Rampage

Plot synopsis:
Bill Williamson is a warped, frustrated young man who hates his life and hates society which leads him to be driven over the edge of sanity while keeping his craftyness on. He is in his early twenties, lives with his parents and he works a low-paid job as a mechanic. Psychologically, he is continually bombarded with the problems of the world, by ubiquitous TV sets, radios, and the views of Evan Drince, a left-wing philosopher who seems to be his sole friend. One day, Bill, after being hurt after his parents tell him that it's time he left home, and tired of being victimized by his nasty boss at work, Bill acts upon his plan to reduce the town's population. He believes overcrowding causes the world's problems.Determined to extract revenge upon his small town where he lives, Bill, builds himself a full-body suit of Kevlar armor, complete with a ballistic helmet and a paintball mask from parts he has had sent to Evan's home over a period of time. Evan lives with his father.One day, Bill dons his suit of Kevlar armor, and goes to town. First he incapacitates the police by car-bombing their headquarters with a bomb-laden van which he drives by remote control. He then begins to kill the town folk, shooting people at random, including the coffee shop owner with whom he earlier had argued about not preparing the coffee as he ordered.Bill enters a beauty salon to take a rest and have a drink of water from his rampage. But then he kills all of the employees and customers (all of them women) in cold blood because he was forced to remove his paintball mask to have some water.Next, in the film's funniest scene, Bill enters a bingo hall where he is hardly noticed by the elderly and senial people... all playing bingo. Out of pity, Bill does not open fire on the senior citizens playing bingo, but instead orders a sandwich and a drink from the concession stand and then walks out of the building, deciding to let the bingo-playing old people live since their lives will end sooner then most others.A little later, Bill robs a bank, killing some of the employees. Outside the bank he puts on a show by burning fake money, which he had printed up earlier, to show that it is worthless and causes the problems of the world. Bill then goes to the fast-food place and kills the countergirl who had clumsily served he and Evan the previous day.Bill then drives out of town with a small group of police in pursuit. But Bill has even more out-of-the-blue tricks up his sleave when he sets off some roadside bombs, destroying the police cars, and drives off the road into the nearby forest, with the sheriff and the last surviving cops in chase. But Bill ambushes and kills them all.After the killings, Bill calls Evan, who is in the forest nearby expecting him for a mano-a-mano paintball competition. When he arrives at the forest, Bill apologizes to Evan for having him wait for an hour. He then immobilizes Evan with a stun gun, places a pistol in his hand, and shoots him in the head to simulate suicide. Bill leaves the body of Evan wearing the armor suit, and holding the weapons of the massacre. He leaves the forest and makes his way home, arriving before his parents arrive with horror stories about the killings in town. After listening to his parents, he retires to his bedroom to sleep.In his room, while packing his belongings and stolen bank money, he hears a local television news report that police believe Evan Drince is the dead perpetrator of the killings and the bank robbery. The police have arrested Evan's father, a well-known extremist and political hack whom they blame for influencing him to carry out this killing spree.In the final scene, the deranged Bill leaves the house of his parents, as told. The story of the mass murder concludes with a video recording of Bill announcing his departure on a personal quest to unknown whereabouts, to further reduce the world's population in more mass shootings and to frame more people he befriends to continue on his evil and misanthropic quest.

Tags: violence, dark, murder

Review:
If you get a chance to watch it, stick with it, at the end you might find yourself surprised at how it got there, from where it started.As a side comment I would like to add that Mr Boll is a very nice person, on the first day of the festival he stood in the middle of the multiplex for hours (without boxing gloves) just to talk with people.
Everything about it was top notch which was a huge surprise considering it's a Uwe Boll film.Brendan Fletcher was absolutely excellent in the very difficult role of portraying a brutal mass murderer who also happens to be a very sympathetic character.
I hope both these guys get much more acting work as a result of what they accomplished in Rampage.My only question is how on earth did Uwe Boll pull this brilliant movie out of his ass after a career full of crap I wouldn't want my worst enemy to have to watch?
But don't, i just saw t at the Bruxelles Film Festival and the movie has nothing to be ashamed of, nor his director; This may not be the best movie of all time, but Uwe Boll deliver us a tightly packed action movie, with echoes of a more profound reflection behind it.
