Off My Shelf: Rampage (2018)
Along with most of the other people in the world this past weekend, we decided to see the movie Rampage. I had my doubts; I’ve been let down by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s taste in acting jobs before. (Not by his acting, per se - just by the movies themselves).
Plot: The Rock works with gorillas — specifically, a very rare albino gorilla named George — and The Rock doesn’t like people. Meanwhile, several canisters of dangerous experimental chemicals crash on the earth from a destroyed space station — one infecting a wolf, one infecting a gator, and the third infecting George. George begins to grow at an alarming rate and become uncharacteristically aggressive — meanwhile, a lady scientist shows up at the zoo where the Rock works claiming she knows how to fix George. Then the government steps in. Can The Rock and his lady friend fix George before he goes ON A RAMPAGE? (Spoilers: clearly not).
As I said — as much as one likes The Rock (I mean, who doesn’t?) I’ve been let down by Mr. Johnson’s taste in film scripts before. I have seldom been as ANGRY upon finishing a movie as after slogging my way through the embarrassing pile of colorful garbage that was Journey 2 . (Granted, The Rock himself wasn’t really the problem with that movie. The problem was THE TERRIBLE SCRIPT, THE STUPID COMEDY and THE HIDEOUSLY UNLIKEABLE MAIN CHARACTERS).
Read my review of it! So much hatred!
That said… Rampage began rather more encouragingly -- and just took off from there.
THE ROCK
Do I even need to touch on The Rock's performance? I've never really seen The Rock give a bad performance in a film. I suppose I should comment on characterization, which I've occasionally felt was a little troubling in Rock movies (namely; it's not so much a matter of "Is the Rock doing a good job?" as much as "Was The Rock well-cast in this movie?") I have seen a previous "no" answer to that question (cough **Journey 2** cough) and I was a little worried at the beginning of this movie for that precise reason. For "a grizzled veteran who has learned to hate people" -- The Rock's character is a remarkably pleasant and cordial person -- he just doesn't feel like hanging out with people. So I think that aspect of his character could have used some fleshing out from a writing perspective -- maybe, he could have been a bit ruder and colder to people in the beginning. You know, something besides just not wanting to hang out after work. Heck, I don't want to hang out with people after work... but mainly just because I'm tired and just want to go home and lay face down on my couch, not because I'm struggling to process man's inhumanity to man.
Does this look like a guy who wants to hang out after work?Aside from that... as I said, I was worrying a bit about The Rock at the beginning of this movie, precisely because he was such a pleasant and polite supposed-misanthrope. I was concerned this was going to be an experience like Journey 2 where he's positively ineffectual (and not in a fun way) -- in other words, a total misuse of the fact that THE ROCK is in your movie. You don't play The Rock as a beta-male... unless that's the joke. Luckily, in this case, my fears were unfounded -- as soon the ape-filled plane starts crashing, things start moving along as they should, Rock-wise. And the end is EXACTLY what you want out of an action film featuring The Rock.
(That said, I did spend a little while at the beginning of this movie wondering what it would have been like if, instead of The Rock, it had featured a 1980's-era Arnold Schwarzenegger. The answer is, of course, amazing.)
Arnold doesn't want to hang out after work either.Other Characters
The heroine is fine. She's an attractive actress and delivers her dialogue convincingly. My main complaint would be with the way her character is written: namely, the fact that although they set her up as a love-interest, she is not a love interest. There is no love interest in this movie. Now, I'm not saying this scenario is completely without precedent or even that it's necessarily a bad thing in an action movie (I mean, there isn't necessarily a love interest in the movie Terminator 2, because they got that out of the way in the first movie. There isn't necessarily a love-interest in Predator -- because it's about being hunted by a predator. And there certainly isn't a love-interest in Alien, because that movie has weird feelings about relationships.)
Shielding from shrapnel is the closest thing we get to a romantic scene.But it just seems strange in this movie because they clearly set up a romance, and then don't deliver. They don't even hug at the end. (There is a joke about whether or not they are in a relationship, and it's ultimately neutral). This appears to be a new Hollywood trend, declining to have a love interest in the film -- probably to show that the woman is strong and independent and "doesn't need a man" and "isn't just the guy's reward for saving the day" and (fill-in-the-blank with whatever fashionable and topical). But the characters in this film have every "Hollywood" reason to fall for each other and they don't -- and it feels awkward. If this sort of thing keeps up in movies, eventually this is going to backfire on Hollywood. People don't go to movies for whatever happens to be politically correct at the moment (well, I'm sure a small subset of people does, but it definitely can't be a fun experience) -- they go to movies for escapism. They want to see things they don't experience in their normal lives, like explosions, giant gorillas, and new romances. Even if that romance is only suggested in the film, it's nice for it to be there.
