra neck-ripple in the process. He plays Davis Okoye, your average Special Forces soldier turned primatologist who enjoys a special bond with albino gorilla George at the San Diego Wildlife Sanctuary. When debris from an exploded space station crash down around George's enclosure, he starts to grow rapidly in size and his behaviour becomes increasingly unpredictable. The mysterious canisters belong to the gene manipulation company Energyne, who hope to create super-sized creatures and sell them off to the highest bidder. Why they are conducting their experiments in space is beyond me, but Rampage isn't the kind of film to benefit from closer scrutiny.

George isn't the only unstoppable beast on the loose: there's also a wolf and a crocodile. Joining Davis on his mission to prevent the monsters from laying waste to an entire city is exposition tool Kate Caldwell (Naomie Harris) and a shady government agent with a cowboy's accent and swagger. Played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Agent Russell is the film's most ridiculous character. It's unbelievably stupid, even by the standards expected of a film like this, brushing it's scientific explanations under a carpet and removing any stakes by making its hero utterly indestructible. But I found it impossible to resist its cheesy charms, and the relationship between Davis and George - who communicate with sign-language - is nicely done. Where Rampage fails is in its clashing of tones. Pantomime villains Claire Wyden (Malin Akerman) and her brother Brett (Jake Lacy) appear to have wandered in from another, even camper movie, and the sight of millions of innocents being casually crushed and burned in a wave of CGI destruction as our heroes fire off one-liners always leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Still, I enjoyed Rampage way more than I expected, even if I felt a little stupider as the credits rolled.


Directed by: Brad Peyton
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Akerman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie