Rampage: Capital Punishment

First, I have to admit that this movie kind of excited me when I first heard of it. I thoroughly enjoyed the first film, and if you like "Assault on Wall Street" you'll enjoy this one even more. I liken it to "Fight Club", but just a lesser budget version. There's narration and clips which I feel add to the movie.

Sometimes the film contradicts itself. The star of the film uses an iPhone and guns which he says are part of the problem, (among other things). That said, the message he's conveying isn't all that insane, and it really mimics a lot of the social attitude in the United States today. The message cannot be missed in this movie.

It also has it's usual action and carnage which is exciting. I firmly believe Uwe Boll has learned from past mistakes. It's pretty refreshing to see a director who isn't cranking out the next crappy "Transformers" movie, and isn't afraid to mix things up a bit. This film shows that he's found his footing and is making decent movies. I sincerely hoping Uwe Boll makes a third film. It for sure merits one.

I do not agree with murder in any way, shape or form, and this is the irony of the movie. But you have to admit most of what he is saying is true, and that government and corporations are at the center of evil and corruption in many ways in society and have been for a very long time, for thousands of years. However, for example, Assange and Snowden would never say to go murder people just to get the attention of others or to expose evil. Neither of them did that. The other side of the coin is many people are losing their lives all over the world because of much of what our own government agencies and United Nations has done, and that has actually been proved. These are not just conspiracy theories either. One example he brought out was the 50 children who died by drone for one terrorist who was not even proved a real terrorist. There is something to say about that also from the Obama drone killings. I also know our government is connected to the phony war on terror, which has been connected to the Mossads being the false Al-Qaeda. War is bred from all sides for one order of evil, and this has been seen in history with Rome, Babylon and pretty much everywhere. This movie of course should never be seen as a justification to murder people, as this is clearly wrong, but one reason why things are going sour in a lot of places is what he is talking about, and that is very real. I give it 7 out of 10 for that. Uwe Boll just has some real guts making movies like this considering shootings that have sadly happened, but I can tell you mind control is not far off from that either in connection. We know how to clone, make robots, send out satellites, etc. etc., so how hard is it to think we cannot control a person or groups with any method, especially seeing in the past projects like MK ULtra and the current Project Monarch? Think about that. Dark movie, but good points are made.

An Uwe Boll movie with a rating over 6 stars (currently anyways)? You must be asking yourself if the planets have aligned just right to give this guy some competence? Is the Armageddon approaching? Don't fear though, even the biggest idiots say something smart at least once in their lifetime right?

I watch Uwe Boll films to have a good laugh, don't we all? This one was a little different (although I did let out a few hardy chortles at Uwe's acting in this film).

Now, this is no masterpiece of film-making, but i'd say it's still worth a watch. I can't believe i'm saying this about a Boll film... I must be losing my mind.

The film has a pretty clear, in your face, kind of message (maybe a little preachy). I think the message can be taken all kinds of ways, and it might alienate some of the audience. However, if you just take it for what it is, and go along for the ride it is pretty fun.

Every single movie has flaws, even critically acclaimed masterpieces. In bad movies it's easy to spot the flaws because you aren't invested in the story. Good movies, with engrossing stories distract you (at least the first time watching) from all the mistakes, minor plot holes, camera-work, and things of that nature.

This movie had me fully invested in the story. I think Brendan Fletcher's performance is what kept me invested. I mean damn, he is a extremely talented actor. It really is thanks to him that this movie was so fun to watch. You can tell he really gave a s*** about his role and put a lot into it. I believed his character every single step of the way. I'd recommend watching it just to see him act.

Now this movie is violent (I mean it's called Rampage for Christ's sake) but it isn't full of gore and it give you a break from the violence every once in awhile.

Again, it's got a pretty clear message and I don't think its really saying anything different or new, but Fletcher's performance does make the message pretty powerful (to me anyways).

Look, Uwe Boll blows dogs for quarters, but he took a break from doing that and actually made something decent. Check it out, even if it's just to watch a very talented actor put a lot of hard work into a performance.

