people right I do know that yeah but
welcome to mojo at the movies I’m Eric
and joining me today is Dan who leads
our video game channel mojo plays how
you doing Dan that is correct I am doing
pretty good so we’re talking video games
or video game movies cuz we went to go
see rampage last night we did we’re
gonna answer the question is rampage the
movie as violent as rampage the video
game I’d say it’s almost more violence
more fight it so yeah would you say that
the original said this was an arcade
game back in the young our games got
ported to a bunch of things I think I
played a gameboy version
yeah pretty violent I mean you know you
basically had three creatures that we
just go on a rampage it’s cartoony yeah
but like one of the things is your
creature eats people yeah and that
certainly happens in this movie a couple
like which was shocking like I I was
watching the movie and I thought I
didn’t realize the movie would be as
violent as it was mmm well you know it’s
first of all stars the rock so you’re at
the rock we’re not even sure these days
if the rock is in a movie if it’s you
know aimed at kids or action lovers or
he really kind of crosses the gamut so
yeah you know this movie I think it’s
pg-13 but I would say it’s pretty much
on the on the you know the the more
extreme side of the pg-13 yeah well like
we were talking earlier about how I feel
as if some of his early scenes when
they’re setting him up as a character
you know he’s like a zookeeper
who can sign with gorillas a
primatologist i mythologist exactly and
those are kind of campy and fun and that
almost that doesn’t really fit with the
rest of the movie but that’s okay no in
fact the movie starts with you know this
wild scene in space yeah we don’t want
to ruin too much about that but it was
it like it starts with a scary scene
yeah scene is intense it’s like it it
felt a lot like I don’t know if anyone
seen life recently yeah it did remind me
it was exactly life where they could
have just cut the scene right out so
that was like a that was the biggest
surprise for me going into it I’m just
like whoa this they didn’t they’re not
screwing around with this movie they’re
so in the video game I believe you’re
playing from the perspective of the
monsters of these monsters
smash smash in this I mean you’re
rooting for the the rampage at least you
want the monsters to start rampaging but
you’re you’re you know if anything
you’re kind of so so you know the rock
or Dwayne Johnson I should say his
character is best friends with George
the ape yeah who then you know mutates
because of you know I took it’s a it’s
called CRISPR which is you know there’s
a real thing editing its genetic editing
and and it creates these giant monsters
and they go on a rampage and it’s fun
like I actually enjoyed the rampaging
and from my perspective I don’t like in
movies when there’s so much action
happening but you can’t see what’s going
on right I feel that they got the
monster aspect and the rampage aspect
right in this movie yes anytime when I
mean anytime when the monsters are
screwed shit up that’s awesome get
really well done I especially liked the
alligator like that thing as it was
climbing buildings and going through the
building super cool all that stuff super
fun scene like it didn’t seem you know I
reviewed Pacific Rim uprising a couple
of weeks ago and and that was my big
problem is that I really couldn’t make
sense of what was going on on the screen
no it’s it’s very clear what’s going on
you’re like okay that’s the monster he’s
climbing up that building he just
smashed that guy really like the CGI was
down up and down we’re talking we were
saying the wolf kind of stands out as
the
redheaded stepchild not exactly as good
as the ape and the alligator right it
felt like more like late 90s as a reef
but even still the effects on the whole
pretty impressive and like just the
smashing stuff parts are really fun I
mean you want to see this movie for the
smash it’s not you’re not going in for
the story you’re not going in maybe for
the rock you know he’s got he’s as
charismatic as ever although as you
pointed out well he delivers all his
lines as one-liners
that’s all he basically does the rock I
wouldn’t say he’s the highlight of the
movie he works he’s great he isn’t but
it’s very funny but get what you pay for
you know you’d mentioned that people are
always talking about how he’s you know
he’s got a you know he’s antisocial and
he doesn’t like people and he’s yeah in
the movie people are like Davis you
don’t really like people they like why
do you like animals so much more than
people Davis and he talks a hundred
normally especially for a movie
characters like why are you such why do
you hate people so much you’re like I I
like people very likeable like you know
a girl hits on him early in the movie
and he’s like sorry bye and you know
you’re just like okay I guess he’s just
