Rampage

As debris from an exploding space station scatters across America, several surviving vials land on earth. Cracked and bleeding, a militarised pathogen leaks out, infecting nearby animals, principally a wolf, an alligator and a rare white, albino gorilla in San Diego zoo.

Arriving back the following morning, it quickly becomes clear to the zoo’s primatologist Davis Okoye (Dwayne Johnson) that George, the albino gorilla has changed, and not for the better.

’…a monster movie where the emphasis is on scale not subtlety…that is surprisingly good fun.'

‘Rampage’ is a monster movie where the emphasis is on scale not subtlety. The characters are wooden, the plot is predictable and notion of credibility never really makes it into the script, but saying all that – it is surprisingly good fun.

Straight off the heels of ‘Kong: Skull Island’ this is a film that understands its arcade game roots and never tries to embellish the proceedings with seriousness. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson drags the other characters behind him in amiable and formidable fashion. He may be only the second biggest thing on the screen, but he underplays his role with enough earnestness to still sweep up your attention. Sadly the same cannot be said for Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s goverment agent, whose performance is a thinly veiled rendition of Negan from ‘The Walking Dead’. Both in posture and delivery, Morgan’s performances are so identical that it leaves you wondering what awaits in the third act of this actor’s career.

As hinted, buildings tumble, weapon stumble and the might of the American’s military’s arsenal crumbles in the face of the pathogen-ised plot and its herd of altered beasts. ‘Rampage’ isn’t a subtle film but then again, it never makes the mistake of trying to be.

More fun than ‘Kong: Skull Island’, ‘Rampage’ is a surprisingly satisfyingly parade of bangs and crashes served up on a platter of brainless fun. The next Godzilla remake might want to consider joining the feel-good party.