Rampage 3D Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

Rampage 3D Blu-ray Movie Review

The Death of 3D, Brought to You by Warner Brothers and Amazon

Reviewed by Michael Reuben July 19, 2018

Warner continues its inexplicable effort to give 3D the appearance of support while doing everything in its power to sink the drowning format for good. The studio's latest stunt involves a collusion with Amazon to deny 3D purchasers the standard 2D Blu-ray that typically accompanies a 3D disc and contains all of the special features (and, as discussed below, a much better soundtrack). So let me add this warning in bold and italics: I cannot be certain that the two-disc package of Rampage reviewed here is what you will receive if you click on the Amazon link above. Nor can I be sure what you will get if you use the alternate Amazon link listed here, which commands an even higher price. You may get two discs; you may get only one. A combination of Amazon's greed and Warner's cowardice has allowed the giant e-tailer to offer a stripped-down, retailer-exclusive edition of the studio's 3D titles—and Amazon isn't selling them at bargain prices. I strongly advise anyone interested in acquiring a Warner 3D title to look to other sources, whether WBShop, Amazon UK or Best Buy, if they happen to stock a particular disc. Buy Warner 3D from Amazon at your own risk.

Moreover, in the case of Rampage, I don't think the effort is worth your time. The 3D post-conversion is uninspired, and as Warner has done with every 3D disc after Suicide Squad, the superior Dolby Atmos track has been dropped in favor of a good, but still inferior, DTS-HD MA 5.1 version. I cover this in more detail in the "Audio" section below.

My friend and colleague, Marty Liebman, has offered an apt description of Rampage here, and I have retained Marty's feature score. The film is an imbecilic but mildly entertaining creature feature, notable for its elaborate effects and buoyed by the screen charisma of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

The film's chief villain, played by Malin Akerman, has to be one of the dumbest on record. What kind of CEO would be so protective of her company's intellectual property and reputation that she insists on banishing dangerous genetic experiments to an orbiting space station, but then, when the station falls to earth and the mutations mushroom into monsters, she activates a homing device to draw the monsters right to her door in the midst of a crowded city? She might as well write her name (and the company's) on the trail of destruction they leave in their wake. Anyone with the foresight to implant her creations with a homing instinct should have also been savvy enough to construct her signaling device in a remote and unpopulated area. (But what would be the fun in that?)

Rampage 3D Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

(Screenshots accompanying this review are captures from the 2D standard Blu-ray. Additional screenshots can be found here.)

Just as studios are phasing out, or entirely eliminating, 3D Blu-rays; just as hardware manufacturers have stopped making displays that support 3D; and just as theater owners are reducing the number of scheduled 3D showings (except for IMAX, where they can charge a fortune)—so are filmmakers leaving 3D considerations out of their shot composition and CG artists omitting them from their pixel creations. If you compare films like Prometheus and Life of Pi, which were shot in native 3D, or even Pan, where the 3D was created in post-production, but director Joe Wright clearly framed his shots with 3D in mind, it's obvious watching Rampage that 3D conversion was an afterthought, ignored during production and indifferently performed in post. Scenes that present obvious opportunities for multi-dimensional composition have been overlooked, and the result is a 3D presentation that often looks nearly as flat as its 2D counterpart.

Admittedly, there are a few moments where the extra dimensionality offers meaningful enhancements. A notable example is the opening in the damaged space station, where artificial gravity has failed, and the frame is filled with floating objects (including body parts) that appear to be on the verge of separating from the screen. A similar effect enhances the midair airplane disaster, when the giant gorilla, George, breaks free of his restraints and wrecks the craft from inside, scattering floating debris in all directions. Overhead shots of the soaring antenna in downtown Chicago, which serves as a homing beacon to the film's genetically mutated creatures, reveal a sharp extension that juts from the screen. So do the barrels of the automatic weapons wielded by the mercenaries sent to track the mutated wolf. The hybrid Florida crocodile that swims into the Chicago river gets an occasional 3D boost in closeups of its massive jaws and enormous teeth.

In general, though, the 3D conversion does no favors to the effects work, both motion-captured and pure CG. Particularly in long shots, it makes the CG creatures look more artificial and dampens the illusion of their integration into the surrounding landscape, particularly in the Chicago scenes. There's also a noticeable softening of the otherwise crisp digital photography, no doubt a result of the post-conversion. Accordingly, my video score is slightly lower than Marty's, and my 3D score matches what I previously gave Tomb Raider, another film where 3D added little to the experience.

Rampage 3D Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

After dealing with Warner Brothers for a number of years, I have come to the sad conclusion that many (far too many) of the technical decisions regarding its Blu-ray product have been entrusted to an informally federated group of executives, primarily in the theatrical and retail marketing divisions, who I have come to think of as "the Ignorati". I'm sure they're all decent people, but they seem to be thoroughly ignorant of the technology over which they hold sway. To the Ignorati, issues like bitrates, codecs and soundtrack formats—concerns to which hardcore Blu-ray fans pay strict attention—are mere abstractions, little more than features to be mentioned in a press release or line items on a mastering facility's bill. I envision the Ignorati watching their movies on tablets and phones and listening to sophisticated, multi-layered soundtracks through a pair of ear buds. If put on the spot, they probably couldn't explain the difference between Dolby Atmos and a cassette tape.

But it's the Ignorati, however blithely and blissfully ignorant, who are making the ultimate decisions about what does—and more importantly, what doesn't—appear on Warner's Blu-ray discs. They're the ones who have allowed Amazon to sell single-disc versions of Warner's 3D titles (see above), and it's this same gang of techno-philistines that has decided to drop Dolby Atmos soundtracks from 3D discs. The Ignorati are the reason why the "rip-roaring Dolby Atmos soundtrack" eloquently described in Marty Liebman's reviews of the standard Blu-ray and UHD of Rampage is nowhere to be found on the 3D Blu-ray. Instead, 3D fans are relegated to a lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, which, on its own terms, is admittedly quite good. The volume is high, the bass extension is deep, and the five fixed channels do their best to reproduce the mix's sophisticated layering of sounds, which achieves its greatest complexity in sequences of disaster and destruction but is equally effective in rendering quieter environments like the San Diego wildlife preserve or the villains' humming corporate headquarters. The lossless DTS track has the same sounds, but it can't place them as precisely or separate them as cleanly as the Atmos mix.

Ten years ago, when the Blu-ray format was still new, this lossless DTS track might have been considered reference, but the world has moved on, and so has the technology for movie sound. Today, the DTS-HD MA track is a poor cousin to the multi-dimensional Dolby Atmos presentation on Blu-ray and UHD. If you want to hear Rampage at its best, get one of these other versions. Perhaps that is the result the Ignorati secretly desire, as they give the 3D format one last kick into its grave.

Rampage 3D Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 3D disc contains no extras. The accompanying standard Blu-ray disc has the extras listed in Marty's review. Let me repeat, however, that if you order from Amazon, you may not receive that accompanying standard Blu-ray.

Rampage 3D Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Rampage on 3D is a waste of time and money. The soundtrack is weaker, the visuals are indifferent, and, thanks to the conspiracy between Amazon and Warner Brothers, some buyers won't even get the full package containing the superior 2D version with extras and Dolby Atmos. Even more than with most products, the appropriate slogan for Rampage 3D is "caveat emptor"—or maybe "beware the Ignorati!"