Think what you may about Dr. Uwe Boll, but this film is right and pure in the way that only Independent cinema can be; and Douglas' Falling Down never could be.
Uwe Boll is compared to Ed Wood and I think it is justified, he has a lot of very annoying habits as a director, his aesthetic sense and/or his skills at cutting movies are off.
This movie has a very non-pretentious style, but actually I think it treats the subject matter of mass murder more non-stereotypically then a more "highbrow" movie like "Elephant".The actors are good, especially Brendan Fletcher who plays the everyman psycho protagonists, reminds me of young Christian Slater.
Then came along this gem.At which point I urge you to forget, not forgive, everything you know about Uwe Boll and watch this film with an open mind.
However, it sadly didn't and wouldn't happen since Uwe Boll's name and reputation destroyed any chances of this film getting an Oscar nomination.While Fletcher acts his role with ease and focus, Boll directs the film, especially the action sequences, with his usual frenetic directing style seen in his previous movies.
It's a far cry from a movie I'd want to watch.Uwe, has taken the art out of film making and is obviously trying to make something sensationalistic just to make a quick profit.
The film ends with an unexpected twist which makes you realize how clever and intelligent Bill really is, and how much of his actions were on purpose and planned.The acting in Rampage is great Brendan Fletcher does an amazing job as the lead, most of the dialogue was improvised giving it a natural feel.
Watching an 84 minute long movie directed by Uwe Boll would generally make an experienced movie watcher's eyes bleed so why should this one be any different?Well avid readers let me tell You. Most of our generation has felt the enormous pressures inflicted to us by our modern societies.
If this film was made by someone with a bigger budget and better actors,i would probably have given it a 7 out of 10,however the shaky cams and more realistic looking actors along with the true to life dialog instead of the Hollywood designer wearing stars and 15 screenwriters dialog makes this more like a documentary camera crew following the main star rather than a make believe made for entertainment film - and that made me give it an 8 for realism and convincingness.Yes it starts alittle slow, and yes it has abit of a happy ending (sort of,depending on point of view lol) but it looks and feels like its happening rather than a film made after the event, so it held my attention and had enough action to make me both like and recommend it.
The use of the build up scenes to the "rampage" in which all is calm, shouldn't be taken as a slowness in the film, but as what it really is, the premeditation of an act in which change would be brought about.And truthfully, the acts displayed in the movie and acts such as these have been discussed among people I know and myself, and this movie is a display of what would happen if those discussions were put into action.
*SPOILER* Boll directs a good movie, i have only subjected myself to one Boll picture before, the blood flecked turd that was Alone In The Dark widely referenced as the worst movie ever made, but this was somewhat of a revelation, a nasty, gore soaked revelation maybe but a revelation none the less, a slacker assembles an arsenal of weapons and a kevlar body armour suit and goes on a rampage, so far so predictable, but (and i cant believe i am going to say this) Boll elevates this paper thin plot into a genuinely gripping piece of film.
Brendan Fletcher is remarkable in the lead role, a naturalistic performance which, as another reviewer stated reminds me of a young Christian Bale, intense, and hugely watch-able he fills his character with real life and despite the HORRIBLE things he does (or maybe because)i was rooting for him all the way....oh dear.
The rampage itself is gory, shocking, kinetic, well filmed and very VERY brutal, special notice must be given to the beauty parlour scene, it's been a while since i watched slack jawed muttering no WAY at the screen, and i particularly enjoyed?
If you know a bit about the plot, you pick up on many subtle things that link to the message the film is trying to get across to you.For example; the "psycho" returns from his killing spree to the home of his parents, and tells them his friend killed all these people.
They even look the same.Watch this film, really try to pick up on the symbolism in it because literally nearly everything said in the movie by people all back up his claims and theories on our society..
After a bad day and dealing with people who make us angry, we all feel like going on a rampage (well we don't seriously think about it, but the thought might pop into our heads).
if you or someone you know likes this movie, tell them to get a life and learn what a good film is.
Bill decides to take his revenge out on the world, and goes out, both armoured and heavily armed, and - as the title suggests - rampages through the streets of his hometown, killing almost everybody he comes in contact with, and deliberately targeting a few he feels have treated him badly.The movie makes some impact, because Bill is not unlike many of those shooters who go on such rampages (although his is more extreme than most.) In that sense, he's a character of interest, although not a particularly interesting or well-developed character.
