Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson stars in the latest movie based on a video game BIG SCREEN BLOCKBUSTER, “Rampage”.
Taking queues from monsters movies of years past and the video game of the same name (and a classic 80’s game at that) you have a movie that delivers lots of destruction, lots of ‘The Rock’, and a thin yet fun to watch plot. Grade: 3 out of 5 stars

Welcome back to Geek For E! This week we are reviewing the latest movie to star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, “Rampage”.

As my short review at the top of the article says, this is a movie filled with lots of destruction, lots of big creatures fighting against themselves, and a very thin yet fun to watch plot.

First, let’s look at the cast.

• Dwayne Johnson as Davis Okoye, a primatologist at the San Diego Wildlife Sanctuary who has taken care of and treated George, the Silverback Gorilla for years
• Naomie Harris as Dr. Kate Caldwell, a discredited genetic engineer who teams up with Okoye as she knows where the cure is for the virus that has affected George along with the wild wolf (Ralph) and the Gator who shows up later (Lizzie)
• Malin Åkerman as Claire Wyden, the woman responsible for the mutagenic serum known as Project: Rampage
• Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Harvey Russell, a government agent who works for the mystery organization inside the US Government
• Jake Lacy as Brett Wynden, Claire’s dimwit brother
• Joe Manganiello as Burke, the leader of a private military group and channeling a very striking image to Frank Grillo’s Crossbones in Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Marley Shelton as Dr. Kerry Atkins, a scientist and astronaut and not in the movie for longer than five minutes
• P. J. Byrne as Nelson, a scientist, and friend of Johnson’s Okoye.

Let’s break it down in a piece I like to call…The Good, The Bad, and the Geek-E!

THE GOOD

• Dwayne Johnson does no wrong in my eyes. No matter the role, he is always fun to watch.
• Video game adaptions are always hard to make. Taking the game and bringing it to life while trying to keep the idea original yet staying true to the game is not an easy task. Director Brad Peyton along with screenwriters Ryan Engle, Carlton Cuse, Ryan J. Condal, and Adam Sztykiel deliver a fun, popcorn flick, that doesn’t take itself too seriously yet delivers the game beats and moments we want to see.
  • Chicago being destroyed
  • Our three creatures (Ralph the wolf, George the gorilla, Lizzie the gator) climbing up buildings and throwing cars, trucks, and helicopters at each other
• At the end of the day, “Rampage” is a monster movie about three random creatures being exposed to a secret mutagenic serum that gives them super-human abilities in a way to create weapons of destruction.

THE BAD

• Characters that show up at the start of the film working alongside Johnson’s Davis Okoye are never seen again when the action moves from San Diego to Chicago. Why even have them in the movie as their parts were never crucial to the plot? Say hello and goodbye to P. J. Byrne, Breanne Hill, and Jack Quaid during the first 20 minutes of the film.
• I would love to see a monster movie where the military actually listens to the protagonist of the film and follows their plan instead of following the tired motto of “shoot first…and shoot again”.
• The dimwit brother, as played by Jake Lacy, was another character that just didn’t feel right in the movie. His bumbling fool routine got old real quick to the point where you wanted to see something happen to him.

THE GEEK-E

• YES!!! Someone gets eaten by one of the creatures just like in the video game!
• An actual Rampage video game is shown in the office of Åkerman’s Claire Wyden. It’s never stated but the video game is the basis for the Project: Rampage mutagen that her company creates.
• Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson does what he does best – delivers humor, charm, action, and fun!