Rampage

An asylum monster flick with a monstrous budget, Rampage is a bit of technically perfect mind candy with high-quality 3D and beautiful monsters that we enjoy the fullest both in lush greenery and in the concrete jungle of Chicago. But to be really satisfying, this movie would need a more personalized director’s touch, whether conceptual (Cloverfield, Godzilla) or at least superficially visual (Michael Bay). Rampage has purely mechanical, sexless direction, wants to satisfy everyone, does not want to offend anyone and, unfortunately, doesn’t even try to be surprising. (04/11/2018)

An oversized gorilla, a wolf and a crocodile meet in Chicago and totally destroy it. Sounds good, right? But before that happens, you're in for a bunch of uninteresting characters, not-very-functional humour and a hackneyed plot. Oh, and the final battle could have been better, too, with a fun color palette and some ideas. In the context of dumb and loud action movies, Rampage is inoffensively average. But if you don't watch it, probably nothing will happen at all. (07/26/2018)

Dwayne Johnson has a weaker moment this time. Financially the film is a success, but I didn't take away a great audience experience. I haven't played the old Rampage video game, so I can't compare, but it certainly would have been more interesting if it had enlarged the animals more at once and could have made for much more intense destruction. The finale is admittedly intense and the giant crocodile can command respect, but it left me pretty cold. There could have been more humour, and the only action scene worth mentioning is the finale and the wolf attack in the forest. It's watchable and doesn't look bad on screen, but I feel like I've grown out of it slightly. The final shot that made the whole cinema laugh was good though. 65% (04/18/2018)

An entertaining feet-up movie. The action looks unexpectedly good, especially Mr. Alligator was great. It’s true that, compared to Godzilla, this is a poor substitute, but George has his underdog face reflecting animal testing. The chemistry between the monkey and the Rock is excellent, as is their perverse humor. (04/13/2019)

A Godzilla spin-off that from the start comes across as a smiling distant relative from the mother's side. The atmosphere is on a jolly wave, with sleazy baddie Malin Akerman, good cop Jeffrey Dean Morgan and charismatic ex-Marine Dwayne Johnson battling the digital vermin. Add to that a faithful recreation of Chicago, which is destroyed probably for the 90th time. The visuals are sexy, no doubt, but there is no Godzilla poetics, no atmosphere, no innovation of the genre. Basically a family-friendly destruction movie for a Saturday afternoon. And theoretically to the cinema, if one turns a blind eye. (06/23/2018)

I've seen two Brad Peyton movies with Dwayne Johnson, both of which were stupid and didn't entertain me much. This one is also dumb, but I enjoyed it a bit more. It ticked along and was really all about monsters getting mauled and the main characters surviving, all as spectacularly and heroically as possible. From that perspective, I enjoyed watching Rampage much more than this year's Godzilla: King of the Monsters, although it's no gem either. But whatever. (07/06/2019)

An immature project that only made it to the big screen thanks to The Rock's narcissistic personality. But I don't want to blame him, his dedication to an otherwise totally imbecilic flick is the main ingredient that elevates the film into watchable mediocrity – and maybe also Morgan’s charisma and the beauty of Naomi Harris. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of overgrown monsters with dramaturgy from the early fifties and barely an interesting scene or catchphrase. Pointless. (04/12/2018)

Rampage works best on first viewing and especially in the cinema, for which this audiovisual orgy with oversized creatures was primarily created. In terms of screenwriting, the film has little to surprise, leaving the viewer to marvel at the bizarre visuals and the various abilities of the mutant giants, whose hobbies include destroying cities and devouring their inhabitants. I liked the casting of the swaggering The Rock, the likeable Naomie Harris and the cowboy Jeffrey Dean Morgan, though the villains seemed lacking in charisma. In the end, though, it's a satisfying hundred minutes in the cinema anyway (it doesn't work so well on a second viewing on a home PC), during which you can switch off your brain quite blithely and enjoy this monstrously monstrous piece of work. (09/29/2019)