That movie comes off like a glorified wet dream or immature masturbation fantasy of Uwe Boll caught on film, with him chasing and shooting down his many critics and wrongdoers in the world.
Uwe has had to face a lot of negative criticism about his film-making, but I think Rampage might will prove otherwise.
Although I have yet to see quite some Uwe Boll films (I'm not always in the mood for self-mutilation), I think it's safe to say "Rampage" is the best thing this dubious and despised writer/director ever improvised.
I think my confoundedness is fitting; it reflects the film's own uncertainty.Rampage has the dubious honour of being one of Uwe Boll's personal creations.
Brendan Fletcher, however, isn't suffering a complete mental breakdown, and though Rampage may be outrageous it lacks any real sense of humour.I hesitate to suggest the movie had limitless potential (the lone gunman plot can only go so far) but Rampage amazingly teeters on the brink of being an accomplished film.
In the end, though, I have to say that Rampage is a film that doesn't really know what it wants to be--a social commentary, a heist movie, or even a character study--and might reflect Boll's own personal battle with filmmakers and film critics..
A day later I watched the movie "No Country For Old Man" and thought, that this great film exactly fulfills Uwe Boll's standards.
It might be, that "Rampage" is Uwe Boll's best movie so far (if so I never want to know the others), but it is still crap and a waste of time..
"Rampage" is one of Uwe Boll's better films, but it's still a tad too much on the sloppy, misleading, over-simplified side of things, and can't quite reach its goal..
Albeit some bad direction marred this otherwise bleak outlook on the mind psychopathic yet deceptively cunning man.The plot: Bill Williamson (Brendan Fletcher) a seemingly average young adult builds up an arsenal to attack his apparently materialistic society.The writing: Is actually quite good, Uwe Boll has created a character that is scarily believable and a scenario that seems plausible.
And of course a bank, cause why not.Brendan Fletcher takes the lead in this Uwe Boll film, and it's surprising to see him from what he was last seen in (at least by me): Gilliam's Tideland.
Boll's only real faults here come in some editing choices: in the first twenty minutes, before Bill goes on said rampage and executes his sort of master plan like a Batman villain (twist and all near the end), Boll keeps editing in some frames of the massacre, and audio news clips about how f***ed up the world is right now with terrorism and war and so on.
It all just shows up on the screen, like watching a real life Grand Theft Auto video game where someone neglects going in the car and just keeps shooting people at random.
I didn't like watching people getting gunned down, but it really hit home the social commentary Rampage tried to make, and it's a touchy subject that's been explored far too little.
Sometimes actions do speak louder than words and perhaps some viewers are left a little satisfied at the end with how things turned out despite the trail of dead bodies.It's also very well filmed, and could have been a lot darker, but I think the director knew where to draw a line (a second one having already crossed the first).
The acting was decent, the "action" scenes were not ambitious at all (this actually made the movie more realistic, unlike some of Boll's other work, like In the Name of the King or Alone in the Dark) and the ending was also nice.
The most amazing thing is that, actually, the director could relate to the main character and that can be seen thorough the entire movie.Please do not rate this one before you see it, just because it was made by Uwe Boll.
Wow. This and Postal have to be Uwe's best movies.After watching Rampage I was amazed at how good this film was.
This may change your mind on Uwe Boll as a film maker.I recommend this to fans of Uwe and to anyone who is looking for a fun movie to watch with friends.Well done Uwe, keep up the good work!.
First of all one thing you should know before watching it is that the lead is not sympathetic, he doesn't have a sob-story of being pushed around (more than the average joe) by society to the point where he finally snaps.So if it's that type of revenge type of mass-shooter flick you are looking for this might not suit your taste, because motives are sketchy and the victims are random for the most part.That said, it is a very entertaining movie, really twisted but I think that suits the movie as it is about a guy who goes on a killing-spree after all, with occasional touches of (really) dark comedy but overall a serious and sinister tone.What I found interesting (that I didn't learn until now after the second time of watching it) is that most of the dialogue was scripted and that they only had a 10 page draft when they made the movie and most of that was about events (that of course was not scripted, you can't just randomly blow up a car or shoot a person).And that truly surprised me because there is some good and natural dialogue here and Brendan Fletcher is great in the lead.What I'm gonna say next may take you off from wanting to see it because he is not known for doing all that great movies but this is one of the exceptions where he managed to get it right; this is a Uwe Boll movie and hopefully that won't take your desire away from watching it, because I think you will be missing out.It's not perfect it has some scenes that work better than others but when it's good it's really good, and it's never flat out bad..
