Rampage, is the most disturbing film I've ever seen, that wouldn't cater to much an audience, but is recommended viewing, nonetheless. If you are easily disturbed, cross this off your list, cause you're better of renting Seven. Alex McCarthur, a David Cassidy looking guy, guns down five people, two victims happen to be a mother and her boy where the father and son are left to pick up the pieces. The other three, who happen to be an older couple + a grandma, buy it on Christmas, so D.A. defender, Michael Biehn, solid here, has his work cut out for him. The wonderful McCarthur who plays Charles Reece, the disturbed sicko here, not only shot these victims but cut open their stomachs, to get to their organs. Reason, motive, yeah there is. He believed he was being poisoned by his own blood, so he needed to get another form of supply from somewhere else, hence the victims, buying it. After McCarthur is cornered at a petrol station, of course making a run for it, he's taken in and a long draining trial begins. Even when asked who he is at the petrol station, Reece uses the name of the father, who's wife and kid had been killed, just hours hours earlier. Before trial, when under arrest, McCarthur's dialogue is creepy, some of it to a point, sick (Friedkin was credited with the tight screenplay). One line of dialogue, that has him saying, "Because you're not chosen" automatically made me think of Seven, where I wonder if writer Andrew Kevin Walker got that line off this movie for his, but there are such things as coincidences. The impasse for McCarthur, is if he is found sane, he'll fry, if he isn't, there is a chance he could one day one be released, and with that said, you want this creepy psycho to fry, where rage gets in the way of reason. But what a decision you'd have to make, especially for a group of jurors, where you already know the decision is gonna be unanimous. Too, with the public defender (Nicholas Campbell a very good actor) you can't believe he's trying to save MCcarthur, in light of all the graphic bloodshed and horror (be warned, especially in one scene with a room full of blood + brains, and intestines amidst). The movie too illustrates the mental health system, where some patients, who shouldn't be are released, are, due to financial situations, or overcrowding, that still goes on today, the problem, much worse now. Two doctors alter the story, to save their skin here, while in the courtroom, where Biehn, sharp as a knife sees through their act. Rampage is a tight courtroom drama, where we openly see both sides of the argument from our two warring lawyers. It has a number of disturbing, hard to take scenes, particularly with that father and son, which even in the last scene at that amusement park, it will do the opposite of uplift you. The scene was interesting near the end, when they tried this new procedure on Reece, that particular brain scan revealed some quite surprising results, that more than waivers the opinions of the forces who originally wanted to see him fry. This is not a pleasant movie, even though it's a good one, with good performances from everyone involved, none better than McCarthur though (Madonna's boyfriend, in "Pappa don't preach pop clip) it goes without saying. The end as to MCcarthur's resolution, I think, was too easy, but did make sense from his mother's POV. Some parts I had to skip, but I'm alright with watching it fully through now, where first viewing it in 1990, + a couple of views, it didn't have that disturbing affect on me back then. Friedkin has wonderfully shot this not so known film, too, using duller color. He should get McCarthur back on future projects.
Review of Rampage
