New Yorkers get a chance to see their beloved city decimated by aliens, supervillains, and natural disasters of seismic proportion seemingly every summer—so its kindof a big deal when Chicago gets subjected to some of that annihilation on the big screen, too. Rampage, a new movie based on the 1986 arcade game of the same name, will give Chicagoans the kind of explosion-strewn satisfaction that we haven't had since giant robots tore up the city in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. If you saw Black Panther this weekend, you might have caught the film's latest trailer before the Marvel blockbuster. In any case, here it is:
In Rampage, Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson plays Davis Okoye, a primatologist who forms a tight bond with a George the Gorilla. (I would absolutely watch a three-hour, The-Rock-As-Jane-Goodall movie, but unfortunately, Rampage is not that film). George becomes the victim of genetic modification experiments gone wrong, and transforms into a 50-foot beast intent on terrorizing Upper Wacker Drive. Friendships can be so rough, can’t they? Of course, George isn’t the only roided-up zoo-dweller: a giant wolf, lizard, and crocodile all terrorize the Loop in tandem. The trailer aptly sets the action to Smashing Pumpkins’ “Bullet With Butterfly Wings,” in case this wasn’t enough Chicago for you.
Rampage doesn’t exactly scream “2019 Oscar contender,” but there’s a chance the flick could sneak its way onto our list of beloved Chicago films based on its skyline shots, and for the Rock gravely whispering, “You have to evacuate Chicago.” The movie was partially shot here last summer, and comes to theaters April 20, 2018.