Rampage – Review

Hack. Worst Director ever. Makes Ed Wood look like Hitchcock. Those are some of the nicer things that have been said about German filmmaker Uwe Boll. I wholeheartedly agree that the man has made some deplorable films, but it’s only fair to look at the big picture and analyze his resume from beginning to end. Starting with his Troma-esque classic Postal, there seemed to be an upswing in quality and skill in Uwe’s output. He followed that up with the sadistic serial killer film Seed, and the guilty pleasure Bloodrayne 2. As of late he has started to divert from video game adaptions and has tackled more topical issues as seen in his Vietnam war flick Tunnel Rats.

Bill (Brendan Fletcher) is a unstable young adult who lives in a happy home with his loving parents (Matt Frewer and Lynda Boyd) . They encourage him to move out and start going to college, but he will have no part of it, for he is still sorting out is life and doesn’t know what he wants to do with it. Little does his family know is that Bill is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode as evidenced by his meltdown at a coffee shop and a restaurant. He spends most of his time with his friend Evan (Shaun Sipos), who runs a website where he spreads his hate of society, specifically, the guy wants clean the world so everyone can sustain a little bit of life. Bill has planned to carry out the biggest shooting spree in history on his own terms, with copious amounts of weapons and a Kevlar suit for protection.

What (uncomfortably) works best here is that fact that you can relate to some of the frustration Bill is going though. How many times have you ordered something from a retailer and not only do they screw it up, they are rude on top of it? Where have manners gone? In your mind you would enjoy doing what he does in this film. That’s what separates us from the animals though, thinking about it is one thing, but carrying it out is something you would never do.

Uwe Boll thrusts the viewer into voyeur territory where you almost take a P.O.V. look into a damaged brain that feels that his life is a dead-end existence. The verite style used with the hand held camera gives the impression that this is real footage taken from a television station. The violence here made me turn away.

Best know for his role in Freddy Vs. Jason, Brendan Fletcher delivers a scorching performance that will peel the paint right of of your wall. He turns himself into a living, breathing offspring of the killers from the Columbine massacre.

This is the film Falling Down wishes it could have been. The scenes where Bill strolls down the street picking of innocents will make most people walk out of the theater. The police try to take him down but it ain’t happening. The moment that captures this young man’s life in a capsule is where he barges into a game of bingo where hundreds of elderly folk have gathered. They never look up, they don’t even realize he is there. He doesn’t kill them and quietly walks out.

I saw Rampage the same week that seperate horrific shootings rocked the U.S. on its ass. Life imitating art or vice versa? This one will leave you in a catatonic state that shows you how fragile life really is.

Rating: