Rampage (Blu-Ray + DVD + Digital HD)
Blu-Ray Reviews | Jul 22nd, 2018
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Åkerman, Jake Lacy,, Joe Manganiello
Written By: Ryan Engle, Carlton Cuse, Ryan J. Condal, Adam Sztykiel
Directed By: Brad Peyton
Studio: Warner Bros
Buy On Amazon.com
The video game that no one expected to be turned into a movie has turned into a movie. It stars Dwayne Johnson, which I usually love his movies because they are good fun and escapism type of movies. Rampage is sort of fun but definitely will give you plenty of eye rolls and “come on!” moments.
The movie is about primatologist Davis (Dwayne Johnson) and his buddy George, an albino silverback gorilla who’s been in Davis’ care since he was a infant. When a greedy corporation genetic experiment goes wrong, George and a few other animals get enlarged and mutated and begin wreaking havoc on cities, mainly Chicago. Davis gets the help from genetics engineer Dr Caldwell (Naomie Harris) who might know of an antidote to save George and people under attack by the animals.
I didn’t have much expectations for this and they didn’t really meet my already low expectations. It’s one of those movies to just put on when there isn’t anything on. Definitely turn off your brain for this one because they don’t take this very seriously, despite them trying to sound like they were serious. The opening scene with the rat in space should have been a good indicator that this was going to be a ridiculous movie. Storywise, this is pretty dumb and the crap that happens in the movie is unbelievable like Davis and Dr Caldwell going down in a helicopter with no propellers. But then again, I’m talking about a giant gorilla, alligator and a flying wolf in a movie. The special effects were decent, especially the motion capture for George. You’d have to think they would do a good job with him since the recent Planet of the Apes movies were so well done and realistic looking.
Dwayne played the same kind of character that he always plays. Likeable tough guy, usually with military background, but now he’s a primatologist. He should do villain to change things up next movie and so he doesn’t get stuck in the Steven Seagal mode of playing the same character, but different occupation. Malin Akerman and Jake Lacy were annoying characters, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan was pretty much a cowboy version of Negan minus the baseball bat. He even had the same mannerisms as Negan too. I like Jeffrey and think he’s got great charisma and is a fine actor, just wished he did something a little different for this role. Either way, probably wouldn’t change what I thought about the overall movie. I think the main reason why Rampage doesn’t work is because it’s pretty much a Transformers movie except its animals wrecking Chicago. Wasn’t Revenge of the Fallen where they destroy Chicago too? That city seems to be taking a beating lately. It’s just a typical action movie with a weak script.
The Blu-Ray features some featurettes, a gag reel, and some other things. Some of the featurettes, the cast talk about the movie and the old arcade game, there’s a bunch of deleted scenes, there’s a featurette on the action and how they used visual and practical effects, one about destroying Chicago, and then of course a featurette about bringing George alive via mo-cap.
Rampage is a mindless action film that people will enjoy and not think about it much after it’s over. It’s one of those movies that turn off your brain and watch when there’s not much else on TV. I thought it could have been a lot better but I didn’t have much expectations to begin with.
Features:
Not Just a Game Anymore
Deleted Scenes
Gag Reel
Rampage: Actors in Action
Trio of Destruction
Attack on Chicago
Bringing George to Life
Video:
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio:
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Subtitles:
English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Bottom Line: Somewhat enjoyable but not that memorable.
Running Time: 107 mins
Rating: PG-13
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating:
