Rampage (2018) / YMMV

Aluminum Christmas Trees: CRISPR is a real-life gene splicing technique, even if Hollywood Science enhances its powers and the opening crawl regarding it is slightly inaccurate, as duly noted by two experts in that who reviewed the movie.
Angst? What Angst?: Once George is cured and no longer rampaging, the human cast are very quick to forget all the damage he caused. George is seen helping humans get down from the collapsed buildings, but for some reason they're willing to just jump into his arms despite the fact that he had been crushing and eating many people earlier. Russel even laughs at some of George's signed jokes, even though he'd personally witnessed as George killing his men, of which he seems to just forget existed.
Awesome Music: The remix of Bullet with Butterfly Wings that plays in the first trailer, and the end credits track "The Rage" by Kid Cudi which samples the former song.
Catharsis Factor: Given how much of a bitch Claire was, it was tremendously satisfying to see her getting devoured whole by George.
Cliché Storm: The entire film is a shameless checklist of every giant monster movie cliche you can think of (with a truckload of action movie cliches sandwiched in with it).
Complete Monster: Claire Wyden is introduced informing a hapless scientist on a space station to "return with a sample or not at all", preventing her escape and eventually getting her killed. Running her business with ruthless efficiency and removing those in her way, Claire proves the depths of her evil when she learns her company's chemicals have turned three animals into massive monsters. She proceeds to use a signal to lure them to Chicago, causing untold casualties, solely to get them killed and collect samples off their corpses. Later, she even attempts to murder the heroes and skip town without a twinge of remorse for the lives she's destroyed.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Despite being an American production, the film has grossed over 150 million dollars in China while grossing less than 100 million back in the United States. Though this doesn't make Rampage unusual, as multiple sci-fi or action films originating from the U.S.A. have done financially better in China throughout the 2010s decade such as Terminator Genisys, Transformers: The Last Knight, Ready Player One and The Fate of the Furious.
Ham and Cheese: Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a cowboy-esque smug government agent, Jake Lacy as a fraidy Harmless Villain, and Malin Akerman as a smarmy Card-Carrying Villain, all clearly just having fun with their roles instead of taking the whole thing seriously like the rest of the cast.
Memetic Mutation:
- Many a comments page online has reacted to George's Adaptation Dye-Job with a snarky mention of "typical Hollywood white-washing". Others have compared him to Harambe.
- Due to Ralph having the unexpected ability to possess membranes that allow him to glide, Godzilla fans have taken to calling him Ralph the Unbelievable.
Moral Event Horizon: Brett is amoral but not really evil per se, at least until he finally agrees to go along with Claire’s plans to crash the plane, and when that fails, to draw both George and Ralph to Chicago, never mind the massive collateral damage in their wake. Later, he does it again when he decides to abandon his sister and her pet rat by surrendering both it and Claire’s laptop to Russell in exchange for getting a chance to run away scot-free, which doesn’t work out for him as he had hoped. It's all a set-up by Russell to get him killed by falling debris.
Narm:
- Ralph just looks... awkward when in flight. During the fight with George, the way he gracefully swoops away and daintily lands on his feet, light as a feather despite being a 30-foot wolf, almost borders on comical.
- Earlier during his and George's rampage through Chicago, Ralph is often seen taking a bite off any poor human he can find. It should be scary... except there's one moment where he takes three in his mouth in a single swoop.
Narm Charm: As cliched as the story is, going from the tongue-in-cheek script and performances that show the actors are having fun with it, its clear the film isn't meant to be taken very seriously in the first place and is just meant to be a fun popcorn flick. Given the tone of the games its based on, which likewise do not take themselves seriously in any way.
One-Scene Wonder: Joe Manganiello as Burke, the leader of the private military group that goes after Ralph. Burke is the last one standing and attempts to go out with a fight, even when he realizes he's screwed.
So Okay, It's Average: Critical reception ranges from decent to mediocre, though it is also agreed the movie is stupidly fun.
Viewer Species Confusion: Lizzie's mutations make it difficult to tell if she started as a crocodile or an alligator. Her teeth stick out when her jaws are shut, which is a fast way to identify a crocodile, but of course she's been mutating like crazy, and so she has shark-like rows of teeth that make this distinguishing technique questionable. Given that the United States has a mere 2,000 crocodiles in the very tip of Florida, while 5 million alligators roam the south-east states as the indigenous reptile, she's most likely an alligator. However, taking into account the fact that Lizzie has green scales as opposed to the black scales sported by American alligators, and in the Missing Trailer Scene, Davis explicitly identifies her as a giant crocodile. That should make it pretty clear what she is.
Visual Effects of Awesome: The effects are by WETA, the same production company that made San Andreas, The Hobbit and, appropriately so, the Planet of the Apes movies since 2011, so the monsters and destruction look beautiful.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Surprisingly, this movie has a lot of shocking R rated style violence tucked behind a PG-13 rating, including impalements, people getting crushed or eaten to death, and glorious monster on monster fighting.
WTH, Costuming Department?: Some fans have taken notice that Dwayne Johnson seems to be wearing the exact same shirt in this movie that he is in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
The Woobie:
- George. He's an albino gorilla who is the Last of His Kind and would've been a high priority target of poachers if he remained in Africa. As a baby, he hid under the jeep of the poachers who killed his mother and was forced to watch as the poachers cruelly continued to beat her corpse before cutting her up and turn her hands into ashtrays. With this backstory in mind, George's transformation into a destructive Kaiju only makes him more tragic. Especially since he deeply regrets all the violence he causes and is scared and confused by his rage.
- To a lesser extent, Ralph and Lizzie as well. While portrayed as less sympathetic than George, at the end they are ultimately just innocent animals that were mutated against their will by a Psycho Serum.

YMMV / Rampage (2018)

Edit Locked