Rampage

Rampage is a 2018 American science fiction monster film directed by Brad Peyton, and based on the video game series of the same name by Midway Games. The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Åkerman, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It follows primatologist Davis Okoye who must team up with George, an albino gorilla who turns into a raging creature of enormous size as a result of a rogue experiment, to stop two other mutated animals, a wolf named Ralph and a crocodile named Lizzie, from destroying Chicago.

The film is the third collaboration between Peyton and Johnson, following Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) and San Andreas (2015). Even though their company isn't credited, Rampage also marked the final released Warner Bros. film to be financed by Access Entertainment/RatPac-Dune Entertainment as the studio had cut ties with the company due to sexual harassment allegations against RatPac-Dune owner Brett Ratner, and the final project to be produced by RatPac overall before the company went on hiatus.

Principal photography began in April 2017 in Chicago. The film was released in the United States on April 13, 2018, by Warner Bros. Pictures, in 2D, RealD 3D and IMAX. It grossed over $428 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for Johnson and Morgan's performances and the visual effects, but criticism of the screenplay and storyline.

Plot
Athena-1, a space station owned by gene manipulation company Energyne, is destroyed after a laboratory rat mutates and wreaks havoc. Dr. Kerry Atkins, the lone surviving crew member, is ordered by Energyne CEO Claire Wyden to retrieve canisters containing a pathogen. Atkins flees in the escape pod when the station implodes, but it disintegrates upon re-entry, killing her and leaving a trail of debris across the United States. One canister is swallowed by an American crocodile in the Everglades, and another lands in a Wyoming forest where a 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 the San Diego Wildlife Sanctuary. He has befriended a rare albino western lowland gorilla named George, having saved him from the poachers who killed his mother, and communicates with George using sign language. One of the canisters crash-lands in George's habitat, and George is exposed to the pathogen.

As George grows considerably larger and more aggressive, Davis is contacted by genetic engineer Dr. Kate Caldwell, 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 diseases, but discovered Energyne's plans to use it as a biological weapon, and was fired and falsely sent to prison. George escapes from captivity and goes on a rampage at the preserve. He is calmed, but George is captured by a government team led by Agent Harvey Russell and put on an airplane. Meanwhile, a squad of mercenaries sent by Claire and her brother Brett to capture the mutated wolf, Ralph, are all killed.

Claire, hoping to capture Ralph and use George to kill Kate, uses a massive transmitter atop the Willis Tower to lure the animals – engineered to respond aggressively to a certain radio frequency – to Chicago. George reacts violently to the sound and crashes the plane, though Davis, Kate, and Russell parachute to safety. George survives the crash and joins Ralph as they make their way to Chicago, and Davis and Kate are aided by Russell in stealing a military helicopter in pursuit.

They arrive to find George and Ralph tearing through the city as the military struggles to contain them. The situation worsens when the mutated crocodile, Lizzie, joins George and Ralph. Planning to steal a counter-serum to turn the mutated animals back to normal, Davis and Kate infiltrate Energyne headquarters at the Willis Tower and take several vials of the serum, but are caught by Claire and Brett. Claire reveals that the serum only eliminates the animals' enhanced aggressiveness rather than revert them to their normal size, and shoots Davis, but he survives. When George climbs to the top of the tower, Claire orders Davis to distract him while she attempts to escape with Kate at gunpoint. Kate slips a vial into Claire's handbag and pushes her toward George, who eats Claire along with the serum, killing her and returning him to his normal personality. Below, Russell takes incriminating evidence from Brett, who is crushed to death by falling debris. As the damaged tower topples, Davis and Kate survive by crash-landing a helicopter on Federal Plaza.

Davis stays in the city to help George defeat the other two monsters, while Kate and Russell rush to prevent the military from deploying a MOAB against the creatures. George fights Ralph, whom Davis tricks into flying into Lizzie's jaws, decapitating the wolf. Lizzie chases Davis, but George intervenes in time for Davis to incapacitate the crocodile with grenades. However, Lizzie survives and overpowers George, who is impaled by rebar. Davis distracts Lizzie using a fallen Apache helicopter, but is nearly killed before George stabs Lizzie in the head with the same rebar, killing her. With the threat neutralized, the airstrike is aborted. In the aftermath, George and Davis, joined by Kate and Russell, help clear the city of debris and rescue civilians.

Cast

 * Dwayne Johnson as Davis Okoye, a former US Army Special Forces soldier as well as primatologist and head of an anti-poaching unit.
 * Naomie Harris as Dr. Kate Caldwell, a disgraced genetic engineer who teams up with Okoye.
 * Malin Åkerman as Claire Wyden, the CEO of Energyne responsible for the infection and mutation of George, Ralph, and Lizzie with the mutagenic serum for Project: Rampage.
 * Jake Lacy as Brett Wyden, Claire's dimwit brother.
 * Joe Manganiello as Burke, the leader of a private military group.
 * Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Harvey Russell, a government agent who works for the "Other Government Agency".
 * P. J. Byrne as Nelson, a scientist and friend of Okoye.
 * Marley Shelton as Dr. Kerry Atkins, a scientist and astronaut.
 * Demetrius Grosse as Colonel Blake
 * Jack Quaid as Connor
 * Breanne Hill as Amy
 * Matt Gerald as Zammit
 * Will Yun Lee as Agent Park
 * Jason Liles as the motion-capture performance for George, an albino gorilla (comparable to Snowflake) raised and trained by Okoye. George becomes one of the animals affected by a strange chemical that mutates them into colossal-sized monsters.
 * Vincent Roxburgh as Paavo, young male western lowland gorilla (uncredited).
 * Skye Notary as the Female Gorilla #1.
 * Willow Notary as the Female Gorilla #2.