“Rampage”

Off I went, turning away from the lure of the casino and the big score to be with “The Rock” for a few hours.  The theater was gorgeous.  It had a bar and big recliner seats, and a top quality sound system.  I grabbed a tumbler of red wine, found my assigned big recliner, and settled in to fight the monsters with Dwayne Johnson.

It wasn’t long before I was wishing I was at a Black Jack table.  The setup was pretty good: a mysterious pathogen infects some animals causing them to grow at an alarming rate and threaten mankind.  Davis Okoye (Johnson) is a primatologist who has a close relationship with the infected gorilla, “George”.

There is plenty of action to be sure with monster fights worthy of “Godzilla”.  The dialogue and disjointed plot is what killed the movie.  Much of it is just plain dumb, which is okay but it needs to be funny.  It wasn’t.  Maybe coming off of a silent retreat is not the best frame of mind for this genre, but I don’t think that was the case.

As a side note, a young actor named Jake Lacy who hails from my hometown of Greenfield, Massachusetts has a major role in the movie.  He previously appeared in “Carol”starring Kate Blanchett.  While this role won’t make his highlight reel, it’s great to see him finding work in the tough and tumble movie world.

All in all, I have to give a Roger Ebert “thumbs down” to “Rampage”.  I expect there will be many who enjoy this film, but I am not among them.