Rampage

Saw this on the web last night and couldn't have been more impressed. Everything about it was top notch which was a huge surprise considering it's a Uwe Boll film.

Brendan Fletcher was absolutely excellent in the very difficult role of portraying a brutal mass murderer who also happens to be a very sympathetic character. At several points in the film, he reminded me of a young Christian Slater, the Slater who used to pour everything he had into a role.

Kudos also to Shaun Sipos who, oddly enough, reminded me of a young Brad Pitt from Twelve Monkeys, especially in the chicken restaurant scene with Fletcher. I hope both these guys get much more acting work as a result of what they accomplished in Rampage.

My only question is how on earth did Uwe Boll pull this brilliant movie out of his ass after a career full of crap I wouldn't want my worst enemy to have to watch?

In any event, this film, as shocking as it is, is a warning that the worst is yet to come. In fact, Columbine and the Virginia Tech mass murders may soon pale in comparison to what the next "Bill" ends up doing with a rage that can't be quenched.

I rented Rampage last night. I didn't know anything about the film but the cover looked good enough. When I saw Uwe Boll's name at the opening credits I exclaimed: "Oh no! I have just ruined my evening!!!" But there was nothing interesting on TV so I went ahead and watched it. It turned out to be one of the most astonishingly pleasant surprises I've ever had as far as films are concerned. It was an Uwe Boll film and it wasn't a piece of garbage. I was really avoiding his films in the past for reasons I don't have to explain. I never thought I'd ever write any reviews about films but Mr Boll made a film that I enjoyed watching. That is something. I don't want to dissect the film and analyse the acting, effects, camera work and all that. All I know is that I didn't regret spending neither the money renting it nor the time watching it. Will Mr Boll make films in the future that will give you some fun instead of a nervous breakdown? We shall see.

Uwe Boll is compared to Ed Wood and I think it is justified, he has a lot of very annoying habits as a director, his aesthetic sense and/or his skills at cutting movies are off.

And I think these bad habits are still present in "Rampage" (for example, in my opinion the movie would look better and have more tension without all the foreshadowing in the beginning).

However Boll managed to minimize his annoying directorial habits to an acceptable level and create a good movie with its own style. The movie shocks with its nihilistic sensibility and I think it is a biggest sign of the theme being treated in a non-stereotypical way.

This movie has a very non-pretentious style, but actually I think it treats the subject matter of mass murder more non-stereotypically then a more "highbrow" movie like "Elephant".

The actors are good, especially Brendan Fletcher who plays the everyman psycho protagonists, reminds me of young Christian Slater.

I recommend this movie and will check out other higher-rated Boll movies,

The only movie I had seen from Boll was House Of The Dead. It was a lot of fun because it was so bad. I read reviews of other movies he made, and I suspect they weren't much better. I was infuriated with what he did with the Alone In The Dark franchise, with guns and bimbo scientist and all.

I went to see Rampage (at the L'Etrange Festival) with a smirk on my face. I missed the 15 first minutes and I'm almost glad I did: the lousy messages, the jump cuts, the ad lib dialogue were about to get me out of here. But the actors weren't bad, things kept moving, so I played along.

Then started the said "rampage". There is not much to tell about it. It feels like Boll wanted to stick the nose of GTA players into their own *bip*, asking "So you thinks that's funny? See what it's like, is that so much fun anymore?" The movie gets better every minute. By the end of it I also wondered if the beginning was playing on the fact that we expect something stupid, illogical and aimless from his movies.

The logic is not without faults, but nothing that couldn't be discussed, the humour is great, scarce and surprisingly witty, overall, for me it was a success. If you get a chance to watch it, stick with it, at the end you might find yourself surprised at how it got there, from where it started.

As a side comment I would like to add that Mr Boll is a very nice person, on the first day of the festival he stood in the middle of the multiplex for hours (without boxing gloves) just to talk with people. I'm familiar with festivals and you don't see a lot of directors doing that.

I would have to say first off, I'm not a Uwe Boll fan of any kind, the only watchable film of his was Tunnel Rats. But I have to say this movie actually surprised the hell out of me. Some of the acting was a little bit sub-par but as for Brendan Fletcher, he's got some acting chops. Only thing I saw him in before was Jason Vs Freddy but he carried the lead very well in this (loved the bingo hall scene). Second thing is I really didn't think the violence was that over the top. All in all if you hate Uwe Boll films, you might actually like this one. As far as character development and plot, maybe not the best but it was worth watching. Bottom line if it was at a movie theater where I live I would have paid the ten bucks to go see it.