Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Rampage - Movie Review (2.5/5 Stars)

By Hamza Shafique (Instagram / Facebook)


I love massive monster action films. It’s always fun to watch cities being destroyed, with Heroes fighting impossible giants carrying big guns literally and figuratively. Who doesn’t want some may believe science experiments funded by evil corporations to go wrong. Dwayne Johnson’s Rampage has it all, but the balance is slightly off.


Plot is very simple and is exactly as given in trailers. A Science experiment funded by evil multimillionaire siblings goes wrong and ends up creating the giant angry mutated animals. One of the animal named George (white Gorilla, who can communicate in sign language just like humans amazingly) belongs to Zoo of Davis Okoye (a primatologist and head of an anti-poaching unit out of Rwanda) played by Dwayne Johnson and that’s why he believes he should be saved. While the evil siblings want to kill the animals and extract their blood for more experimentation. Screenplay, storyline and overall script is super cliched. Nothing feels original or creatively fresh and for most parts it seems like a typical monster movie from 80s/90s era. Someone needs to bring Mr. Brad Peyton the director to 2018. The basic problem that I had with Roland Emmerich’s 1998 Godzilla was the size of Godzilla, which wasn’t consistent throughout the film and after 20 years I again felt the same while watching Rampage. George’s size and proportion compared to surrounding and other animals kept on changing. Having said that it doesn’t mean this film is a total disaster. Screenplay for the parts where giant animals are on screen is engaging but also for the parts where there are just humans is simply dull and boring. In the famous words of Deadpool it’s just lazy writing. If the writers had focused more on making the characters real and not the cardboard cliched typical Hollywood mannequins that we got on screen, this could have been a much better experience.
Direction of the film is ok. The scene where we are introduced to the giant wolf is done pretty well and is the best in this whole episode. As I said moments where animals are on screen, are directed well and appear as a total different film versus the only human part of the film. This, I attribute to bad writing rather than direction.


Acting department wasn’t very great. The usual charisma of Dwayne Johnson was missing for the most part. The villainous siblings played by Malin Åkerman and Jake Lacy were unintentionally comical. They seemed more appropriate for a Disney kids animation rather than 120-million-dollar budget commercial film. Jeffrey Dean Morgan as cowboy Agent Harvey Russell felt like he is in a different film completely and Naomie Harris as Dr. Kate Caldwell felt just like Batman in Justice League, completely useless. And I again blame all of this to poor writing as these are some very talented names in the cast.
Technical aspects of the film are good like any other big budget Hollywood film. CGI work is neat and believable. As I mentioned earlier the parts where animals are on screen it’s a very engaging and enjoyable experience, for which all credit goes to director and technical team. Canvas of the film demands to be seen in bigger screens and this is one such film where the entertainment value of the film relies heavily on the size of the screen.
Overall an average commercial entertainer, usually I say leave your brain at home but for this one you might have to deposit your brain in a bank locker and throw the key away to enjoy. If you are into experiencing big unusual monsters having fun on screen and not bothered by the plot holes or lack of creativity, then it’s a perfect film for you. I go with 2.5 stars.
I would like to thank Warner Bros ME for the media screening invite and making this review possible.

2 comments:

  1. Well all movies are awesome I had watch Pacific rim and Rampage movie. I am also excited to watch other sci-fi movies in 2018. I had watch Rampage full movie on this Friday and really it was great experience with the movie. I really enjoy the movie.

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  2. Great cast but its another mindless, heartless giant monster flick destroying the city and trampling everyone. I wonder why the latest Godzilla movie got a bad rap but glorified B-movies like this and Kong Skull Island gets applauded. The monsters are obvious cgi hiding behind dense action sequences, the evil corporate guys are stereotypes from other monster, sci-fi movies we have seen a thousand times before and the military OF COURSE are worthless fodder. > Reviews Rampage 2018 Tiny humvees closing in on very fast gigantic animals firing their machineguns knowing previously how that worked out, Apache helicopters firing at close range at a giant wolf's face with his worthless cannon instead of using guided rockets from a distance, and soldiers go out of their way to be squished like bugs (ala Kong Skull Island style). Its that kind of thing you would see a child playing in his sandbox and destroying his toys. I would have understood if it was a child that made this movie.
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