Rampage a fun popcorn movie that is all over the place
Rampage is a popcorn flick that can best be described as big, dumb and kind of fun. Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock plays primatologist (the study of primates) Davis Okoye, who is joined by geneticist Kate Caldwell (Naomie Harris) as they try to save the world.
Three genetically enhanced animals roam loose and are looking to destroy everything in their way; the most qualified people to stop them are The Rock and Naomie Harris. Sure, the premise may sound a bit ridiculous and in reality, it is, but the film knows this and uses it to its advantage.
Rampage is at its best when it is riding the wave of ridiculousness it is built on, and its worst moments come when it tries to take itself too seriously.
This is certainly not a thinker, but while you won’t find much depth and content here, there are some nice laughs and plenty of action.
Besides a couple of performances in this film, nobody else is memorable at all. The Rock does what he always does, he brings intensity and some good laughs, and does a solid job playing his role.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays Harvey Russell, a cowboy-like government agent. Russell turns out to be perhaps the most interesting and intriguing character. There is some depth to him, he is a man who follows orders but also reasons depending on the situation, he has charm and mystery, he is either better developed or played than any of the other characters.
Dr. Kate Caldwell played by Naomie Harris is completely bland and emotionless. Caldwell is uninteresting, a very one-dimensional character and there is never any emotional attachment provided to the audience for caring for her.
Granted, this is not a film you come to watch a deep character of emotional storylines, but there has to be something to keep the audience invested. Jake Lacy and Malin Akerman basically play evil siblings, Brett and Claire Wyden. These antagonists are way over the top as if they were taken out of an animated Disney movie.
One of them is the goofy and absolutely ignorant one and the other is evil just for the sake of it. Though they sometimes do offer some good laughs it is hard to look past the horrible character work. Though there are times at which they are decent, yet at the end of the day the characters are all very forgettable.
There come times in this movie when it is fun but at many others, it is almost a burden. The tone was all over the place, they had a good thing going with the ridiculous-yet-funny thing, yet they sometimes leaned on the serious tone too much.
Some scenes are noticeably violent and the next might be some corny joke, there was no stable mood to the story or characters, this makes it even harder to watch. This causes some ups and downs all throughout the film, like a rollercoaster, it will be on a high with a funny bit but then it comes down to a boring patch. The upside to this is that there were some good parts here and there.
To some the good parts might outweigh the bad, to others it’ll be the other way around.
This is a hit-or-miss watch in the sense that you will either have enjoyed a fun popcorn movie or you will just plainly see this as a bad film.
If you have nothing better to do then take the risk, you might enjoy your time watching it.