Review Roundup: Critics Weigh In On RAMPAGE

On April 13, megastar Dwayne Johnson returned to the big screen in the highly anticipated new film Rampage.

Rampage stars Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Akerman, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It was directed by Brad Peyton, from a screenplay by Ryan Engle and Carlton Cuse & Ryan J. Condal and Adam Sztykiel, story by Ryan Engle, inspired by the Rampage video game. Serving as producers were Beau Flynn, John Rickard, Brad Peyton and Hiram Garcia, with executive producers Marcus Viscidi, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Jeff Fierson, Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener and Michael Disco. The director of photography was Jaron Presant; production designer, BARRY Chusid; editors, Jim May and Bob Ducsay; costume designer, Melissa Bruning; VFX Supervisor, Colin Strause; and composer, Andrew Lockington. A New Line Cinema presentation, in association with ASAP Entertainment, a Wrigley Pictures/F.P.C./7 Bucks Entertainment production, a Brad Peyton Film, Rampage will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. Rated PG-13.

Check out what the critics are saying here:

Simran Hans, The Guardian: "The pace slackens over the course of the protracted finale, a set piece that uses ugly, video game-style CGI (and a palette of sickly, ashy greys) to depict a battle for the city. These action sequences aren't anywhere near as much fun as the ensemble cast, which includes Jeffrey Dean Morgan's FBI agent (pastiche-y southern drawl and suit included) and romcom nice boy Jake Lacy (Obvious Child, Girls) as a sweaty, slightly useless Pop-Tart-eating minion to his evil genius sister."

Justin Lowe, The Hollywood Reporter: "If Rampage's disaster scenario represents classic B-movie material, the filmmakers don't seem at all concerned about appearances; in fact, they up the ante with another gigantic predator, a 30-foot WOLF with incredible speed and agility that's on a potentially devastating COLLISION COURSE with George. Before you can say "kaiju smackdown," another monster materializes, along with the potential for a thrilling three-way confrontation."

Rick Marshall, Digital Trends: "The supporting cast feels strangely disposable in the film, as several characters are introduced and developed early on with quite a bit of screen time, only to disappear entirely by the film's halfway point. Sure, one character played by a relatively high-profile actor gets dispatched at a surprisingly early point in the movie (no spoilers), but there's a substantial number of other named characters who are established as key figures in Davis' life, only to subsequently vanish."

Peter Debruge, Variety: "As for "Rampage," the movie feels like exactly what it is: a mega-budget studio tentpole reverse-engineered from an 8-bit arcade classic (by no fewer than four screenwriters), designed to eat dollars in much the same way the original game gobbled quarters. Watching it, you can imagine the creative team straining to adequately acknowledge the source material - as digital meanies punch holes in skyscrapers, stomp military vehicles, and snatch helicopters out of the air - but they would have been better off starting from scratch. Because this is no longer "Rampage" if, instead of getting to root for the monsters (who started out as normal predators, "weaponized" by a malicious gene-mutating formula), we're asked to identify with a Dwayne Johnson action hero instead."

Emily Yoshida, Vulture: "When an orbiting lab owned by the shady Wyden Technologies explodes in space, canisters of a special neon-green gene-enhancing goo fall back to Earth, where they are promptly gobbled up by an alligator, a WOLF ... and our dear friend George. The animals get big and essentially indestructible; some get new abilities (have I mentioned the flying wolf) and they all want nothing more than to destroy. Davis ditches the skinny boys and teams up with Kate Caldwell (Harris), a disgraced geneticist who makes a far better foil for him, not least because Harris is the best part of this thing by a mile. They go on a hunt for a possible antidote, while the trio of beasts converge on Chicago, inevitably leveling it in their rage-y rampage."

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