Rampage - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Rampage

Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

​

Movie
Video games turned into movies is nothing new to Hollywood. I’ve guiltily enjoyed Mortal Kombat (the first one, not the abortion that came next), Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia and quite a few other films, but there seems to be a strange habit of hollywood recently trying to adapt movies that really just don’t seem to be made for the screen. Things like The Angry Birds Movie (which actually wasn’t too bad), or the upcoming Tetris Movie just seem like movies that really was pushing the limits for audience. Still, no matter how weird, or how bizarre my reaction to hearing a new video game movie being released, I will fully admit to clapping my hands and giggling like a 12 year old catholic school girl when I heard that Warner Brothers was making a Rampage movie. I grew up beating the living tar out of buildings to the tune of MANY a wasted hour on my old Nintendo and Sega Genesis systems, so the idea of The Rock, lots of CGI monsters, and almost two hours of non stop destruction was enough to get my butt in the theater seats this spring.

Knowing what rampage has always been, there’s almost an unspoken agreement that we really know what we’re getting into here. There was nothing fancy about Rampage in ANY of it’s video game adaptations, as it was just a bunch of mutated animals competing with your friends to see who could smash as many buildings as you could within a set amount of time. I don’t think anyone is going to be surprised that the movie is not exactly much more than that. We have a gorilla, a wolf, and a croc all being mutated into super beasts and smashing things to bits. However, much like Transformers, there has been a rather controversial human story line that keeps us away from the smashing and crushing of things till the final act. A move which will be amenable to some, and annoying to others.

The film opens with a gigantic space experiment going HUGELY wrong. A mutated lab rat has gotten out and murdered the crew of scientific space station and to make matters worse, destroys all of the samples in the process. Or so it seems. Unbeknownst to the owners of this little science experiment, three samples have made it off in the escape pod and crash land over the course of thousands of miles. Yup, you got it, a Wolf, a crocodile, and an albino ape named George get dosed with it. The serum makes the three animals grow, and grow, and grow, as well as exhibit heightened levels. This culminates in a classic Rampage setting, with the three beasts tearing through Chicago like tissue paper,and only a few humans able to stop it.

As mentioned above there is a human element to the story as well. George’s keeper, Davis Okoye (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) has given up a lucrative special ops career to become a primatoligist, and has spent the last several years caring for animals in captivity. When George goes nuts with the serum, he and a rogue scientist from the serum project named Kate Caldwell (Naomie Harris) have to figure out a way to stop the destruction before it’s too late. Mix in a heavily accented Texas government agent played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, your typical arrogant Military personal who refuse to listen to logic, and a creepy CEO who is willing to do ANYTHING to get her serum back (Played by Malin Ackerman).

Rampage’s first 30-40 minutes is an exercise in patience, as the human aspect of the story is slogged through patience and hope. Backstory is mixed in to the point where we are just sitting here going “cummon! I wanna see big animals smash something!”, but once George and the rest of the beasts start making their way to Chicago (thanks to our nasty little CEO) things start to pick up a lot. Personally, I see the flaws in the movie, and really just find the film a solid “check your brain at the door” type of film. The first act is a bit slow and rough to get through, but the 2nd and 3rd act are pure Michael Bay style destruction. Nothing in Chicago is safe, and Dwayne Johnson’s charming personality makes the boring human element palatable until we can get to the smashing and crushing part. Much like Kong: Skull Island, the human beings are nothing but filler, as the audience is here for one reason only. To see mutated animals wreak havoc in Chicago. In that aspect it fulfills itself quite nicely. The film hearkens back to classic Godzilla and King Kong style action flicks, with mayhem, destruction and all of the CGI of modern technology at its disposal. There’s not a lot of depth to it, but the 2nd half of the film is structured much like the new Godzilla remake and should appeal to fans who loved that movie as well.





Rating:

Rated PG-13 for terror and some bloody images





4K Video: Video:

I’m a little puzzled why Warner Brothers decided to finish Rampage in 2K for the home video release. By all accounts it was filmed with a mixture Arri Alexa cameras that were captured at 3.4K and 6.5K respectively. Meaning this little blockbuster was a prime candidate for a full 4K master. Still, the disc sports a modest upgrade over the already stunning 1080p Blu-ray (as much 2K upscales do), but there are some caveats with the upgrade. The film has a rather natural grading to it, with a little bit of brown and light blue thrown in to tweak a scene or two. There’s also some mold softness to the overall image, and blacks are not PERFECTLY inky. With those points aside, Rampage looks great in 4K. The HDR brings some real improvements to the picture, with colors being deeper and richer, while blacks cleaning up some of the washed out black levels you see near the end of the movie when the dusty is falling. Fine details are quite rich and appealing, with intimate facial closeups of The Rock and Naomie Harris showing every bit of dirt, sweat and grime on the face. Or the little fibers on Agent Russell’s blue suit and the detailing on his customized 1911 pistol.





