Respond to these rapid questions in our Rampage quiz and we will tell you which Rampage character you are. Play it now.
In the sometimes gloriously ludicrous “Rampage,” a film based on a hit arcade game that was literally just larger-than-life monsters destroying buildings, Dwayne Johnson finally gets a star to match his size, if not his charisma. The thought that you’re having is, “Wow, that seems like an extremely flimsy premise from which to adapt a feature film.” You’re not entirely wrong in your assessment. This CGI blockbuster, directed by “San Andreas” director Brad Peyton, is frequently a defiantly stupid film, and it is most comfortable with what it is trying to accomplish when giant monsters are destroying half of downtown Chicago or leaping off moving helicopters. It is the narrative tissue that exists between the scenes that causes the movie magic to falter from time to time. There is, without a doubt, a lot of goofy fun to be had when Johnson is doing his best movie action star impression and giant animals are fighting enormous-mano-a-enormous-mano. You just have to be patient while the system is unavailable.
“Rampage” gets off to a zany start by establishing its ridiculous tone right away. During a mission to the International Space Station, a scientist is battling to save some genetically engineered samples from a mutant super-rat. Everyone else on the station appears to be dead, and the station is on fire, but she is ordered to save the scientific data anyway. Yes, the film “Rampage” opens with a super space rat aboard a burning spaceship hurtling towards the planet Earth. It certainly has the ability to set the tone.
The samples are launched into space and land in three different locations on Earth. Davis Okoye manages a wildlife sanctuary in San Diego, and one of his animals happens to hit the ground there (Johnson). Davis’ favorite animal is a giant albino gorilla named George, and the cunning animal happens to come across one of the genetic samples while searching for food. It doesn’t take long before George is growing at an unprecedented rate, which is accompanied by increased aggression and insatiable hunger. He kills a bear, escapes, and, well, a lot of things go boom in his life after that. That’s why you go to a movie like “Rampage” in the first place: to see and hear things explode.
But you shouldn’t waste any more time and start this Rampage quiz.
A disclaimer seems appropriate in this context: I enjoy watching giant monster movies. I’m still in awe of the 1933 film “King Kong,” which I consider to be one of the most important films ever made. I even enjoyed Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake, as well as recent iterations of the King of the Monsters, including Gareth Edwards’ 2014 American version (“Godzilla”) and Hideaki Anno & Shinji Higuchi’s 2016 Japanese version (“Shin Godzilla”). “Godzilla” is my favorite film of all time. There’s something about the spectacle of films like “King Kong” and “Godzilla” that is uniquely cinematic; it’s not something that other forms of entertainment, such as theater, television, or fiction, can do in the same way. “King Kong” and “Godzilla” are examples of this. The fact that I am a fan of large creatures slamming into buildings, combined with my belief that Dwayne Johnson is one of the few current working actors who can legitimately be called a’movie star,’ should ensure that “Rampage” will be a financial success. I even tried my hand at the arcade game!
Rampage Quiz
As a result, why isn’t it a no-brainer for everyone? It’s true that there are times when “Rampage” delivers exactly what viewers were hoping for when they opened their wallets or pulled out their MoviePasses. No one can really say that this film does not live up to the expectations set by the trailers (although one could argue the whole movie is in those trailers). Is this not the “King Kong Meets The Rock” experience that it could have been? First and foremost, the film’s hazy attempts at emotional undercurrents are seriously muddled. Davis makes it clear early on that he prefers the company of animals over that of people, but to say that he lacks any sort of personality would be an understatement (George is actually more developed). A scene between the two where they share their pasts, including the time Davis found George and saved him from poachers, is embarrassingly mishandled. And Naomie Harris’ eventual sidekick Kate has an emotional back story that is intended to make her more accessible but ultimately falls flat.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this Rampage quiz.
But it’s Jake Lacy and Malin Akerman’s villains, the nefarious brothers and sisters who run the evil company that conducts evil science experiments, breeds evil big animals, and does other evil things, that really bring the film down. Occasionally, it appears as though they were written as outrageous parodies (Lacy’s Brett actually says, “There’s a reason we were doing these experiments in space!”), but the characters and performances are so uninteresting that the film sags every time they appear on screen. Joe Manganiello’s soldier of fortune and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s ‘OGA’ (Other Government Agency) Officer are both more entertaining than the rest. Morgan delivers every line with a cocked neck and a Southern side-eye that gives the impression that he understands how ridiculous this whole thing is, or at the very least should be.
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Though Morgan is clearly enjoying himself, and Johnson is engaging, Peyton fails far too often to successfully convey the excitement of a “big monster movie” on the big screen in his films. The film, even when it gets to the fireworks, appears to be merely going through the motions on too many occasions. Fans will be entertained by the “big” beats in the film—a giant wolf leaping at a helicopter in mid-air, George treating tanks as if they were toys on Michigan Avenue, and all of the animals scaling the Sears Tower, which will forever be known as the Sears Tower to me—but monster movies should do more than just entertain you. They should be awe-inspiring. They should captivate the audience. Because of this, things like cheesy dialogue and thin characters should not only be dismissible, but even preferable, in the eyes of the critics. When it comes to “Rampage,” it never quite reaches the point where you can consistently ignore the things it does wrong, and that can be fatal when it comes to a movie about animals the size of apartment buildings. A tonal balance is something that “Rampage” only occasionally achieves. Perhaps they will have it perfected in time for “Dig Dug.”Also, you must try to play this Rampage quiz.
For more personality quizzes check this: Peter Rabbit Quiz.
