Dwayne Johnson has released plot details for his upcoming live-action movie adaptation of the video game Rampage. Formerly known as solely as the wrestling superstar The Rock in the WWE, Johnson started making the slow transition to movies with acting debut in 2002 debut as The Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns. In the fifteen years since he’s become a blockbuster powerhouse, best seen in his complete rejuvenation of the Fast and Furious franchise, with a spinoff for his character, Hobbs, now planned.

Fresh off the billion-dollar worldwide success of The Fate of the Furious and the completion of his upcoming summer action comedy Baywatch, Johnson is already hard at work shooting Rampage, which originated as an arcade game in the mid-1980s.

Accompanied by a serious workout photo, Johnson has taken to Instagram to give reveal the plot of the film, which re-teams the actor with his San Andreas director Brad Peyton. The basic premise is that Johnson is an anti-poacher who must protect his favorite animals when they’re infected with an aggression serum. Here’s the full description:

“I head up an anti poaching unit out of Rwanda. My best friend is a rare albino gorilla named, George. Very bad people infect George, an alligator and a wolf with a serum. All three animals grow at an unprecedented rate. Their size, speed, agility and violent aggression is off the charts. They go on a deadly rampage and want to destroy the world. George not happy. Me not happy. When animals like you, they lick you. When they don’t like you, they kill you. I will hunt down the bad people who did this to my best friend.”

Goin’ primal. ? Good to finally have boots on the ground here in Georgia for production of #RAMPAGE. I head up an anti poaching unit out of Rwanda. My best friend is a rare albino gorilla named, George. Very bad people infect George, an alligator and a wolf with a serum. All three animals grow at an unprecedented rate. Their size, speed, agility and violent aggression is off the charts. They go on a deadly rampage and want to destroy the world. George not happy. Me not happy. When animals like you, they lick you. When they don’t like you, they kill you. I will hunt down the bad people who did this to my best friend. And when I find them, I will not lick them. We have the best VFX monster making team (WETA) on the planet. Our actors and crew have been working very hard to raise the monster genre bar. As always, let’s have some fun. Let’s shoot. ?? #PrimalDNA #George #Lizzy #Ralph #RAMPAGE A post shared by therock (@therock) on Apr 29, 2017 at 1:59pm PDT

While Johnson’s description confirms some things that fans already knew about Rampage, such as his character, it does provide fresh details not previously released like the backstory to the mutated gorilla, crocodile, and wolf out to destroy the world. Johnson is clearly enthused by the project, with the big tip-off here being his “Me Tarzan, you Jane”-type of vernacular toward the end of his post.

With any luck, Johnson is bringing that sort of the enthusiasm to the set of Rampage; arcade game adaptations in the past have suffered from thin plots, so this needs all the fun it can get. Thankfully, he has attracted a cadre of very talented performers for the movie, including Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman, Joe Manganiello and Moonlight Oscar nominee Naomie Harris, who will be a huge contributing factor to the film’s success.

What to expect from Rampage beyond these beats is unclear at this point, but based on the approach to the star’s Baywatch reboot and the impact he’s had on Fast and Furious it’s sure to offer audiences a pretty self-aware, fairly ridiculous time when it arrives next year.

Source: Dwayne Johnson

Next: Why Did the Rock & Vin Diesel Feud on Fate of the Furious?

  • Rampage Release Date: 2018-04-13