Review: Does Rampage Break The Video Game Movie Curse?

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Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has proved time and time again that he is the biggest and most popular actor working in Hollywood right now.

He rarely makes a bomb and his popularity grew to new heights thanks to the success of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

Johnson is again trying to prove to be a Box Office draw by releasing Rampage this month, which is a new movie based on an old video game.

This is not Johnson's first video game movie though because he starred in DOOM.

DOOM was an utter failure and Johnson himself acknowledges how bad it was. As for Rampage, does it finally manage to break the video game movie curse?

After watching Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, I had high hopes for Rampage because I'm a huge fan of Johnson's work.

I've been a fan of his since I first saw him wrestle in the WWE back in 1998 against Triple H in a Ladder Match.

As much as I like Johnson, sadly Rampage is not a fun movie like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

Even though the film is about a Gorilla, Crocodile and Wolf terrorizing Chicago, the majority of the film is surprisingly slow and boring.

I think the problem of the film lies within its pacing and tone. The first two thirds of the movie are a bore because the film tries its hardest to be "serious".

I feel the film has too much backstory over Johnson's character and his connection to his Gorilla named George.

We also see too much of Malin Akerman's character who is the human villain of the story responsible for making the animals gigantic killers.

It's not until the final third act that we actually see a B level monster movie. All of the city destruction and fun parts of the film are all saved towards the end for some reason.

I have to admit, it is fun watching the final act as the CGI is surprisingly very good and it's always nice to see Johnson becoming the hero again.

That said, it's quite sad that the best parts of the film don't happen until the end of it.

Overall, Rampage is a flawed film that takes itself too seriously at the start and leaves all of the good stuff until the end.

It's not a total bomb like DOOM, but it sadly does not fully break the video game movie curse.

Verdict: 2.5/5 stars

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