I didn’t know what to make of this movie after seeing the trailer but I had a bad feeling this would be one of those movies that Jay uses as leverage against me. But I knew I would drag her to anyway. You see, when I was a kid one of my favourite quarter-munching arcade games was Rampage, because it let me be Godzilla, smashing buildings, eating army guys, and grabbing helicopters out of the air. So when I did not realize this movie was based on that videogame until the title popped up at the very end of the trailer, I was more than a little skeptical.
After seeing the movie, I can confim my skepticism was totally warranted. Rampage is just another middling entry in the Rock’s mindless action movie portfolio. It’s not a standout as an action film generally, and not even noteworthy when compared to the Rock’s other action films. At least Rampage knows it’s dumb and has some fun at its own expense (a Rock specialty), and it actually feels quite a lot like the videogame once the action starts.
Where Rampage fails is that it takes FOREVER for the action to start, which is the worst thing a dumb action movie can do. That plodding pace is particularly egregious when the video game version is as light on exposition as anything ever made, while the movie wants to include a lentghy origin story for the monsters. I didn’t care how the monsters came to be (“radiation” has always been a good enough reason) and I definitely didn’t care to spend time with a sociopathic brother-sister team who made this DNA modifying thingamajig that fell from the sky. Three city-destroying monsters fighting the Rock would have been enough. No more was needed.
So Rampage manages to be too dumb for someone like Jay, who doesn’t like dumb action movies, and not dumb enough for someone like me, who just wanted to see an old mindless videogame become a new mindless blockbuster. If you liked the game you could do worse when Rampage is available on Netflix (but probably also do better), and if you didn’t know Rampage was a game until reading this review then you should probably skip this one altogether.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
I can’t say I’m a big fan of The Rock in anything and he seems to be in everything lately.
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My big thing with this is whether or not George dies cause I think that would upset me 🙂 No spoilers though I’ll take your advice and wait until its on Netflix. Thanks!
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Everyone in my family passed on this one. Something we all agreed on for once. 😁
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I really appreciate you Sean.
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The Rock’s movies have been pretty hit and miss lately for me. I know of the Rampage game but not enough to really want to see this so I’ll be waiting for that Netflix release!
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Skippididoo.
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The Crock should lay the smacketh down on himself like the Jabroni that he really is.
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I was on the fence, but your review sealed the deal. Like most of his movies, I’ll pass.
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I like Dwayne action-y stuff but I can’t think of any that I actually went to a cinema to see. I’ll wait and enjoy this one on DVD. 🙂
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I saw the trailer for this when I went to see Ready Player One. I thought it was a pretty good trailer. Interesting story. But I knew the trailer was all I was ever going to see. Some movies are better just as trailers.
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I’m very much in the ‘I want to see this cause of the video game’ camp. A wee bit disappointed that it doesn’t start with monsters smashing up a building and just continue from there, though. Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s in this too, eh?
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The wife turns to me during one of the many TV commercials that aired prior to its release and said, “I know it’s going to be mindless but I’m looking forward to it anyway.” We are fortunate enough to have an IMAX theatre nearby so when a mass destruction movie comes forth we usually ante up. Was it what we expected? Yes, it was totally mindless…but Jeffrey Dean was a hoot…and I did see several neat shots of bodies flying about which looked like they were concocted with great care…much like Dwayne’s career. As someone on the radio said at week’s end…”if it’s Friday, a new Rock movie must be opening somewhere!”
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I love dumb and mindless action and was primed to see this the past weekend, but an ice storm hit so never managed to. Still looking forward to it though.
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Oh, yeah, I forgot about that game. LOL
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