Having finished my Hard Day™ at school on my birthday, Gayle and I went out for a rare date. We went to the Smoky Apple for barbecue, then visited Barnes and Noble. After a dessert at a frozen yogurt place, we went to watch something that would be the opposite of the complex, weighty matter I'd been wrestling with all day.
I picked Rampage. I had some specific criteria for what I wanted out of a movie: It needed someone burly who would shoot weapons and scowl a lot. It needed contrived moments that didn't bear up under scrutiny, but served the plot well enough. Above all, it needed building punching. Just as much building punching as I could get. Fortunately, that list was amply met by Rampage. Because I'd already seen the trailer, I knew almost the entirety of the plot upon walking in. Since the plot is pretty straightforward and there are only a handful of wrinkles in an otherwise familiar and expected formula, that isn't saying too much. I didn't think there'd be a lot of character depth or thoughtful conversations about what was going on, and I was right. In fact, that's something to consider on its own. As far as character development, it goes along well with other "popcorn movies". There are some glimpses into the past, but nothing that really dives too deeply. We learn that Davis (The Rock's character) befriended the albino gorilla, George, when Davis stopped some poachers in Africa. That, and Davis' training as Special Forces (to explain how he can fly a helicopter and knew what to do with a grenade launcher) are really all we get. The movie is lean, tightly put together so that any more than five minutes of backstory would detract from the pacing. And, frankly, I don't know if I would have cared to know more about him. The plot armor over the lead couple was so thick that there wasn't any chance I would think things wouldn't turn out for our heroes. Since I knew they weren't in jeopardy, I didn't have to worry about a detailed life goal that was frustrated by the conflict in the film. The thing is, all of the pieces of a character arc were there: Davis' misanthropy is established (more through dialogue than action, I felt); his relationship with George is emphasized; his desire to save his gorilla friend is made clear. These pieces then have a purpose (by the end, his misanthropy is changed, his relationship with George is enhanced, and the desire to save his friend saves the city (which, of course, is lying in building-punched ruins)). As far as hitting the beats that are supposed to happen in a story, they're pretty much all there. So why isn't Rampage a more satisfying movie? Part of it is that I don't think it's trying to be. It doesn't want the audience to get bored with what is essentially a turn-off-you-brain monster flick, but it doesn't want to be (too) hollow. Hence the way the movie goes. Thinking of why Rampage and its predecessors (including Jurassic World and, though I haven't seen the trailers, I'm willing to bet Jurassic World 2) all fail so thoroughly to live up to the godfather of CGI monster movies, Jurassic Park, is the fact that there's so much attention put on the things with the teeth that the implications of the science that has been brought about--the, as it were, real-world component of the story--is lost. In Jurassic Park, it takes nearly forty minutes before we see what we paid for: The dinosaurs. And when we do, we get them calm, majestic, and harmonious. That sets up the beautiful promise of what the technology can do. However, the characters then sit down for dinner, having seen the remnants of the Velociraptor meal. They're given some of the promise, then some of the danger. This spurs them to argue (a type of conflict, which allows the scene to still have tension, stakes, and an eventual payoff) about the possibilities of what has transpired. Compare this to every other major monster movie. Nine times out of ten, if this kind of conversation occurs, it's in the midst of the catastrophe. As the monster approaches the city, that's when the I-knew-it-all-along character points a finger at those responsible and says something about "playing God" or an argument along those lines. Then the hero goes in to save the day. The problem with that is, we're not interested in the argument. Yes, arguments can have conflict, as I mentioned above. But an argument is not nearly as interesting when we're in the middle of seeing a skyscraper get laid low by a porcupine-wolf that's larger than a city bus. Putting the subtlety and nuances of character concerns into the end of the second act isn't going to work because everything around it is too loud. In my mind, this is why monster movies are, ultimately, incapable of being as emotive and powerful as Jurassic Park. Spielberg's first movie in the franchise set the bar so high that not even he could surpass it in Jurassic Park: The Lost World. No, they aren't the most important, profound movies that a person can watch. They're not supposed to be. But they don't have to be pure fluff, either. So what about Rampage? Well, it doesn't really try to get too deep into the implications of what's going on. While (thankfully) they avoid the "playing God" accusation as a result, it means that they never have any time to look into the…moral, I guess, of the story. Since their story structure doesn't permit anything like the dinner scene--and its follow up Petticoat Lane scene--from Jurassic Park, the movie avoids any attempt of the humans to come to grips with the fantastic power that's on display. They're too busy fighting the monsters. Lastly, the villains were so cartoonish that they never exuded genuine malice. I didn't much care about them and their financial woes fail to generate anything approaching empathy in me. They were exposition machines and a way of creating closure at their defeat. Forgettable antagonists, that's for sure. All that being said, I enjoyed Rampage. I would have wanted just a little more of the building punching stuff, but even the first Pacific Rim could use a touch more, in my opinion. I love that sub-genre, so it's natural that I liked Rampage. I didn't feel cheated by what happened, and though I would have preferred to see Infinity War, I still had a good time at the movies. Sometimes, especially after a hard day, that's really all a fellow is looking for. Comments are closed.
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