Rampage, A Two Perspective Review
By Ashley Abbott
Dwayne Johnson has had his fair share of movie roles with hits like Fast and the Furious, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and even Moana. His most recent movie Rampage is currently in theaters. Rampage (2018) is a science fiction monster film based off a 1980s-arcade game where Davis Okoye (Johnson), a primatologist, has to help his albino gorilla, George. George was genetically altered, as a result of a bad experiment, into a massive creature. It is up to Okoye, George, and the rest of their team to stop two giant monsters (who also were genetically altered) from taking over Chicago. Rampage has had mixed reviews, mostly revolving around the storyline and the character Johnson plays. The movie has scored a C- from Entertainment Weekly and a 50% from Rotten Tomatoes. Despite these ratings, Rampage was the top grossing movie over the weekend (April 13-15) bringing in over $34 Million. When reading the reviews of Rampage two distinct views were seen, either is was seen as a “Disaster”, described by Entertainment Weekly, or “pure entertainment” as described by Adam Graham from The Detroit News. Different media outlets create different views which impact their audience. In this instance, depending on how you read the reviews of Rampage will influence whether or not you see the movie.
Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly wrote an article called, “Dwayne Johnson’s Rampage is a ‘disaster’ movie alright: EW review” (2018). The title alone gives their view of the movie, a “disaster”. In the article, the author criticizes Johnson's character as being a typical character choice for Johnson, “a strapless special-forces solider-turned-primatologist (sure, why not?)” The review also says the movie cannot decide if it wants to be a “what-hath-science-wrought disaster movie like those old John Sayles cheapie classics Piranha and Alligator, or just a big, dumb, and loud tongue-in-cheek action comedy.”
The article also reviews not only Johnson but other characters in the movie, including Naomie Harris and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Nashawaty states that Harris “deserves better” than to be in this movie and describes Dean as the only one having fun and the only one who “understands exactly what type of ludicrous trash he’s in.”
Entertainment Weekly is known for providing its readers up to date information about TV, movies, and music. With an article like this, it’s readers are likely to be influenced to not watch Rampage, or at the very least wait for it to come out on DVD and rent it from Redbox. The language alone, used in the article, gives a clear view of the dislike the author has for this movie.
However, despite Nashawaty’s review of Rampage, there are reviews that take Rampage for what it is and loved the movie. Adam Graham from Detroit News wrote an article called “Review: video fame adaptation “Rampage” rocks” (2018). In his article, he says, “Rampage gets it right.” Graham recognizes that Rampage is based off a video game with little plot, to begin with, but says the “video game adaptation knows what it is and what it’s not, and maximizes its potential by owning up to its reality.” Graham finds Johnson is the perfect fit to play the lead role of Davis Okoye, “an anti-poacher who ‘fought wars all over the world’ (of course he did) and now works as a primatologist.” This description of Johnson’s character is more factual about the character without criticism.
Graham also talks about the other actors used in the film. He says, “the cast is all on board with exactly how silly Rampage is, and how amusing it should be.” Harris is mentioned as an Oscar nominee but does not reduce her role saying she deserved better. Dean is described as “an absolute hoot” and “just right for the movies exaggerated version of reality.”
It is clear from Graham's review of the movie that he enjoyed the movie. His audience would likely go and see the movie while in theaters, especially if those audience members played the game Rampage. His article is more upbeat and pleasant to read. He does not criticize the movie negatively and finds the joy of watching an “action-packed monster movie”. He finishes his review by stating “Rampage is a smashing good time.”
Both authors reviewed the same movie, both with different opinions. How these articles are written will influence their audiences. The authors both are addressing the same audience, prospective viewers of Rampage, but each article elicits a different response to deciding whether or not to view the movie. The opinions of these authors will reach their audiences and will affect how this movie is viewed.
References
Graham, A. (2018). Review: video fame adaption “Rampage” rocks. The Detroit News.
Retrieved from https://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/movies/2018/04/12/movie-review-rampage-dwayne-johnson/33771783/.
