Paper thin characters and shallow script on a big budget. Of the three CGI Giants the wolf was the most exciting but his scenes in the city are REALLY short. The relationship between Rock and Gorilla is decent but its been done better in several movies now. The film lacks any emotional punch and while it is a brainless action movie that you could enjoy, its not very engaging, aside from the very last fight, the military angle is crappy and creature deaths even stupider (they won't get hurt by bullets because they recover very fast but they will get hurt if they fight each other, yawn).

5/10

Rampage

I've never really agreed with the notion of mindless fun, but it is certainly present with Rampage. It is a hollow monster-destruction flick that feels like it was written by the same people as Power Rangers. The script is pretty generic, Dwayne Johnson is irritatingly more wooden than usual, and the villains are two-dimensional misfires. On the flip-side, its saving grace ... there is a bunch of big, CGI monster fights, and I don't care what anyone says, they're fun to observe. Not exciting or moving in any other way (apart from the short-lived final battle), but it's always at least visually interesting to behold these clashes. There are also some comedic attempts, only two of which actually work (both are the gorilla's hand gestures). The film jumps into gear pretty much as soon as it begins, and before you know it, it has ended. Not a lot of time for development. There is nothing outright terrible, but a lot of forgettable characters and scenes.

C

The perfect Moviepass movie. It’s entertaining enough in the moment, but I’m still in the theater and it’s already starting to fade from my memory. And why did the brother and sister remain in the building as soon as they activated the signal? What did they think was going to happen? Also, how does The Rock not only survive a bullet to the stomach, but manages to keep on trucking like it’s a flesh wound?

C+

LOL. A 200-foot alligator and a giant wolf were plausible...but HOW THE HELL DID DWAYNE KEEP GOING WHEN SHOT IN THE STOMACH!!!!?

He does say that the bullet managed to miss all of the vital organs. I think that's the writer's version of 'it's just a scratch'.

Yeah, I know it’s stupid, but I have a weird line when it comes to movie logic. The monsters I have no problem with, but even though The Rock himself seems to be turning into a mythical creature, I couldn’t help but be a little bothered by the bullet thing. And I definitely wouldn’t have had a problem if they didn’t show the wound. It’s a perfect round hole right in the gut. With all the running he did after, the wound would’ve torn and torn and it would’ve been excruciating (at the least). He’s not even phased by it.

And what’s funny is that there’s no reason the movie needs to shoot him outside of wanting a dramatic moment.

This type of thing has been an action movie oversight for about 40 years, though. Isn't there a point where you just accept these things?

Yes, and I barely cared about it here. I just thought it was amusing.

Right. Ok. It's the third thing you mentioned in your review, but you barely cared about it.

The third and last thing I mentioned.

It was in your top three things to mention. Whether third and/or last, it was still important enough to you to mention it. Saying you barely cared about it just cannot be true. I don't wish to carry this on any longer, but be honest with yourself. I barely cared about it ... because I didn't mention it in my review. See the difference?

It was literally a thought that popped in my head as I was sitting in the theater during the credits writing my rapid fire thoughts on the film. Only you would have a bug up your ass about this, and over a film you didn’t like.

Also,”top three” implies that I thought there were many things worth mentioning about the film. If there were, I would’ve mentioned them. But as I said, the movie was already starting to fade from my mind as I sat in my seat writing my well thought out 1,000 word analysis.

And Chappaquiddick is still not a political film.

It's not bad, but I was hoping for something a bit better, instead it plays out as every other blockbuster. For some films it works better as with others, and based on the trailer for this I thought it could get on that, but it didn't, even with Peyton and Johnson involved, who did San Andreas before which I more or less enjoyed. Johnson is decent, but at the same time it's the most bland role I can remember him in, the film basically just doesn't revolve around him, but instead around action set pieces with the animals, who besides Gorilla George have zero depth. It was cool to see the wolf fly and the film is fun watching for those gigantic animals doing outer worldly things, other than that it's a pretty boring adventure. One thing I just recall now as well, we didn't see the plane with George in it crash down, it could have been an awesome effect, and in The Mummy they did the same thing. It's not too hard to believe in this movie-verse that they could survive a plane crash, I would just appreciate seeing the crash. And even if it's not supposed to be a serious film, the script with its cartoonish villains just feels too dumb at times that I think they could have tried harder with that (the gun shot Jmart mentioned is another example of this lazy writing I guess). Besides Johnson the rest of the cast is just replaceable, and while he's not at his best, he still carries the film capably and mixed with some monster action it makes it bearable. While just being on screen for a short time, I enjoyed the whole part of Manganiello's team introduction and destruction by the wolf the most.

C

Yes, shame on the producers for not having the wolf and alligator joke around or flirt with each other or have self-esteem issues while they destroy downtown Chicago.

Seriously dude, what "depth" would have liked them to have? They're a wolf and an alligator. Would you have liked to hear their inner-voice, A Dog's Purpose-stylee?

Such a hard-on for a movie you didn’t like.

Where exactly do you see me having a hard-on for it? I am merely replying to nonsensical comments. It is important that if you dislike a movie, you still have to dislike it for coherent reasons.

Well, with depth just referring to some more back story on it, like with George we see how he came to be saved by Johnson by poachers, I feel considering they're such main characters I'd like to have learned more about the wolf and the alligator throughout the film, especially in the part of just seeing more of their evolution on screen.

Hmm. Okay, but they're wild animals. Don't see why they needed more to their stories. They're just there to be out-of-control antagonists.

I agree. Both Wolf and alligator are there for the sole reason of destroying the city they didn't need depth. Still overall movie lacked one or didn't want try to create one for the creatures that were victims to a science project. And I believe the Flying Wolf vs Gorilla or Flying Wolf vs Alligator would have been a better fight than Gorilla vs Alligator.

Yeah, so I was just contemplating things that could make this film better. For something which we all agree on it seems was average, I don't see why having more focus on the animals before and after being affected would not have made this film better.
It was the human aspect and their interactions in the film that I felt let down by the most, and influenced me not liking this more. The rampaging parts are what made it fun at times, there was just not enough substance to it.

I wasn't expecting a lot out of this but it was somehow far worse than I expected. Other than some decent destruction porn that might thrill children, there's nothing at all to recommend about it.

Johnson needs to slow it down a bit. This should have been a hard pass from him.

I think Peyton is the reason why Johnson did this plus this is a role that audience still enjoy him doing.

C-

Not that it even matters much, but Fallen Kingdom feels right with a C, and Rampage is just not at that same level.