If you thought Dwayne Johnson couldn't find a co-star larger than Vin Diesel to contend with on screen, then you're going to be in for a bit of a surprise when Rampage debuts at your local movie theater. With larger than life monsters, and a good amount of devastation being represented during the film's course of events, one has to wonder if it's worth the extra money to see it all in 3D, or if one would be better off with that money in quarters at the local arcade.
That means it's game on for us to ask the question we come to expect with every towering blockbuster: to 3D, or not to 3D? If you want to see how the film stacks up on a film-making level, you'll need to head over to our official review for the details. But right now, we're slipping on our glasses, and preparing to Rampage our way to the truth, as we evaluate the 3D conversion of this mammoth flick.
As far as 3D films are concerned, spectacles like Rampage are almost an easy fit for the 3D medium. However, Rampage gets a point docked on its score for the fact that sandwiched between the big set-pieces that would make the 3D experience really pop is smaller, more dramatic moments that don't take full advantage of the medium. Overall, Rampage is a decent fit, but not a perfect one for the 3D medium.
Brightness. Before you even ask how we arrived at the P&E score for Rampage, we'll just say that the brightness factor is the big drawback to the film's 3D conversion. On top of that, what could have been some stellar 3D magic turned into kind of a wasted opportunity, as the tweaks to the image itself aren't as spectacular as some of the more recent 3D films we've seen. But nothing tops the brightness factor in our list of upsets.
For as much pre-emptive complaining that the brightness factor has given us, Rampage has some decent projectile effects that almost pop off of the screen. When the smashing and crashing start, there's a good amount of helicopters, creatures, and debris heading towards the screen, and with it comes imagery that comes close to, but never breaks the barrier between the picture and the audience.
Much like the projectile aspect of the Before The Window segment, the depth of the Beyond the Window piece to Rampage's puzzle is really good. Characters have a firm field of spatial reasoning, and you can see them separated from their backgrounds, and each other, in great detail. The slight problem is that those same said backgrounds are a little flat, when compared to the characters, so if you're looking closely, you can see the limit to its depths.
For a film with a mostly washed out / brown, black, and grey dependant color palette, Rampage had the odds against it when it came to the fact that you have to slip black and grey tinted lenses on in order to see it in 3D. But this picture was dimmer than could be expected, and part of that isn't always the fault of those crafting the conversion. This factor does indeed depend on whether your local theater calibrates its projectors properly between the switch from 2D to 3D shows. That being said, this was a really grey picture that could have used a bump of brightness to help the eyes along.
In this section, the writer is required to remove his or her glasses repeatedly during the 3D screening to determine how much blur is seen on the screen. Blur indicates that there is a lot of image manipulation happening to the movie's visuals, and it's resolved by placing the 3D glasses back on. Some readers like to take their glasses off during a 3D movie, as they get tired of wearing them. The Glasses Off test measures the amount of 3D that goes into the movie, and comments on how much of the film you might be able to tolerate if you were to take your glasses off.
The health of the audience can be impacted by how bright the picture of a 3D conversion is, what with the glasses dimming the picture automatically and adding a little bit of strain over time to those watching the film. That alone is cause for concern when it comes to watching something like Rampage in 3D. But then, in the film's climactic battle, there's a spinning pan shot that shows George, Ralph, and Lizzie climbing up a massive building, and it really does a number on the eyes. With a film that manages to get so much of its action sequences right in 3D, that one shot really stands out in the crowd, and not for the right reasons.
Rampage is not a must see in 3D, nor is it a casual recommendation. If you're planning a 3D outing to this film, you should tread with caution, as you should go with a theatre you trust for this one. Or, you could check out the IMAX 2D option, as the film is a little more dependent on size and scope, rather than in your face thrills. Either way, be careful before paying a 3D ticket price to see this bit of smash and dash.
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