FF 2009 Review. Rampage
Rampage is what Postal would have been had Boll stuck to that computer game's story and not turned it in to a un-PC slap stick comedy that people went crazy for. But what you also need to know is that Rampage is really really good.
Bill lives a rather uneventful life in a small town, he lives with his parents who are on his case about moving on with his life, works as a mechanic and has a self righteous prick as a best friend. He also seems like a decent guy, loves his parents, tries to be courteous to his fellow man but there seems to be something brewing inside him that doesn't feel quite right.
After we have followed him for a while, getting to know his uninteresting life he one day puts on a body armor, picks up a couple machine guns and goes on a killing spree in town, killing everyone in his way.
Rampage is first and foremost an angry and nihilistic film. Completely unapologetic and goes straight for the jugular. What elevates it above what it could have been are the strong performances and the documentary feel it has. Brendan Fletcher gives a tremendous performance as Bill who manages to show his utter distain for the human race with only a look in his eye. While he is completely ruthless in his action, he goes back to a fast food restaurant to shoot a waitress who didn't apologize for spilling food on him, he almost feels pity for them, emphasized in a scene at a Bingo parlor where nobody notices the heavily armored and armed man walking among the players.
Boll makes the actors improvise their dialog which brings out a much more naturalistic performance and in turn brings out the documentary element even stronger. This is not a film which is supposed to funny in a campy way, this is an angry film made by an angry filmmaker letting off steam. Many of us have fantasized about something like this after a bad day but fortunately most of us leave it at that.
After Boll stepped away from the computer game movies he seems to have been on a roll making films that his haters actually have a hard time hating on (Tunnel Rats, Stoic) and earning some respect from the film fan community who many have viewed him as a joke for so long.
The next screening of Rampage is on Tuesday Sept 29th and comes highly recommended.
