8 Years Ago, Dwayne Johnson's Rampage Hid a Bigger Story

Dwayne Johnson and director Brad Peyton turned the 1986 arcade game Rampage into a 2018 disaster movie that leaned into the original’s joyful simplicity. In the game players became a giant ape, lizard, or werewolf and did one thing: destroy. That straightforward premise fit Johnson’s 2010s screen persona and made the adaptation an easy vehicle for broad, Saturday-morning-style thrills.

The film streamlined the source material by tying the mutations to an evil gene-manipulating corporation, Energyne, and its mutation supply in a space station. Johnson plays primatologist Davis Okoye, a formerly Special Forces soldier who is smart, compassionate with animals, and especially close to George, a gorilla he communicates with via sign language.

The first act establishes their bond and his moral stance, including his advocacy against poaching, while the conspiracy threads keep the animals from being treated as the movie’s moral center.

dwayne johnson, rampage, brad peyton, energyne, davis okoye, george gorilla, primatologist, mutations, space station, special forces