Okay, enough about that. The villains are one-dimensional baddies with on-the-nose dialogue -- which is actually FINE. Where, in another movie, they would have been a problem -- I really enjoyed how comically over-the-top evil they were. In fact, I feel like I could have used even goofier, one-dimensional stuff (takes one back to 90's era action films) -- but there is a limit on how much of that works in a movie and when it passes that point and starts to get grating, so maybe it's okay that they kept that sort of thing to a minimum.
Oh, and that guy with the baseball bat from The Walking Dead was in this. He had slightly more dimension than the villains, and was fine.
THAT guy. (I don't know what his name is. I don't watch The Walking Dead.)Problems
The very first review of this movie I read almost discouraged me from seeing the film — it claimed that the film was “no fun”. I would strongly debate that claim. Granted, there was one little dull patch in the middle of the film (a few moments of downtime after the exciting plane crash sequence) — and, maybe, just maybe, it seemed a little “serious” in spots. On the opposite end of the scale, there were a couple comic-relief characters at the beginning of the film who got old fast — but they also got GONE fast, so that was a relief. And, frankly, I spent a little while, in the beginning, wondering if The Rock was going to be completely squandered in this film; it would seem like a horrible waste to have someone built like The Rock never fight anyone. HE DOES, eventually, and it is well worth the wait.
Going into this movie knowing that it’s about big monsters smashing buildings helps a lot. I mean, don’t go into this film expecting high-quality cinema. THAT SAID, I didn’t have a lot of problems with this movie. In fact, I would wager to say that Rampage was one of the more enjoyable films I’ve seen in the theater in the past couple of years. This pretty much the definition of a good popcorn film — a light, entertaining movie with lots of thrills and spills, and no deep philosophical message. I was engaged, I cared about the characters, I wanted the heroes to succeed, there were high stakes, and I was worried about the outcome. Therefore, it is already better than certain other new movies I've seen this year (*cough cough*).
Ultimately...
Rampage was a fun movie to watch, and probably one of the better video game movie adaptations I've seen. The CGI was pretty flawless, the story was engaging, and the characters were enjoyable. Plenty of good action and goofy, one-dimensional fun moments. (Some people complained that there actually weren't enough one-dimensional goofy moments, and while I can see where they were coming from, I think a movie entirely composed of "on the nose dialogue" would probably have gotten old real quick). It's not without its faults, but none of them outweighed the overall fun of the film. If you want a fun action movie to watch this summer... check out Rampage! I recommend it!
Status:RECOMMENDED
Plot: The Rock works with gorillas — specifically, a very rare albino gorilla named George — and The Rock doesn’t like people. Meanwhile, several canisters of dangerous experimental chemicals crash on the earth from a destroyed space station — one infecting a wolf, one infecting a gator, and the third infecting George. George begins to grow at an alarming rate and become uncharacteristically aggressive — meanwhile, a lady scientist shows up at the zoo where the Rock works claiming she knows how to fix George. Then the government steps in. Can The Rock and his lady friend fix George before he goes ON A RAMPAGE? (Spoilers: clearly not).
As I said — as much as one likes The Rock (I mean, who doesn’t?) I’ve been let down by Mr. Johnson’s taste in film scripts before. I have seldom been as ANGRY upon finishing a movie as after slogging my way through the embarrassing pile of colorful garbage that was Journey 2 . (Granted, The Rock himself wasn’t really the problem with that movie. The problem was THE TERRIBLE SCRIPT, THE STUPID COMEDY and THE HIDEOUSLY UNLIKEABLE MAIN CHARACTERS).
Read my review of it! So much hatred!That said… Rampage began rather more encouragingly -- and just took off from there.
THE ROCK
Do I even need to touch on The Rock's performance? I've never really seen The Rock give a bad performance in a film. I suppose I should comment on characterization, which I've occasionally felt was a little troubling in Rock movies (namely; it's not so much a matter of "Is the Rock doing a good job?" as much as "Was The Rock well-cast in this movie?") I have seen a previous "no" answer to that question (cough **Journey 2** cough) and I was a little worried at the beginning of this movie for that precise reason. For "a grizzled veteran who has learned to hate people" -- The Rock's character is a remarkably pleasant and cordial person -- he just doesn't feel like hanging out with people. So I think that aspect of his character could have used some fleshing out from a writing perspective -- maybe, he could have been a bit ruder and colder to people in the beginning. You know, something besides just not wanting to hang out after work. Heck, I don't want to hang out with people after work... but mainly just because I'm tired and just want to go home and lay face down on my couch, not because I'm struggling to process man's inhumanity to man.
