Did you catch all the video game references in Rampage? You'd be forgiven for missing some given that, while Dwayne Johnson's latest may be an adaptation of the 1986 arcade game that saw players take on the role of a giant monster destroying cities across America, it certainly takes some liberties with the source material.This may send off alarm bells because of the trend of video game movies being poor adaptations, but here it's for the better. While many of us love watching big things smash into bigger things on the silver screen, a film requires plot and characters and what not to actually, well, be a film things the arcade original is a bit scant on. If Warner Bros. had made the film follow the game, the ending would be the creatures leveling the US and the credits rolling not exactly the most uplifting note for a summer romp to finish on.
Read More: Our Rampage Movie Review
Instead, they developed a screenplay that pays homage to the Midway-developed classic while taking liberties to create a big playground for a possible franchise, sends a meaningful message about caring for the environment and makes room for a marketable leading man to lead the charge. And really, this a role made for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. One of the most bankable stars in Hollywood right now, the former professional wrestler playing a wildlife expert who helps his giant ape friend fight a massive alligator and wolf who've been genetically enraged is the kind of madcap escapism the star thrives on. He gets to work some drama muscles in the tender parts before becoming the one-man army his physique and following as a global superstar yearn for. It's the perfect match!
With all that said, here's a look at the ways the film does, and doesn't, honor its namesake.
- This Page: What Rampage Changed From The Video Game
What Rampage Changed From The Video Game
Aside from the distinct lack of rampaging until the second half of the picture, the biggest change Rampage the movie makes is how and why the monsters exist. In the game, each animal is the result of a different set of circumstances one's radioactivity, the other an experimental vitamin, the other a mutagenic foot vitamin. In the film, this is all collated into a genetic alteration program called CRISPR (named after a bacterial DNA sequence). UN-sanctioned at first, experiments using CRISPR were eventually outlawed due to the danger they posed as possible weapons of mass destruction. In the movie's opening, a space station housing top secret CRISPR research is destroyed by a rogue specimen, causing containers of the gene-altering substances that were being worked on to hurtle down to different parts of Earth. Each of the three lands by one of the game's animals, beginning their transformations into the giant beasties.
CRISPR is used as a catch-all for everything to do with the monsters. New abilities and behaviors are explained away by different animals' DNA that's now surging through the creatures on a cellular level. The principal development, and deviation from the game, is that the three monstrosities are drawn to Chicago because of a signal, rather than a need to make a big mess together. Claire Wyden, CEO of the research company looking into CRISPR, had an aggro-triggering low-frequency signal embedded into the genetic sequencing of the test subjects, meaning that by emitting this frequency from the roof of her high-rise office base, she draws the animals in as they seek to destroy the aggravating noise.
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The creatures moving towards a populated area leads to military intervention, creating the race against time for Dwayne Johnson's Davis Okoye, Naomie Harris' Dr. Kate Caldwell and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Harvey Russell to get to Chicago to stop the path of carnage before the city is bombed. With Okoye, we also get another big change: good monsters. Johnson is a primatologist (monkey expert) whose favorite gorilla George is transformed and later helps him fight off Ralph the wolf and Lizzie the crocodile.
Rampage's Video Game References
Even though the narrative structure is removed from the core ideas of the game, there's quite a bit of reverence for what the original Rampage accomplished if you keep your eyes peeled. Yes, some of this may seem minor, but it's obvious the production team did their homework on what made the action in the arcade so enjoyable, especially given the past exploits of some who're involved. The beasts are made seem unstoppable as they stomp through Chicago, taking their time to descend on that dreaded signal. People, soldiers and vehicle alike are seen being strewn around as the three behemoths make the city theirs, mirroring the legitimate chaos of the source video game.
Rampage Creator's Cameo
In an Easter egg it's amazing Ready Player One didn't reference, Brian Colin, the lead designer on the original Rampage, inserted himself into the game. Of the three human forms that mutate into the monsters, he's George the gorilla, while his wife is Lizzie the lizard and Jeff Nauman, head programmer, is Ralph the wolf. Whenever Brian plays the game, he plays as George, literally becoming his King Kong-inspired avatar.
Speaking to SYFY, Colin revealed he visited the set of the film on several occasions, and filmed a bunch of cameos, but the one that's most special is a shot where he's running away from a raging George. Given that's his actual virtual avatar, having him escaping in fear of the massive CGI version being brought to life for the blockbuster adaptation of his game is a rather apt way of exchanging mutual blessings.
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Rampage Cover Art And Title Screen References
Rampage's game cover art and title screen is referenced in a couple of ways. First, Okoye, Caldwell and Russell surviving George taking down their plane via parachutes is a nod to the soldier parachuting down towards the logo in the main menu of the game. Main antagonist Wyden wearing a red dress and being manhandled - then eaten - by George is also a focal point of the logo in the arcade version.
Wyden's capture by George on the rooftop of her building and the gorilla's later stand-off with Lizzie the crocodile also evokes the art for the Nintendo Entertainment System port of the game; in that, George is holding a red dress-wearing woman while he and Lizzie stand atop a tall building with helicopters and soldiers encircling them.
Rampage's Action Is Built Around The Game
Many of the Easter eggs nods and references are interspersed among various action sequences and set-pieces. The most overt are the big shots of one or more of the monsters climbing and part-demolishing one of Chicago's many skyscrapers. The central mechanics of the game involve climbing apartment blocks and tall buildings King Kong-style and bringing them down with punches and scratches, something we see quite a bit of towards the end. The three monsters even work together at certain points to scale and bring down what's in their way as if playing co-op. Later, Okoye launches grenades at Lizzie, a staple of the firepower that undoes the monsters in-game.
Other scenes have some neat, if obscure, nods. During the opening scene, a doomed astronaut is chased through a collapsing space station by an escaped, rabid and overgrown CRISPR test subject. That subject is a rat dubbed Rhett, a reference to one of the Rampage sequels, 2006's Rampage: Total Destruction. One of the aircraft seen also ties into the franchise's sequels; the AR-10, or Warthog, is a recurring adversary in later versions of the series.
Beyond all the chaos and bloodshed, the nicest reference comes right at the end of Rampage. George the gorilla, now back to his docile, kind-hearted, joke-making self having defeated the other monsters, begins helping the people of Chicago in the immediate recovery effort. He's seen using his hand to gently lift some people stuck on the upper floor of a building down to ground-level - something that was possible in the game. It may not match up with the ending of the game, but finishing on something so sweet amid widespread devastation is the kind of uplifting message we could probably do with seeing a little more of, all told.
