Film of the Week – Rampage

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has popped up a lot over the last few months. That’s not a bad thing, it just depends on the type of film he stars in. Rampage is a true summer blockbuster. Something for the whole family to enjoy on a day out to the cinema. Packed full of action, an “out-of-the-box” science experiment gone wrong, surrounding some form of love story between two lead characters, and you’ve successfully kept the kids quiet for two hours. However, you need to be entertained as well, because it’d be annoying if you paid all that money for a ticket only to fall asleep holding your popcorn in one hand and a Coke in the other. That’s where the mild love story comes in.

Rampage is a true summer blockbuster, because the character development is hardly there. Dwayne’s character dislikes human contact due to a horrible act of unnecessary hunting, which led him to adopt the albino Guerrilla, George. We get a couple of moments that attempts to establish this character trait, and then it’s never brought up again. In fact, Dwayne’s character doesn’t really change much. He’s effectively the same person as he was at the start of the film, except maybe he likes being in the same room as another human now – but that’s not entirely understood for as soon as the action stops, we get a couple of moments where the characters talk and George is OK, and then the film ends. Rampage is a 2 dimensional film with a vague plot and characters that are just there… but that’s what a true summer blockbuster is, and by knowing it’s designed to be that type of film that can be stuck on in the evening when the kids are bored and you need to get on with housework. After a day’s work, you come home and all you want to do is rest and not really focus on anything, so you stick a summer blockbuster on and let it play – and the non-stop action can pull you out of that trance-like state long enough before going to bed.

Rampage as a film, if you want to focus on the characters, the story, you won’t enjoy the film. It’s meant to be enjoyed as something flashing in the background whilst making tea for your children, who’ve only just stopped running around. Rampage is a film that allows you to relax.

The action is highly entertaining, especially when the huge animals are climbing the Sears tower in Chicago. We do see the characters put in peril, and Dwayne’s character on the floor, nearly defeated before being saved at the last minute. We do see an extreme action being taken in an attempt to eradicate the animals, which is always the wrong decision, and also needs to be stopped. And we also get to see the bad guys get their comeuppance.

Rampage is a paint-by-numbers film, but most summer-blockbusters are. That’s why they’re entertaining for everyone. It looks easy to throw together this type of summer blockbuster, because it looks like a basic packaged film, but you’d be wrong. I would argue and say that this type of summer blockbuster is a specific genre of film. It requires skill and talent to get the plentiful action just right to keep the audience entertained but not bored, to have a character with just enough depth to keep the fulfilment of a suitable conclusion without the feeling of being cheated upon, and to have just the right amount of a love story between two characters to keep it still being a film, I guess.

The summer blockbuster is entertaining if done correctly, and Rampage is one of the best that keeps true to the classic summer blockbuster format. By tweaking the bare minimum of what makes an action film just the right way, it becomes an enjoyable one for the whole family. Rampage dose exactly that.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)