Uwe Boll has his critics and lets be honest rightly so but this is a film which I didn't expect to like or appreciate.
Violence in films is so often glorified and romanticized (Uwe Boll himself is surely guilty of this)but after watching Rampage I think the director has certainly realigned the balance between what is acceptable violence for narrative purposes and what is purely gratuitous.
Even reading reviews on this film, which is an excellent commentary in its own right, it is apparent that it is bashed solely for who wrote and directed it.Rampage is critically written and directed, with superb acting, especially by long-time Uwe Boll cohort Brendan Fletcher, who has taken the lead on several of Boll's best films.
Whatever you kinda wanted to see, but rarely do see in some movies, you actually do see and then some.Still it has a lot of issues like the bad acting, the too shaky camera, the random editing..
RAMPAGE, possibly the best made of the Uwe Boll canon (although I'm far from having watched all of this notorious German director's movies), is a film that does exactly what it says on the tin - or the DVD case in this instance.
Even though this film had a very strong view and message, something many people feel or think silently in their heads(not the killing part) But it was still not a good movie.
Bill is a guy in his early twenties.He is disgusted with the people around him.So the next step for him is to build an impenetrable Kevlar suit of armor and go on a shooting spree killing many innocent men and women."Rampage" is a pretty unrealistic depiction of mass murder spree.I found final mass murder spree in Uwe Boll's "Amoklauf" far more unsettling and disturbing.The editing is fast,the camera movement is shaky and there are a couple of scenes where you really have to suspend your disbelief.Still there is plenty of violence and the execution style mass murder of women in a beauty parlor is admittedly brutal.Brendan Fletcher plays the lead in the film and gives a fairly good performance in the role.7 mass murders out of 10..
Having stuck with Uwe Boll through some of his poorly thought out previous work, Rampage was real evidence that Boll can write and direct great films.
For starters, all of my friends and I think Uwe Boll sucks as a director.One of them saw this film and told me it was real good, all of them saw it afterwards and told me it's a great film (even at normal standards).When I saw it I couldn't be anymore disappointed.
Not that I'm one of those (I wish) and certainly yes, comparing Uwe with these greats is a blasphemy, but, I've seen enough of Mr. Boll's previous work, and I can only say that this involves someone else's hand.My assumption is that some young, just straight from the college, unestablished director, hungry for money (or just plain hungry) sold his soul to this notorious successor of late Ed Wood.You can tell that all the way from the start, from the fine acting, cool camera moving (ok, maybe a little to shaky), following with the interesting story and finishing with a great twist.
You can enjoy this movie if you want but I just felt like this film was cooked up for the angry preteen, Hellsing watching and CoD playing audience and not for me..
I, like many of my fellow movie-goers, had fallen into a cycle of hating Uwe Boll films.
Not known for making good movies, Uwe Boll has actually created something worth watching here, though it is definitely not for everyone.
That's right; it would appear that Uwe Boll (BloodRayne, House of the Dead) has actually made a GOOD movie with Rampage.
Rampage—an explosively violent tale of a frustrated loser, Bill Williamson (Brendan Fletcher), who dresses himself from head to toe in home-made body armour and proceeds to lay waste to his hometown, shooting almost everyone who crosses his path.For a guy who has regularly been named as 'the world's worst director', Boll's handling of his controversial material is surprisingly good, the use of wobbly camera-work and rapid editing for once working in a film's favour, delivering a sense of realism that effectively brings home the true horror of such a situation.
Uwe Boll FINALLY makes a good film.
I'd heard Uwe Boll films are bad but I didn't know they were THIS bad-- and this is supposedly his best movie.
I was told this was a good none video game Uwe Boll film as far as his movies go.