BY MARK CERULLI
Back
when he used to wrestle for the WWE, Dwayne “The Rock†Johnson would ask, “Can
you smell what The Rock is cooking?†Well, his latest big screen blowout, Rampage
smells a lot like jet fuel – there are more smashed planes and helicopters in
this film than in ten Godzilla movies
combined.
Based
on the 1980s video game of the same name, the big screen version features not
one, not two, but THREE hyper-deadly creatures making a beeline for downtown
Chicago. Johnson plays a zoo
primatologist who prefers animals to people, reluctantly teaming with a lovely
geneticist (Naomie Harris) to stop them. Although Johnson is the movie’s star, he shares
the screen with an even bigger hero: a
massive gorilla named “Georgeâ€. “They’re a lot alike,†director Brad Peyton
said, “They’re both funny, they’re both alpha males and they’re both the
biggest guy in every room.†Rampage
is Johnson’s third collaboration with Peyton, who previously directed him in San Andreas and Journey 2: Mysterious Island. Ahead of the film’s debut, Warner
Bros staged an elaborate press junket at a Hollywood studio where key cast and
crewmembers talked about the film…
“The
conceit of this idea is a ridiculous one, “Johnson told the assembled crowd of
reporters, “Three gigantic monsters destroying the city of Chicago… we took a
lot of swings at it to make it fun and give the story an anchor in heart and
soul, which is my relationship with my best friend – this rare, gigantic albino
gorilla.â€
“We
wanted to make a monster movie that would stand the test of time,†Johnson
continued. “There’s been a lot of great ones – King Kong, Godzilla, even Jurassic
Park I’d include – so we wanted to raise the bar, even a little bit and anchor
it in a relationship.†Since George, the
gorilla, exhibits many human-like qualities and has a deep bond with Johnson’s
character, he goes all out to save him from the inevitable military hardware
brought out to take the huge ape down. Special note should be made of the remarkable visuals created by New
Zealand-based Weta Digital, which has a long history of creating amazing
effects in blockbusters like Avatar, Justice League and War For The Planet Of The Apes.
(Photo courtesy Warner Bros.)
The
film gives Naomie Harris – who Cinema Retro readers know as Moneypenny in the
Daniel Craig Bonds – a chance to get out of MI6 to dodge falling buildings and
gigantic creatures, an experience that was well out of her acting comfort zone: “This was reacting to tennis balls and I was
absolutely terrified,†Harris says with a laugh, referring to the weeks of complex
green screen work she had to do to dodge said giant monsters. Luckily, her amiable co-star came to the
rescue: “I had to lean on Dwayne, he’s
the master of this and I was completely lost in the beginning.â€
“It’s
odd that my comfort zone is destruction,†Johnson added, which got a big laugh. And destruction there is – from a space
station spinning high above the earth to Chicago’s Magnificent Mile being torn
up, Rampage is a fast-moving visual
feast, which the cast doesn’t take too seriously and neither should the
audience. Instead Rampage is a ride meant to be enjoyed… As the movie’s director summed up: “What I’ve
learned from him (Dwayne) is ‘When you get up to the plate, try and hit a grand
slam.’ As a Canadian, I wasn’t trained to think like that, but this gigantic
Hawaiian dude really knows how to do this right!â€
(Photo courtesy Warner Bros.)
Rampage roars into theaters
Friday, April 13th, from Warner Bros. Pictures. Click here to visit official site.
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