Week 7 Blog Project # 2 Media Product Review

Watching television or movies isn't really something that I get todo often (I  am just too busy to sit, is not what I do) so I wanted to make this assignment an experience that I could share with my family as well.

Rampage staring Dwayne Johnson and Joe Manganiello was the film that I watched for this assignment. One of the reason that this film was chosen is it is a film that the whole family could watch and enjoy. Its often hard to find a film that will entertain a 5 year old, two 16 year old's and  not to mention Mom and Dad.


Depending on your age when you hear the title Rampage, you may be brought back to a simpler time before smart phones and paly stations to the iconic 80's arcade game.
This was where my mind went when I selected the film from Redbox, keeping with the theme this would have been a Blockbuster back in the 80's. My Five year old was instantly captivated by the Giant albino gorilla on the cover.

The film was based off the 80's arcade game and directed by Brad Peyton. Peyton also the directed San Andreas (2015) again staring Dwayne the Rock Johnson and the Frontier(2016). It is the typical Hero saves the day action flick that we are soo used to seeing from Johnson. However this time with a bit of a twist and carry over from Jumanji we add a few animal villains and hero's, the plot thickens with a crazy science experiment gone wrong (that was conducted in space) that causes the animals to become huge and super aggressive and you have your self a wonderfully action packed family movie.

I think that the movie does a good job of trying to break down some of barrier and stereotypes that muscle bound jocks have, One of the most important aspects of the plot is the love that Johnson's character has for the ape George and for animals in general. The trailer even makes it a point to draw attention to this in the scene where the rock is saying that "Animals are the only ones that get me" this is after one of his coworkers is trying to get the rock todo something after work

This was a great film to watch with the family, we all enjoyed it, the special effects are fantastic but aside from that like I said earlier in this article its just your typical Rock movie. I like the Rock and have even back to his WWF days and will continue to watch his films when I have the time but he always plays the exact same character. If you look at San Andreas, Skyscraper, Jumanji they are all the same. If it weren't for the special effects and the muscles I don't think he would be in Hollywood very long. Having said that it wasn't a bad film. I think that this quote from the Hollywood Reporters sums up my feeling.

"there’s no denying Johnson’s abundant charisma and brawny brand of self-deprecating humor," which buoys the "fairly mindless popcorn entertainment."
"You come to Rampage looking for one thing — Johnson tussling with ginormous animals that would kill most mere mortals — and it delivers in that vein."

The business side of me loves what they have done with, The film its self has grossed 413.60 million dollars so far and this doesn't include any of the merchandise sales. Its a Win.

This project was really fun for me, The time that I was able to spend with my family along with the research where the most rewarding part of the assignment. While researching more about the game it really brought me back in time, it was cool.  Watching the movie with a more objective and analytical approach was a great experience, however it kind of made me wish that I would have picked a Film that was a little more rich and deep but I am not sure the whole family would have been able to enjoy it.