A gleefully over the top giant monster mash, Rampage is a joy for fans of large sized creature features and the equally huge Dwayne Johnson. Unfortunately, the films insipid dialogue threatens to kill the fun, one exposition riddled line at a time.
Sometimes movies, just like people, talk too much. This is especially so with genre films, where the insistence to have its characters blurt out all latter of fill-in-the-gaps babble does more harm than good. Rampage is a case in point. Its selling points are very simple: everyone’s favourite action hero Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, joins forces with a giant albino ape to save the world from all matter of destructive forces.
For the most part, Rampage lives up to its promise of larger than life spectacle, overdone with an extra serving of kick-ass action. Based on the popular arcade game that was the rage during the 1980s, this Brad Peyton (San Andreas) directed film proves that there is life for the video-game adaptation yet. But there is still a long way to go, with the films four screenwriters delivering the clunkiest of clunky dialogue of the eye-rolling, sigh inducing variety.
Thankfully, there is enough personality in the performances and gobsmacking VFX carnage to make up for the jibber-jabber. Those magnificent wizards from WETA once again deliver the digital goods in their delivery of monsters both scary and incredibly, impressively photogenic. The most memorable of these is George, an albino gorilla of high intelligence, who turns into an enormous, raging creature after (of course) a science experiment gone wrong. As George does battle against equally ferocious, gigantic creatures chewing their way through the human populace, audiences will be treated to ground-shaking, ear splitting, chest thumping carnage out of popcorn blockbuster munching variety, Peyton proving to be quite the master of this kind of big visual genre cinema.
The variety of performances on the human side is more of a mixed bag. Johnson is at his smouldering, wise-cracking best. Even better is Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a southern accented, swagger walking, gun on hip cowboy of a government agent, who always has a quip ready to go. If Morgan got the films best lines, the Naomie Harris received the worst, her performance as a wronged genetic scientist lacking any sort of personality nor warrant any sympathy. In fact, the only thing Harris’ character manages to evoke is a grimace whenever her “Basil Exposition” shtick kills the vibe with extreme prejudice.
And so it goes with Rampage. When at its best, Rampage is a beast of a giant monster movie. Yet when big bad exposition rears its ugly head, be ready to scream.