Movie: Rampage

By: Anton Massopust III

“Of course, the wolf flies.”

In the new movie “Rampage” based on an old 1980s video game. Dwayne Johnson (Former Professional Wrestler “The Rock”) plays a scientist Davis Okoye who takes care of a young gorilla named George. Somehow, somewhere deep in space, a doomed space station explodes, but there is with one lone survivor who manages to get into an escape pod. The escape pod is destroyed during reentry, but the canister of altered DNA samples she was carrying survived the crash and fell into three different locations.  

The evil “company” that she worked for was developing a DNA substance that creates huge growth and aggression. The company wanted to weaponize this DNA and sell it to the highest bidder. 

One of the canisters landed in George’s habitat. The other landed in a swamp where a crocodile lives. The last one landed in Wyoming in a forest were wolves dwell. The animals all are exposed to the open canister and grow into giant monsters that can regenerate and are filled with aggression.

Davis tries to help his gorilla friend and a scientist Dr. Kate Caldwell (Naomie Harris) reveals to him that she helped create the chemical these animals have been exposed to. Now, the animals are heading for Chicago because a beacon emits a frequency that only they can hear. They will destroy anything in their path. Davis and Kate are in the hands of the military. They have to convince the military and special agent Harvey Russell (Jeffrey Dean Morgan – Negan from The Walking Dead Fame). All three animals: George the Gorilla, Ralph the Wolf and the Armored Crocodile are on a Rampage and it’s up to all three heroes to either stop them or to find a way to cure them.

This movie is exactly what you think it is: a homage to 1950s monster movies. Giant monsters escape and fight each other and the military. There’s snappy dialogue, special effects, and great looking creatures that look like real animals. Everyone is perfectly cast and suited to their roles. The villains are nothing special, just typical corporate bad guys.

This is just a fun movie to sit and munch popcorn. You can take the kids although there’s a lot of cursing that I thought was unnecessary. I was surprised the old 1980s video game “Rampage” could be made into a pretty good movie.