Rampage is a 1986 arcade game where players control one of three giant monsters trying to rack up points by destroying cities while avoiding being shot at by tanks and helicopters. There is a very, very thin setup for it all involving a lab, the experiments of which mutated three people into the giant gorilla, lizard and wolf, but it's otherwise a totally plotless arcade game.
That gives the minds behind the big-screen adaptation of the game plenty of leeway when turning it into a movie. And now thanks to an answer director Brad Peyton gave Fandango during a Facebook live chat about his new horror movie Incarnate, we know a bit more of what to expect from his giant-monster movie starring Dwayne Johnson. And the answer is kind of surprising.
When asked about his promise that Rampage would be more emotional than people were expecting, Peyton explained where it all will come from. And in doing so, he may have teased what the film is about, as well. First, his quote:
"There's some really touching, heartbreaking things. Dwayne is playing a character like I've never seen him play before. He's a guy who has issues of trust and really connects with animals. There is a relationship there with an animal in the movie that's... I'm an animal person and I have dogs and cats and they're like your kids. He has a similar relationship where there's a real bond there. When you have an innocent, like a dog or a cat or like his friend in this movie, this creature, and something happens to them and they're just an innocent, it can be heartbreaking. So in Rampage, there's an emotional anger there that I don't think people are expecting."
Now this is just us speculating a bit on his answer, but that seems to be saying that at least one of the monsters in Rampage is going to be Dwayne Johnson's creature friend, who is presumably turned into a giant by accident. So it's easy to imagine that the emotion comes from Johnson having to see the world trying to kill his animal best friend who can't help but become a monster.
Again, we're just riffing off of Peyton's explanation here, but that would also seem to imply that they're doing away with the humans-turned-into-monsters aspect of the classic arcade game. Or maybe, just maybe, it means that some humans will be turned into the giant gorilla, lizard and/or wolf in order to fight Johnson's normally friendly creature. Either way, it already sounds like Rampage is on a fun creative path, so count us in.
Unfortunately Rampage won't hit theaters until April 20, 2018, so it'll be a while before we find out what it's all about. Until then, you can catch Peyton's new movie, Incarnate, in theaters this weekend. For more on that, watch the Fandango Facebook chat below.
