On a Rampage!

The movie "Rampage" didn't cleave too closely to the game that inspired it, though it still managed to serve slightly better as an adaptation of that than it did as a music video to Strong Bad and Coach Z's hit song of the same name. But that's another thing I'd like to see.

I did like the change to white fur for George, though. The brown gorilla of the games often seemed rather dull beside the giant werewolf and the lady lizard monster. And this movie gave that lizard frills, which is a look I've loved on reptiles since I first saw that dinosaur spit poison in Newman's face in "Jurassic Park". I even had some sort of companion book in which that choice was explained. Basically, it was just for the aesthetics. And that's a classic reason to add frills to anything.

I do think that Jeffrey Dean Morgan would have served better as the wolf, though. Dude's wasted in a suit, though that accent he affected was delightful anyway.

Oh. But the indistinct military radio voices were right on point with the source material. Points for that.

And this film gave me a mildly preferable taste of what "San Andreas" probably was, which was a Dwayne Johnson movie I eventually decided to skip. Though I probably see a fair amount of disasters in the cinema, I don't really like stories that are just about disasters. "Rampage" at least  had added monsters.

So yeah. It's whatever. A whimsical game about humans that got chemically mutated into big animals was adapted into a slightly mundane disaster movie about big animals that got chemically mutated into bigger animals. But still. Imagine Gorilla Dwayne Johnson and Werewolf Dean Morgan. I'm still up for that.

Bonus Question!

Best line?

Mr Rock answers the giant gorilla's growled question with "That's right. Let's kick some ass."

That would have been my definite answer, but the line that came from his mouth right after was "Of course the wolf flies." So . .  . You decide.

Rocking Rampage

Will the Dwayne Johnson "Rampage" film be able to overcome the video game movie curse?

That's the question people are asking. In fact, they should be asking "Will 'Rampage' be able to overcome the Dwayne Johnson movie curse?" Which is of course the curse whereby his movies can't avoid making unwieldy piles of glowing coin. It's one of those deceptively desirable curses. Like vampirism! You get to live forever without having to learn how to cook. That's the dream, isn't it?

Bonus Question!

Is the video game curse really a thing, though?

It really can't be  a thing. I think that some people believe that it's a thing, which is why bad decisions often get made in production, including the attachment of less adept staff to the projects. But they're just adaptations of concepts. The original medium doesn't actually impart any unique problems. Also, a few have actually been serviceable action movies which seem to be thrown into the stink end of the pool because it's easier to put them among their truly wretched brethren. Like "Tomb Raider" and "Prince of Persia". Those really stand out as examples that should be enjoyable to anyone who just wants a light explosive romp without any glaring issues. And one even has the prestige of a tying in to  a U2 music video, which is probably close to the musical equivalent of featuring Dwayne Johnson.

"Elevation" is still probably my favourite U2 song. Why do you ask? We just did the bonus question.