You go in, you watch a bazoinkers movie about giant animals smashing stuff, you see the Rock bust out of his t-shirt, and you’re good to go. Rampage does exactly enough exposition and worldbuilding to make its story hold up under some half-hearted inspection, and doesn’t bother with much more. Outfit the hulking former WWE star in a pair of cargo trousers and a snug henley tee, and throw him into any extreme situation – jungle-based video game, diesel-fueled vehicle stuntery, beach crimes, fighting an natural disaster, starring across Kevin Hart – and it just works.
Advertisement
Life is all feel-good fist-bumping and jocular obscene gesturing for Johnson’s San Diego Zoo staffer Davis Okoye and George, the rare albino gorilla he rescued from poachers years earlier. I have since learned that Rampage, a King Kong knockoff starring a trio of city-smashing mutant animals, was an arcade staple in the mid-’80s, and more importantly, one of the many properties acquired by Warner Bros. when they bought Midway Games in 2009. Okoye has even taught George how to give the finger.
Malin Akerman filmed all of her scenes in this location.
Everything changes one night when George is exposed to a mysterious chemical from a canister that crashed down at the preserve from outer space, causing him to begin growing rapidly and raging out. The same thing happened to a wolf in Wyoming and a crocodile in Florida. The animals get big and essentially indestructible; some get new abilities (have I mentioned the flying wolf) and they all want nothing more than to destroy.
Just a heads-up for anyone planning on skipping tonight’s installment of HQ Trivia, tonight’s show is being hosted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to plug his new film Rampage. Rampage is clearly trying to depend on its action scenes to cover up how bad the plot is.
Johnson’s “Rampage” co-star Jeffrey Dean Morgan appeared live on “GMA” April 9. Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s government agent Harvey Russell, for example, struts around with a giant belt buckle and a pistol in his holster for the entire movie, lest anyone forget that he’s a modern cowboy/maverick. Some of the dramatic moments are played so earnestly, you might be inclined to think the movie believes it, but in the next moment something over-the-top reminds you that Peyton and company are in on it. Johnson, unfortunately, has to pull most of the weight charm-wise as the majority of the cast add nothing to the story. And that’s it! It’s never addressed again, he goes on like he’s never been shot in the gut.
Advertisement
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at the 2015 world premiere of his movie “Furious 7” at the TCL Chinese Theatre, Hollywood. That is until the final act, which reveals that someone high up in the filmmaking process has actually played the games; there is fan service all over the place including destructive animations ripped right from the 2-D sprites now accomplished with modern-day CGI. He is, in fact, dwarfed by George, and every other hammy performance on screen, his presence shockingly overshadowed, his usually radioactive charisma dimmed.
