Between A Rock and A Big Gorilla · 11:06pm May 25th
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Greetings, folks! This is Mr. J back with another movie for today. This evening, I will be reviewing a science fiction monster film called “Rampage”, released in 2018. Coming from someone who’s seen it twice before, I will admit that it is a certainly great movie; from the visual effects to the intense acting, “Rampage” provided an immaculate movie experience which both casual viewers and monster fans can both appreciate.
This film is about a primatologist who has a deep bond with an albino lowland gorilla which is the last member of its species. After George accidentally receives some mutant gas, he gradually grows larger and larger until he’s almost titan-sized. But he’s not the only rampaging monster in Chicago to look out for.
This movie was certainly entertaining when it comes to the action, cinematography, and CGI. It feels like a MonsterVerse film even though they aren’t connected; rather, it feels like they were inspired by that franchise in a similar fashion to give the audience a wild ride—an unforgettable one at that.
The only real issue I have with this movie is the main character. As much as I respect Dwayne Johnson, his character—Davis Okoye—barely had any growth throughout the film. It’s said that he has a grudge against humanity for what they do to animals and hangs out with the latter more than with humans…but the film didn’t expand on that aspect of his story that much.
He pretty much stays the same at the end, so he hardly has any growth whatsoever. His acting was good, but he was severely underdeveloped at best.
Same thing with Dr. Kate Caldwell—Naomie Harris did a great job acting as her character, but she barely had any development on her own. The film only focused on their dynamic duo type of relationship which implies they have some feelings for each other; it’s very predictable from movie standards, but I wasn’t too bothered by it.
But at least the other characters were much more fun to watch. Harvey Russell is my favorite character in this whole movie, and that is thanks to the charismatic performance of Jeffery Dean Morgan. He steals every scene he is in, and he made the plot just slightly more interesting just with his personality alone.
The human antagonists weren’t that bad, to be honest. The Wydens are the typical corporate villains who care more about their profits and power than the lives of people around them. Just by the way they interact with each other shows who’s the boss and who’s the coward—and how toxic they both are. Yeah, hard to believe they are brother & sister. I thought they were a couple, at first.
George is visually well-designed, both for his size and emotive nature. He doesn’t talk, but you can perfectly tell how’s he’s feeling and what he’s thinking about. The CG artists did such a fantastic job animating him so he can express his emotions clearly.
The CGI wolf & crocodile monsters were terrifying as well. They proved how deadly they were and how much chaos they created every time they appeared on screen.
Overall, the main message we can get from this movie is the bond we should build with our pets. But not only that, we should also connect with our family and let them know we love them, no matter what. That’s the type of bond Davis has with George in this movie. Despite what he had been through, George always had family who looked after him.
With that said, this movie gets a 9/10! I definitely recommend you check this out if you’re into monster movies.
Peace!
I love that movie... especially how it proves that learning how to read Sign Language is a useful skill
I still have my fingers crossed that this movie gets a sequel that adapts World Tour and Universal Destruction! I definitely want to see how Boris the Rhino, Ruby the Lobster, and Curtis the Rat would like with the Energyne pathogen. Also, the wolf and crocodile monsters are called Ralph and Lizzie.
P.S. I praise this movie for not only introducing me to the Rampage franchise as a whole, but also getting me to know about The Smashing Pumpkins via this song: