Rampage (2009) dir. Uwe Boll

I'm not sure what compelled me to watch Rampage.  I supposed a box cover of a heavily armored and armed man with the tagline "Vengeance is Ruthless" had a lot to do with it.  Then I saw it was directed by Uwe Boll (who I kind of love and can't understand why he gets such a bad rap from people who will sing the praises of Roger Corman, Lloyd Kaufman, and Russ Meyer).  I figured, what the hell and watched it.

If I had seen this movie when I was in my teens or early twenties I would have loved it.  My morbid fascination with the evil that men do was at its highest then.  I was a black trenchcoat wearing, borderline nutcase, totally ignorant of the garbage that was spewing out of my mouth.  Rampage would have been in my top ten favorites.  Perhaps that's the reason why I have a problem enjoying Rampage.  Then again it's not really a movie to be enjoyed.

The story revolves around Bill Williamson, a twenty-three year old loser who lives at home and his life pretty much sucks.  People treat him like shit all the time and his only friend is a fingerless glove wearing counterculturalist.  Bill goes on to commit a mass murder of insane proportions.  This is not a loveable loser.

Rampage is bloody, tough to watch, and a pretty solid movie throughout.  The best scene in the movie takes places in a Bingo hall and is so damned surreal that it borders on brilliant.  However, I have to admit that my impression of Rampage is that it is an irresponsible movie.  I know that I firmly believe that media directly causing violence is nonsense and if someone is predisposed to psychotic anti-social behavior then that person is already screwed up.  No, Rampage is irresponsible because I know nineteen year old Joshua would have taken the rants and message of the movie very seriously.  Would I have gone out and shot people?  Certainly not.  Could some nutcase take Rampage as gospel - hell some of the talk between Bill and his buddy sound like conversations I've had - and have the movie playing while he reads The Turner Diaries and loads ammo into magazines?  Yeah.

That being said, Uwe Boll made a really dark and at times extremely sharp movie.  If you have the stomach for high levels of violence and are not prone to nutcase behavior then I strongly recommend it.  If you are a nutcase then maybe you should leave the bunker and go have a Slushie.  Go to the pound and play with puppies and kittens.  Go to the park and feed the ducks.