Rampage

Movie Name: Rampage
Year of Release: 2018

Director: Brad Peyton

Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Akerman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello, Marley Shelton, P.J. Byrne, Demetrius Grosse, Jack Quaid, Breanne Hill, Matt Gerald

Genre: Action, Adventure

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 2
View Trailer

Synopsis & Review:

Director Brad Peyton and actor Dwayne Johnson return, following their previous successful collaboration, "San Andreas". This time around, the film follows the premise of a scientific experiment going terribly awry. The film introduces us to a scientist in space, who perishes trying to evacuate the station and carrying with her the results of her research. When her shuttle is destroyed, the results of that research crash land on earth, come in contact with and mutate a few animals. One of them is George, a silverback Gorilla, currently being taken care of by Primatologist Davis Okoye. George starts increasing his physical size, the same going for the other animals that came in contact with that debris. That debris is property of a company under the ruthless tutelage of Claire Wyden. When she summons the animals to Chicago, it's up to Davis, with the assistance of Kate Caldwell to try to discover the antidote, save George and prevent the city from being completely destroyed.
"Rampage" is loosely based on the video game by the same name, and ends up being a film as hollow as the game upon which it's based on. Director Brad Peyton focuses primarily on the action set pieces, leaving the character development under-nourished. Whatever sketches are on screen, exist mainly due to the actors charisma and capability to be engaging, since the script provides no substance to any of the characters that are suppose to be the human element of the film. Peyton hasn't learnt much from Roland Emmerich, who is the director typically in charge of big catastrophe films, since at least on Emmerich's films, there's an attempt at building a rapport between the characters. "Rampage" is mostly a canvas to showcase the excellent visual effects, and they make the chaos and destruction look plausible, the same occurring for the gigantic creatures (the film is oddly reminiscent of Emmerich's "Godzilla" in some parts). It's unmemorable and a sad waste of talent for everyone involved.