I always appreciate it when you can tell someone really had a lot of passion for their role. That someone actually cared about a vision they were trying to bring to the public. Brendan Fletcher does just that.

Who is Uwe Boll really? Is he like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez (stuck in adolescence, has a mindless gore-fest fetish, indulges in shock value) without the talent, vision or innovation? Is he smarter than we give him credit for, using just a few dollars to crank out movies that can actually be seen in theaters? Has he simply risen to the level of his own incompetence? The fact that he cannot be ignored, that he refuses to crumble under the weight of his own perversion and badness (in fact, thrives on it) and keeps getting produced over and over and over and over again (and we keep watching) makes me believe I am missing something. Something that maybe, just maybe, just might be good (that is, of cultural value). He is in a way the trashy pulp fiction of movie directors (and holds a doctorate in literature) who surprisingly churns out a pretty good piece of celluloid every now and then. There is so much crap though (such as the BloodRayne series), and yet...we need him. He's like a crime scene clean up guy. Nobody wants that job, but somebody has to do it. Not many want to dedicate their life to making movies about how depraved, sadistic and evil humanity can be, but we still need them. We need them to help us not to forget (Auschwitz for example--if you though Schindler's List was horrifying, think again). Also, unlike the vast majority of Hollywood directors and producers, Boll, love him or hate him, is authentic. He does not cower behind the pen, but confronts his critics head on (even inviting them to box him). And he is absolutely passionate about making movies. I doubt a scene goes where he isn't actually creaming his tightie whities. But the maddening thing is, Boll refuses to learn, refuses to integrate feedback, and this is why his films never get better (sometimes Narcissism is too much of a good thing), and perhaps could be the reason he so often calls people "retards" (where did he get that doctorate again?). He refuses to back down, to conform...to be Michael Bay. And I hate Hollywood just enough to like Boll for that reason alone. In his newest movie, Rampage, Boll shows great courage in exposing atrocity as well as the sickness of corporate greed, manipulation and control. The movie isn't in and of itself that awesome (I liked 2009's Rampage much better) it's still vaguely intriguing and watchable, especially if you are a fan of extreme violence. Like I said, we "need" Boll.

This is my first review of a movie in a long time, so long in fact that my previous user name was forgotten. More recently I've noticed a trend on IMDb that reflects the dawning of a different pedigree of reviewer than previous generations. I felt that I should "take it back" as I have had more and more misgivings about the ratings from this site. Maybe I'm just getting older or maybe the internet generation has wildly different norms than mine. I feel like it is my duty to balance the scale!

I'm neither a fan, if they exist or a hater of Uwe Boll but I believe the rating on this film is higher than it should be. Anyone familiar with Uwe Boll knows that he could care less what people say about his films, which in of itself is both good and bad, at least as a director. Most of his films are NOT very good at all but neither are they as bad as people who hate Boll say.

That said the movie is basically a commentary on particular views of the state of the US, corruption, power, overpopulation, exploitation, and a few other things. Some of it is fairly idiotic though. You could literally summarize most of the key points in a paragraph and not watch the movie unless you were interested in seeing the violence instead, to which you could easily find better. I agreed with most of the points made but the violence the main character seemed to indifferently inflict took away so heavily from the message that rooting for such a deranged character became pointless. This is not saying that I have never imagined myself in a similar scenario, but it makes for a shitty movie when the protagonist shoots anyone he likes just because it makes him feel good. Pretty much a bad guy despite the attempt by Boll to turn him into a anti-hero instead. To give you an idea, this character shares some of the same beliefs as the Joker from The Dark Knight but is not nearly as entertaining, even though acting for the most part was pretty good. The main character is simply one-dimensional, the violence that was meant to be shocking is really not. The only thing left that makes the movie stand is the message. And as I've said it could be summarized into a short paragraph. I have a notion the type of people who would like this film will be angst ridden teenage boys/young men who harbor anti-establishment views and want to ride a chariot of fire. I should know, I was one, but I find the presentation of this adolescent and somewhat psychotic. There is little wisdom here and more nihilism than anything else.