not down with her but you don’t you’re
not just like oh man he’s such a
misanthrope can’t can’t fit in with
people you almost feel like they wrote
all that stuff before they secured the
rock for the role right exactly
but I did feel that he you know in some
ways he almost seemed as CGI as the
monsters well the rock let’s be honest
the rock is basically a CGI character
right to life so he’s he’s the perfect
fit for the movie
I think the tagline was big meets bigger
right yes so like they they’re fully
aware of like how perfectly cast he is
to be in a movie with giant
larger-than-life creatures because he is
a giant larger-than-life creature he is
and and I think that the movie wouldn’t
have been I personally feel that without
him it would not have been such a great
movie that you know everything else
worked but he just kind of put it over
the top and gave it that you know for
the same reason that Jumanji was was
really successful I mean it didn’t have
the humor that Jumanji had but there’s a
plenty of plenty of humor we should say
that yeah there’s there’s a lot of a lot
of it is self-aware that’s I think you
hit the nail on the head here it really
is you know its it is self-aware that
they’re they’re making fun of themselves
quite often specifically the villains
yeah
the villains really they’re just they’re
comically evil Malin Akerman is yeah
it’s just evil corporate type you know
like the movie seems to have a pretty
good grasp of what it wanted to be and I
think it succeeds in doing that pretty
well yeah yeah but you don’t go in there
seeking any kind of intellectual
stimulation it’s it’s it’s just good
smashing fun you know I’d almost say
that like if you were to cut any part
out of the movie there’s a part in the
middle where Davis the rocks character
and the female lead they both explain
their tragic backstories to each other a
lot of exposition and like you know
there’s swelling music and you’re just
like they also happen to be standing on
the record it does the wreck of a plane
that they just
and they’re just like yeah my brother
died of cancer just like okay I’d like
to see the game smash and then and then
they do and a rampage is is very well
done I would say it’s it’s interesting
because in the video game these
characters used to be human and then
mutated into monsters right and they
didn’t go that direction in this movie
it’s no it’s a bit of a different story
they’re just they’re essentially the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles they’ve
they’ve absorbed the ooze but it’s just
they get much bigger exactly yeah the
funny thing is people would be like so
does it do justice to the video game
yeah because the video game is just like
the the primary thing about the game is
like it’s fun to smash stuffing he’s fun
to smash and break stuff and the movie
knows that it’s fun to watch people
smash and break stuff so in that sense
yeah it’s a good translation of the
video game but it’s like you know it’s
like a ghost movie like it could be a
good representation of pac-man like the
the framework is so loose they could
have done basically anything as long as
they had giant creatures smashing stuff
so let me ask you this if you were to
put this on some kind of non-existent or
existent mojo top-10 list what would
what would that list be movies are the
defied expectations I don’t think anyone
expected this to be good I mean I know
the reviews aren’t great but like come
on if you just want to watch giant stuff
smashing stuff just let’s go on break
shit man that’s cool so defined
expectations movies that are more
surprisingly violent yeah I was like I
mean it’s not it’s not gory or anything
like that you’re just like I was just
like well they they went there they did
that oh yeah there’s a couple of splats
those last couple of Inara those people
are dead and so if I were to I think I
would actually put this on maybe top 10
video game adapted movies not that it
would necessarily be number 1 but it
wouldn’t be too far down the list well
the I mean like I often talk about this
thing that happens with video game
movies where like the reason those
movies don’t work is because it’s
translating something into Chinese and
then translating it back movies no
excuse me video games are often heavily
inspired by a movie yeah
and in this case it’s rampage
was very much inspired by Godzilla and
King Kong right so you’re taking your
basically those movies exist the movies
for rampage already exist they’re called
Godzilla and King Kong
so you’re translating that into a game
and then you translate that game back
back into a movie so you that’s why I
think video game movies generally don’t
work but because that movie was because
that concept is so bare-bones
yeah I think it’s just fine yeah well
listen I had a good time thank you and
let us know what you think in the
comments and we’ll see you next time
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