Nashawaty, C. (2018). Dwayne Johnson’s Rampage is a ‘disaster’ movie alright: EW review.
Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved from http://ew.com/movies/2018/04/11/dwayne-
johnson-rampage-review/.
It is interesting to see such stark contrast in these reviews. As you stated, after reading this, I'm not entirely sure whether I'd like to go see the movie or not. At this point, I'd probably go see it just to see which review is more accurate and would not take the movie at face value. The plot would be lost on me because I would be focusing on whether or not the character choices were right or whether Johnson should have taken the role or not. What I find interesting and funny about the first review is that Nashawaty is saying that Johnson's role is typical for him. Excuse me for asking this but shouldn't actors play roles that they are known to be good at? Why WOULDN'T Johnson take a role he is notoriously known for? He must be good at it because he keeps getting asked to play those kinds of roles. And how can we say that someone deserves better than the role they were cast in? Nobody threatened them to take the role -- they took it on their own and probably enjoyed it. It sounds to me that Graham might have understood the movie a bit better. Nashawaty sounds very critical and like maybe he didn't quite get that this was a movie derived from a minimalist plot line and was meant to be funny. Graham seems to have gotten that right away -- this was not meant to be a serious film or one in which anyone delves into science too deeply. Personally, without seeing the movie I have to side with Graham. Maybe the movie is horrible but he makes me want to at least give it a go. It sounds like Nashawaty might have gotten some stale popcorn or flat soda. He's all too critical of minor details like whether Johnson should be playing a role he's good at. Why not? I have more important questions like did the movie make him laugh? I couldn't care LESS whether Johnson has played the character before, I want to laugh at Johnson pairing up with an albino gorilla! Based on these conflicting reviews, one thing is for sure, I'm not certain I would go see the movie but I am fairly certain that I like Adam Graham and not Chris Nashawaty.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to write an objective review of a movie, when everyone has different tastes. I thought the Chris Nashawaty review was a bit harsh. I have not watched this movie, but was curious about it. To say the Dwayne Johnson was in a typical role, is like saying that about Jason Statham, or Bruce Willis. These guys do what they excel at, and that's action packed movies. I'm not sure how it could have been a disaster, and also have a top grossing weekend. I think this review is too critical, soo critical it makes me skeptical of the review.
ReplyDeleteThe Adam Graham review is a bit more down to earth, and doesn't come off as negative/critical. Adam's review seems to get you excited about this movie. I agree, it sounds like Adam definitely enjoyed Rampage.
Based on these two reviews I tend to gravitate towards the positive one. I really dislike the typical role comment. If I go to see an action star, I want to see an action packed movie. Would he prefer to see The Rock in a romantic comedy?
It is amazing to see how two different critics can make it sound like two different movies. The first critic Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment news gave a terrible review of the movie. I would actually have to side with Adam Gram from the Detroit news. I believe that Nashawaty went into the movie expecting too much. He was criticizing the things about the movie that the people actually want to see. The movie is based on an 80’s arcade game where the whole point of the game was to destroy builds and a monster gorilla, or a gigantic super unrealistic wolf. The game was not really supposed to make sense. In fact I don’t believe it ever even had an ending. Why would you expect so much more from the movie? As for criticizing Dwayne Johnson for taking another movie that has a repetitive character of all his other movies. That is what the people want to see and pay to see. I have to be honest I loved the movie. I was a Sci-fi, action packed completely ridiculous and unbelievable kind of movie, and that was exactly the kind of movie I was looking for in the theaters. The special effects were a must see on the big screen. It even had a sentimental bond between Johnson and a 30 ft Gorilla named George that he raised since a baby, teaming up together in battle. That has action packed see it on the big screen written all over it. I think Adam Gram hit it right on the head with his explosive reviews because he went into the movie expecting it and got exactly what he was looking for. I personally love his quote of the movie “Rampage is a smashing good time”. In conclusion I will say I watched the movie and I got exactly what I was expecting and left satisfied.
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