Audio:

Like the Blu-ray, the 4K UHD shares the same great Dolby Atmos track, but I must warn viewers. Like a lot of recent Warner releases, Rampage has a 5.1 DTS-HD MA track as well which the disc defaults to. So that means you’re going to have to manually go into the settings and change that tick mark over to Atmos in order to experience the next gen audio (or at the very least, 7.1 audio). The Atmos track is a roaring powerhouse of a track though, and the switch that format is WELL forth the few seconds it takes in the sub menus. The opening scene with the space station crash is intense, claustrophobic, and just riddled with chest crushing bass. That naturally subsides just a little bit, that is until George gets into the serum, and bedlam breaks loose. Surrounds are active at all times, with chirping and cheeping in the forest, as well as non stop action (such as when the commando team tries to take out the wolf). By the time we get to the Chicago central attack, the audio is nothing but a maelstrom of action, and the full immersiveness of the track is on full display. Bass is thunderous and unending, and the overheads get some nice discrete sounds of the monsters jumping around buildings. A blockbuster track, and a great sounding mix on home video.






Extras:

• Not A Game Anymore - From arcade sensation to movie monster epic, we explore how the Midway video game inspired the filmmakers to create the ultimate disaster film.
• Gag Reel - Hilarious outtakes and mishaps captured during production.
• Deleted Scenes - Deleted scenes that barely missed the final theatrical cut.
• Rampage - Actors in Action: Strap in for a wild ride as Dwayne Johnson, Joe Manganiello and the cast prepare for the film’s demanding stunts and explosive set pieces.
• Trio of Destruction - Follow the innovative design team and the artists at Weta Digital as they bring to life the biggest and baddest monsters for the film’s climactic battle royal.
• Attack on Chicago - Director Brad Peyton reveals the challenges of filming on-location in Chicago and turning digital destruction into a cinematic reality.
• Bringing George to Life - Discover the wonder of what it’s like to be a gorilla, as movement coordinator Terry Notary teaches actor Jason Liles how to move, behave and become “George.”

Final Score: ​

Rampage is a bit of a mixed back at times, but the fun and mindless entertainment level of promised destruction tend to outweigh the bad points of the film. Sure, the human element of the story is greatly over played and vastly inferior to the monster smashing, but once you get through the exposition and story setups of the first 40 minutes, the film really does deliver on the monster smashing. Buildings are destroyed, humans are swallowed whole (that little nod to the game had me grinning from ear to ear), and Dwayne Johnson is the shining beacon of light in the boring human cast. It’s not a great movie, not even really a good movie, but Rampage ticks off all the right buttons for someone who isn’t looking for much besides a CGI monster fest to eat popcorn to. It’s big, it’s loud, it’s filled with great special effects and some good technical specs as well. The 4K disc is a decent improvement over the 1080p Blu-ray, and features a killer audio track on both friends. Recommended for those looking at a fun little monster movie without having to think too much.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Naomie Harris
Directed by: Brad Peyton
Written by: Ryan Engle, Carlton Cuse, Ryan J. Condal, Adam Sztykiel
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Thai, Turkish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Russian, Thai, Turkish
Studio: Warner
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 107 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: Own Rampage on 4K UHD Combo Pack, 3D Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray and DVD on July 17, or Own It Early on Digital HD on June 26!

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[Jon Liu]

I blind-bought this film and watched last night. I had a heck of a time with this film. Dumb, turn your brain off, style movie, but when the movie gets going, it really goes to the 11's.

 

[Michael Scott]

yup, it's the epitome of "dumb popcorn flick". Things go boom, things get eaten, and the subwoofers vibrate everything in the house

 

[Todd Anderson]

I used to play Rampage in the arcade... not as good as Phoenix... but still a fun vid.

I'm might have to check this puppy out... why they default to 5.1 is totally mind boggling! Especially considering that the vast majority of buyers probably need it to default to the best quality, otherwise they'd unknowingly miss out!

 

[JBrax]

Rented and sitting down to enjoy the mayhem tonight.

 

[JBrax]

I watched it last night and thought it was ok. Audio was the highlight for me as the Atmos track was fantastic! Certainly worthy of a rental for the audio alone.

 

[Michael Scott]

yeah, it's a fairly middle of the road movie IMO. stellar audio and video though