Rampage

This review may contain spoilers!

Monsters smash stuff. The Rock yells one-liners and talks about his own musculature at least once. There are some evil corporate bad guys with no reason for being bad but cause they wanna. I would give Rampage a 3/10.

The cinematography within this film really captures the blockbuster nature of Rampage, you can really perceive the immensity of this monster film. The special effects also look pretty good throughout, a lot clearly goes in to make the design of the gorilla, wolf and alligator as impressive and intimidating as possible.

Dwayne Johnson, who played Davis Okoye, really keeps the pace and action of this film moving along as the leading protagonist; Johnson does well at maintaining a character who feels distanced from all those around him except for the CGI animals he fosters a bond with.

However, the best performance came from Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who played Harvey Russell. I really enjoyed the sarcastic, witty banter that stemmed from this role, he was very good at provoking other characters through jokes and repartee. Morgan is a natural at delivering the slick 'cowboy' feel to his character and immediately seems confident as he deals with the unfolding events. Ultimately, this is a character with a very stern morality but it's nice to see him stretch the rules as he develops in service of the greater good.

This film has a script that clearly doesn't have much thought put into it, this is a crash-bash monster smash film that is very loosely adapted from an old video game. Beyond the concept it isn't clear if the film is actually aiming to focus on anything else; it certainly presents characters with morals that change constantly throughout or who transition through sudden moments of development that come as a bit of a stretch. The fact that the antagonists of the film have no clear ambitions for creating 'Project: Rampage' in the first place speaks wonders, nor does their method of handling the situation make a whole lot of sense. This is a film desperate to show off the CGI fights it has in store in the final act but isn't so interested in making a compelling story in order to get there. The score for the film is incredibly generic, with a lot of droning or short patches of silence to indicate danger and a swell in fanfare for the big action sequences.

Naomie Harris, who played Dr Kate Caldwell, enters the film quite awkwardly and never really finds her place comfortably amongst the action; Harris' exposition around her role's backstory about her brother is the only detail meant to invest you and it comes off as little more than boring and convenient. Malin Akerman, who played Claire Wyden, seems comfortable playing a stereotypical villainous business tycoon; Akerman's delivery is fairly toneless and she doesn't strive to develop her role's range beyond anything other than sinister. Jake Lacy, who played Brett Wyden, is a weird role that doesn't really have much purpose in this film; Lacy's character is a minor antagonist to Akerman who seems to exist purely to provide unnecessary comedic relief in the villainous scenes. Joe Manganiello, who played Burke, is only in the film to be a visual reference for the 'hired muscle'; Manganiello is denied the opportunity to present a character and is ultimately killed off in little to no time. P.J. Byrne, who played Nelson, is one of a few characters who is introduced in the first act who wind up being completely irrelevant; Byrne seems to have some strange best friend connection with Johnson that is never explored and dropped not long into the film. Demetrius Grosse, who played Colonel Blake, is another example of the film constructing role's that are little more than generic versions of their occupations; Grosse's staunch military man is a role we've seen in thousands of films now and doesn't leave much of an impression in this feature. Jack Quaid, who played Connor, is quite an annoying comedic role that comes on very strong; Quaid's presence is here to fill in time and comes off as goofy comedic relief insert. Breanne Hill, who played Amy, is a character who is really only here to throw herself at Dwayne Johnson's role; Hill, Quaid and Byrne all had a strong presence in the first act and could have been used further but by discarding them so early on undercut any work these performers put into their characters.