Rampage VFX Breakdown
Rampage is a 2018 American science fiction monster film directed by Brad Peyton, and loosely based on the video game series of the same name by Midway Games. The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Åkerman, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It follows a primatologist named Davis Okoye who must team up with George, an albino gorilla who turns into a raging creature of enormous size as a result of a rogue experiment, to stop two other mutated animals from destroying Chicago. It is the third collaboration between Peyton and Johnson, following Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) and San Andreas (2015).
Principal photography began in April 2017 in Chicago. The film was released in the United States on April 13, 2018, by Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema, in 2D, RealD 3D and IMAX. It has grossed over $425 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for Johnson and Morgan's performances and the visual effects, but criticism of the screenplay and storyline. It is the all-time best reviewed film based on a video game, currently sitting at 52% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Athena-1, a research space station owned by gene manipulation company Energyne, is destroyed after a laboratory rat mutates and wreaks havoc. Dr. Kerry Atkins, the lone surviving crew member, is ordered by CEO Claire Wyden to retrieve research canisters containing a pathogen. Atkins is able to flee in the escape pod when the station implodes, but it disintegrates upon re-entry, killing her. The falling pieces leave a trail of debris across the United States, including the Everglades, where a canister is consumed by an American crocodile, and a forest in Wyoming, where a gray wolf is exposed to the pathogen.
Primatologist Davis Okoye, a former US Army Special Forces soldier and member of an anti-poaching unit, works at the San Diego Wildlife Sanctuary, a wildlife preserve. He befriends a rare albino gorilla named George, whom he saved from poachers. Davis communicates with George using sign language and gestures, and George shows Davis that he has a sense of humor. At night, one of the canisters crash-lands in George's habitat and George is also exposed to the pathogen.
George grows considerably larger and more aggressive over time. Davis is contacted by Dr. Kate Caldwell, a genetic engineer, who explains that the pathogen was developed by Energyne to rewrite genes on a massive scale. She had hoped to advance CRISPR research as a potential cure for diseases but discovered that Energyne planned to use it as a biological weapon. The company fired her and got her sent to prison for attempting to expose them. George escapes from captivity and goes on a rampage at the preserve. Davis calms him down, but George is captured by a government team led by Agent Harvey Russell and put on an airplane. Meanwhile, Claire and her brother, Brett, send a squad of mercenaries to capture the mutated wolf, Ralph, but they are all killed.
Claire, hoping to capture Ralph and use George to kill Kate so they can cover up their plans, uses a massive transmitter atop the Willis Tower to lure all three of the animals—who have been engineered to respond aggressively to a certain radio frequency—to Chicago. George reacts violently to the sound, and his subsequent rampage causes the plane to crash, though Davis, Kate, and Russell parachute to safety. George, who also survives the crash, joins Ralph as they make their way to Chicago. Davis and Kate are aided by Russell in stealing a military helicopter so they can get ahead of George.
By the time they arrive, George and Ralph are going on a rampage in the city. George and Ralph are impeded by the military until the mutated crocodile, Lizzie, arrives and assists them. Davis and Kate make a plan to steal a counter-serum, with the hope that they can turn the mutated animals back to normal. They are able to reach Energyne headquarters at the Willis Tower and take several vials of the serum, but they are caught by Claire and Brett. Claire reveals that the serum only eliminates the animals' aggressiveness, rather than revert them to their normal sizes. Claire shoots Davis, but he survives. When George climbs up to the top of the tower and causes chaos, Claire orders Davis to distract him while she attempts to escape with Kate held hostage at gunpoint. Kate slips a vial into Claire's handbag and pushes her towards George, who swallows Claire along with the serum. Below, Russell takes a laptop of incriminating evidence from Brett and allows him to walk away, but Brett is crushed by falling debris as he leaves the tower. As the damage George and the other animals inflict on the tower causes it to topple over, Davis and Kate survive by hovering in a damaged helicopter amidst the shower of debris.
With George returned to his normal personality, Davis stays in the city to help him defeat the other two rampaging animals, while Kate and Russell rush to prevent the military from deploying a MOAB to kill the creatures. George and Davis trick Ralph into flying into Lizzie's jaws, which decapitates him, but George is overpowered by Lizzie and heavily wounded. As Lizzie nearly kills Davis, George pierces Lizzie's brain through the eyehole with a rebar, killing her. With the threat neutralized, the airstrike is aborted. George and Davis help clear the city of debris and evacuate civilians.
Rampage is a 2018 American science fiction monster film directed by Brad Peyton, and loosely based on the video game series of the same name by Midway Games. The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Åkerman, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It follows a primatologist named Davis Okoye who must team up with George, an albino gorilla who turns into a raging creature of enormous size as a result of a rogue experiment, to stop two other mutated animals from destroying Chicago. It is the third collaboration between Peyton and Johnson, following Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) and San Andreas (2015).
Principal photography began in April 2017 in Chicago. The film was released in the United States on April 13, 2018, by Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema, in 2D, RealD 3D and IMAX. It has grossed over $425 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for Johnson and Morgan's performances and the visual effects, but criticism of the screenplay and storyline. It is the all-time best reviewed film based on a video game, currently sitting at 52% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Primatologist Davis Okoye, a former US Army Special Forces soldier and member of an anti-poaching unit, works at the San Diego Wildlife Sanctuary, a wildlife preserve. He befriends a rare albino gorilla named George, whom he saved from poachers. Davis communicates with George using sign language and gestures, and George shows Davis that he has a sense of humor. At night, one of the canisters crash-lands in George's habitat and George is also exposed to the pathogen.
Claire, hoping to capture Ralph and use George to kill Kate so they can cover up their plans, uses a massive transmitter atop the Willis Tower to lure all three of the animals—who have been engineered to respond aggressively to a certain radio frequency—to Chicago. George reacts violently to the sound, and his subsequent rampage causes the plane to crash, though Davis, Kate, and Russell parachute to safety. George, who also survives the crash, joins Ralph as they make their way to Chicago. Davis and Kate are aided by Russell in stealing a military helicopter so they can get ahead of George.
With George returned to his normal personality, Davis stays in the city to help him defeat the other two rampaging animals, while Kate and Russell rush to prevent the military from deploying a MOAB to kill the creatures. George and Davis trick Ralph into flying into Lizzie's jaws, which decapitates him, but George is overpowered by Lizzie and heavily wounded. As Lizzie nearly kills Davis, George pierces Lizzie's brain through the eyehole with a rebar, killing her. With the threat neutralized, the airstrike is aborted. George and Davis help clear the city of debris and evacuate civilians.