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Rampage (2018)


Rampage (2018)




5/10



Starring
Dwyane Johnson


Directed by Brad Peyton

I was expecting something from this sci-fi action-adventure movie, and when it ended, I was left asking myself, “What was I expecting?” Here’s the movie’s brief plot: a freak science experiment goes uncontrollably wrong, and three monstrous animals go on a rampage against a city. Whether you can remember the name of a movie (or movies) with a similar plot of huge animals attacking a city (many of which could be B-movies), we all have some memory of seeing this before. In addition, one of these humongous animals turns out to be good and helps save the day. Yes, I know your memory is tingling about where you’ve seen that before too.

Let’s not dig too deep into the various movie titles this film could have borrowed ideas from, but my biggest downer in this movie is—there’s nothing new, no twist. Where’s that one thing that sets this movie apart from the rest we’ve seen? The answer to that question is: nothing. The director and screenplay writers didn’t even bother to add anything that would make this movie stand out.

Loosely based on a video game of the same name by Midway Games, this story follows primatologist Davis Okoye (Dwayne Johnson), who heads an anti-poaching unit. His tale starts with him prepping some new recruits, whom he introduces to his close friend, a gorilla named George. George is an albino gorilla who communicates using sign language, and over the time they’ve been together, Davis and George have shared many inside jokes.

A company is working on an experiment onboard a space station involving a mysterious gas that alters the DNA of animals. When things go horribly wrong on the space station, leading to its destruction, the only survivor escapes with three canisters of the mysterious gas. However, her escape pod explodes before it touches down on Earth, and the three canisters are lost. They soon figure out where the canisters landed when three normal animals—a gray wolf, George, and a crocodile—turn up as giants, emotionally unstable, and deformed (well, except George).

Now, the army and every form of military force are trying to stop these animals, while Davis tries to save George, who has gone rogue.

You’ll notice some plot holes, like why there were physical deformities in all the animals exposed to the gas except George. How was Dwayne Johnson able to just dust off being shot? And what luck did the world witness that only three animals, in three isolated events, were alone within the areas where the canisters landed?

The movie could have been a B-movie and still delivered the same level of excitement. The entire $120 million investment in this video game adaptation, to me, was just a waste, which is why I’ll be rating this movie low.

Regardless of what anyone says about the excitement level of this movie, I’ve seen B-movies do a better job with fewer plot holes and less than 10% of the budget.

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