Rampage

This movie was rather interesting and surprisingly so. I had expected a mediocre movie at best, so I was pleasantly surprised.

What made this movie have a big impact, is the fact that things similar to the events in the story actually do happen from time to time in our messed up society. Just take the school shootings from USA or Finland for example. Uwe Boll played his cards well in this movie, and delivered somewhat of a social and political heavy set movie here.

The acting was sparse, and wasn't really needed in a movie of this type. But the lead role played by Brendan Fletcher was remarkable. He put on a stunning performance with his psycho role.

Now, the only thing that kind of irritated me in this movie was the hand-held camera stuff. That was horrible. Had Uwe Boll decided to go with a steady cam instead, the movie would have been just that much more cool. Sure, hand-held cams are nice as well, but it was just a tad too much in this movie. Every single shot was shaking back and forth, often to a degree where you started to pull your hair and scream "keep it still, for the love of Hollywood gods!" But looking past the camera issue, then this movie rocked phenomenally.

This is most definitely a movie to check out. It is packed with action and at the same time taking on the gloves to punch our sick society in the face.

The only movie I had seen from Boll was House Of The Dead. It was a lot of fun because it was so bad. I read reviews of other movies he made, and I suspect they weren't much better. I was infuriated with what he did with the Alone In The Dark franchise, with guns and bimbo scientist and all.

I went to see Rampage (at the L'Etrange Festival) with a smirk on my face. I missed the 15 first minutes and I'm almost glad I did: the lousy messages, the jump cuts, the ad lib dialogue were about to get me out of here. But the actors weren't bad, things kept moving, so I played along.

Then started the said "rampage". There is not much to tell about it. It feels like Boll wanted to stick the nose of GTA players into their own *bip*, asking "So you thinks that's funny? See what it's like, is that so much fun anymore?" The movie gets better every minute. By the end of it I also wondered if the beginning was playing on the fact that we expect something stupid, illogical and aimless from his movies.

The logic is not without faults, but nothing that couldn't be discussed, the humour is great, scarce and surprisingly witty, overall, for me it was a success. If you get a chance to watch it, stick with it, at the end you might find yourself surprised at how it got there, from where it started.

As a side comment I would like to add that Mr Boll is a very nice person, on the first day of the festival he stood in the middle of the multiplex for hours (without boxing gloves) just to talk with people. I'm familiar with festivals and you don't see a lot of directors doing that.

Saw this on the web last night and couldn't have been more impressed. Everything about it was top notch which was a huge surprise considering it's a Uwe Boll film.

Brendan Fletcher was absolutely excellent in the very difficult role of portraying a brutal mass murderer who also happens to be a very sympathetic character. At several points in the film, he reminded me of a young Christian Slater, the Slater who used to pour everything he had into a role.

Kudos also to Shaun Sipos who, oddly enough, reminded me of a young Brad Pitt from Twelve Monkeys, especially in the chicken restaurant scene with Fletcher. I hope both these guys get much more acting work as a result of what they accomplished in Rampage.

My only question is how on earth did Uwe Boll pull this brilliant movie out of his ass after a career full of crap I wouldn't want my worst enemy to have to watch?

In any event, this film, as shocking as it is, is a warning that the worst is yet to come. In fact, Columbine and the Virginia Tech mass murders may soon pale in comparison to what the next "Bill" ends up doing with a rage that can't be quenched.

I rented Rampage last night. I didn't know anything about the film but the cover looked good enough. When I saw Uwe Boll's name at the opening credits I exclaimed: "Oh no! I have just ruined my evening!!!" But there was nothing interesting on TV so I went ahead and watched it. It turned out to be one of the most astonishingly pleasant surprises I've ever had as far as films are concerned. It was an Uwe Boll film and it wasn't a piece of garbage. I was really avoiding his films in the past for reasons I don't have to explain. I never thought I'd ever write any reviews about films but Mr Boll made a film that I enjoyed watching. That is something. I don't want to dissect the film and analyse the acting, effects, camera work and all that. All I know is that I didn't regret spending neither the money renting it nor the time watching it. Will Mr Boll make films in the future that will give you some fun instead of a nervous breakdown? We shall see.

I saw this at the Candian premiere at DEDfest and honest to god vowed to sit through some of Uwe Boll's other atrocious films to try and catch the exact moment when he became competent. From House of the Dead to Seed to Rampage his next film could well be a bona fide masterpiece! Granted there were some problems but most films have problems and compared to the complete trash he's produced in years past this was his Shawshank Redemption. Brendan Fletcher really keeps this movie up and his eerily dopey presence adds all the more to the ensuing violence. Smart but not too smart somewhat believable. One scene however stands heads and shoulders above the rest and it involves old people and bingo. enough said. Thoroughly enjoyable not too much film school editing and slick over all. If you only ever watch one Boll film let it be Rampage.