Directed by: Brad Peyton
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jake Lacy, Malin Akerman, Joe Manganiello
If you like CGI, gigantic, genetically mutated animals terrorizing people and whole cities, and plenty of Dwayne Johnson, then you'll enjoy Rampage. I also enjoyed it because it is not afraid to have fun and tease itself. Any movie containing one or all of the above elements is not going to win Oscars, but it does well enough as escapism. And I liked George, the sweet albino gorilla who is turned into a one-gorilla wrecking crew at the hands of a genetic experiment gone completely berserk.
There is nothing subtle about Rampage. It wasn't built for subtlety, but as amusing B-movie entertainment with A-list visuals. Because of Johnson's build and his action star charisma, we can halfway believe he can battle with the giant beasts and survive with just a few scratches. Heck, he even gets shot in the abdomen and brushes it off. Rampage is based on a video game and apparently Johnson must have had a few spare lives in him.
The film opens with research on a genetic mutation project in outer space going awry and a laboratory rat is soon morphed into a....bigger, scarier, and more aggressive rat that wipes out an entire scientist crew, but not before the serum itself finds its way back to Earth and crash lands in a few spots in the U.S., turning the unfortunate animals exposed to it into much larger, much badder, and much deadlier versions of themselves. George, the aforementioned gorilla who is under the care of primate expert Davis Okoye (Johnson) at the San Diego Zoo, happens upon the serum and grows twice its size overnight, while exhibiting much more aggressive behavior than previously.
George breaks loose from the zoo and goes into the wild. The evil corporate officers of the company which financed the experiment hopes to lure the affected animals to their base in Chicago, kill them, and then sell their enhanced DNA on the black market. How much would the black market pay for such DNA? Who even knows? But, apparently the black market will buy and sell anything. A former doctor at the villainous company, Dr. Kate Caldwell (Harris) assists Davis in trying to recapture George before he kills someone or before he is killed himself. An OGA (Other Government Agency) agent named Harvey Russell (Morgan) also interjects himself into the fray, but before you assume Russell is just another heartless suit, Morgan plays him with a Southern drawl dripping with bemusement and appropriate wry cynicism. Can he be trusted to help? Or is he part of a larger scheme? Morgan has plenty of fun with his role.
Johnson takes this material just seriously enough to involve us, while also playing for some laughs. He is not afraid to laugh at himself, which served Arnold Schwarzenegger well back in the 80's and 90's, and he manages to narrowly avoid being upstaged by the monsters. The beasts are all violent and destructive, but we learn of George's backstory as a young gorilla cub saved by Davis during of one of Davis' anti-poaching expeditions to Africa. Would you be shocked to learn that Davis, who is by trade a San Diego Zoo primatologist, also has had Special Forces training? Which 99% of all action heroes in the movies also seem to have? This is just the type of movie to have such a hero.
It is good to see George given a character to play and isn't just a mindless CGI effect. He is so sympathetic that he deserves at least fourth billing in the credits. While there is plenty of CGI to be sure, it doesn't overwhelm the action and we can more or less follow what's happening. Rampage is the type of movie which isn't scared to be goofy and accomplishes its mission of allowing the audience to leave the theater with a grin.
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