Does this look like a guy who wants to hang out after work?Aside from that... as I said, I was worrying a bit about The Rock at the beginning of this movie, precisely because he was such a pleasant and polite supposed-misanthrope. I was concerned this was going to be an experience like Journey 2 where he's positively ineffectual (and not in a fun way) -- in other words, a total misuse of the fact that THE ROCK is in your movie. You don't play The Rock as a beta-male... unless that's the joke. Luckily, in this case, my fears were unfounded -- as soon the ape-filled plane starts crashing, things start moving along as they should, Rock-wise. And the end is EXACTLY what you want out of an action film featuring The Rock. (That said, I did spend a little while at the beginning of this movie wondering what it would have been like if, instead of The Rock, it had featured a 1980's-era Arnold Schwarzenegger. The answer is, of course, amazing.)
Arnold doesn't want to hang out after work either.Other Characters
The heroine is fine. She's an attractive actress and delivers her dialogue convincingly. My main complaint would be with the way her character is written: namely, the fact that although they set her up as a love-interest, she is not a love interest. There is no love interest in this movie. Now, I'm not saying this scenario is completely without precedent or even that it's necessarily a bad thing in an action movie (I mean, there isn't necessarily a love interest in the movie Terminator 2, because they got that out of the way in the first movie. There isn't necessarily a love-interest in Predator -- because it's about being hunted by a predator. And there certainly isn't a love-interest in Alien, because that movie has weird feelings about relationships.)
Shielding from shrapnel is the closest thing we get to a romantic scene.But it just seems strange in this movie because they clearly set up a romance, and then don't deliver. They don't even hug at the end. (There is a joke about whether or not they are in a relationship, and it's ultimately neutral). This appears to be a new Hollywood trend, declining to have a love interest in the film -- probably to show that the woman is strong and independent and "doesn't need a man" and "isn't just the guy's reward for saving the day" and (fill-in-the-blank with whatever fashionable and topical). But the characters in this film have every "Hollywood" reason to fall for each other and they don't -- and it feels awkward. If this sort of thing keeps up in movies, eventually this is going to backfire on Hollywood. People don't go to movies for whatever happens to be politically correct at the moment (well, I'm sure a small subset of people does, but it definitely can't be a fun experience) -- they go to movies for escapism. They want to see things they don't experience in their normal lives, like explosions, giant gorillas, and new romances. Even if that romance is only suggested in the film, it's nice for it to be there.Okay, enough about that. The villains are one-dimensional baddies with on-the-nose dialogue -- which is actually FINE. Where, in another movie, they would have been a problem -- I really enjoyed how comically over-the-top evil they were. In fact, I feel like I could have used even goofier, one-dimensional stuff (takes one back to 90's era action films) -- but there is a limit on how much of that works in a movie and when it passes that point and starts to get grating, so maybe it's okay that they kept that sort of thing to a minimum.
Oh, and that guy with the baseball bat from The Walking Dead was in this. He had slightly more dimension than the villains, and was fine.
THAT guy. (I don't know what his name is. I don't watch The Walking Dead.)ProblemsThe very first review of this movie I read almost discouraged me from seeing the film — it claimed that the film was “no fun”. I would strongly debate that claim. Granted, there was one little dull patch in the middle of the film (a few moments of downtime after the exciting plane crash sequence) — and, maybe, just maybe, it seemed a little “serious” in spots. On the opposite end of the scale, there were a couple comic-relief characters at the beginning of the film who got old fast — but they also got GONE fast, so that was a relief. And, frankly, I spent a little while, in the beginning, wondering if The Rock was going to be completely squandered in this film; it would seem like a horrible waste to have someone built like The Rock never fight anyone. HE DOES, eventually, and it is well worth the wait.
Going into this movie knowing that it’s about big monsters smashing buildings helps a lot. I mean, don’t go into this film expecting high-quality cinema. THAT SAID, I didn’t have a lot of problems with this movie. In fact, I would wager to say that Rampage was one of the more enjoyable films I’ve seen in the theater in the past couple of years. This pretty much the definition of a good popcorn film — a light, entertaining movie with lots of thrills and spills, and no deep philosophical message. I was engaged, I cared about the characters, I wanted the heroes to succeed, there were high stakes, and I was worried about the outcome. Therefore, it is already better than certain other new movies I've seen this year (*cough cough*).
Ultimately...
Rampage was a fun movie to watch, and probably one of the better video game movie adaptations I've seen. The CGI was pretty flawless, the story was engaging, and the characters were enjoyable. Plenty of good action and goofy, one-dimensional fun moments. (Some people complained that there actually weren't enough one-dimensional goofy moments, and while I can see where they were coming from, I think a movie entirely composed of "on the nose dialogue" would probably have gotten old real quick). It's not without its faults, but none of them outweighed the overall fun of the film. If you want a fun action movie to watch this summer... check out Rampage! I recommend it!
Status:RECOMMENDED
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