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Home / Entertainment

Movie Review: Switch off your brain for The Rock's new movie Rampage

Dominic Corry
By Dominic Corry
NZ Herald·
12 Apr, 2018 12:00 AM2 mins to read

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Dwayne Johnson stars in Rampage

Dwayne Johnson stars in Rampage

An 80s arcade game gets the blockbuster treatment in this epic monster-mash starring the world's most likeable superstar.

When an accident on an orbiting science lab sends multiple samples of a genetic super-serum hurtling to earth, they are encountered by an albino gorilla, a wolf and a crocodile. The three creatures grow to gargantuan size, turn nasty, and start tearing up North America, so it's up to the gorilla's faithful keeper Davis (Dwayne Johnson) to save the day.

Here in New Zealand we love Dwayne Johnson. Heck, everyone loves Dwayne Johnson, but we really love him. And that love will forgive a lot. Even a film that probably counts among the most ridiculous ever made.

Although it will be familiar to anyone who spent time in a video arcade in the 1980s, Rampage isn't an especially iconic or well-remembered game, and its status as the source material here is clearly just a pretence to put giant monsters on screen.

The shamelessness of that rationale is acknowledged by the film's willingness to revel in its own craziness, which is personified by Johnson's knowing performance.

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With Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle proving an unexpectedly huge success, the actor is currently on something of a roll, and in full command of his own star power. He harnesses audience goodwill like no other leading man working today, and that skill is deployed judiciously all throughout Rampage, bridging the more earnest moments.

Naomie Harris (Moonlight) heads an impressive supporting cast which includes Joe Mangianello (True Blood) and a smirking Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead). Malin Akerman (Billions) and Jake Lacy (I'm Dying Up Here) are amusing as comically villainous siblings.

The purest example of a movie for which you must switch off your brain, Rampage is as ephemeral as air. But still, The Rock.

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Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris
Director: Brad Peyton
Running Time: 107 mins
Rating: M (Violence & content that may disturb)
Verdict: Let Dwayne Johnson carry you through the ridiculousness.

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