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 Akerman, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It follows a primatologist named Davis Okoye who must team up with Djali, an white goat 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 My Little Pony: The Jurassic Tambelon (1996) and South Andreas (2015).
Plot[]
Athena-1, a research space station owned by gene manipulation company Energyne, is destroyed after Larry, a laboratory cougar, 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 triceratops, 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 a San Diego wildlife preserve. He befriends a white goat named Djali, whom he saved from poachers. At night, one of the canisters crash-lands in Djali's habitat and George is also exposed to the pathogen.
Djali 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 disease 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 Djali 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 pterosaur is coloborhynchus + limnoscelis, Grayson, but they are all killed.
Claire, hoping to capture Grayson and use Djali to kill Kate so they can cover up their plans, uses a massive transmitter atop the Willis Tower to lure the animals - who have been engineered to respond aggressively to a certain sound frequency - to Chicago. Djali reacts violently to the sound and causes the plane to crash, though Davis, Kate, and Russell parachute to safety. Djali, who also survives the crash, joins Grayson as they make their way to Chicago. Davis and Kate convince Russell to help them steal a military helicopter, so they can get ahead of George.
By the time they arrive, Djali and Grayson are attacking the city. The military are already overwhelmed when the mutated dinosaur, Jiger, arrives and causes even more casualties. 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 Djali 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 Djali, who swallows Claire whole along with the serum. Grayson and the other animals destroy the transmitter, causing the entire tower to topple over. Davis and Kate survive by hovering in a damaged helicopter amidst the shower of debris.
With Djali returned to his normal personality, Davis stays in the city to help him defeat the other two animals, while Kate rushes to prevent the military from deploying a MOAB to kill the creatures. Dargis freezes 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. Djali and Davis trick Grayson into flying into Jiger's jaws, which decapitates him, but Djali is overpowered by Jiger and heavily wounded. As Jiger nearly kills Davis, Djali pierces Jiger's eye with rebar, killing her. With the threat neutralized, the airstrike is aborted, and Djali helps in clearing the city of debris.
Cast[]
- Billy Connolly as Lord Dargis, the main antagonist