I know, I know, technically Rampage: President Down (Uwe Boll, Alone in the Dark, Assault on Wall Street) isn’t a horror film but it is a thriller and the overall theme of the film is unnerving enough for me to feel compelled to write about it (plus the death toll is insane). Brendan Fletcher (Freddy VS Jason, Bluberella) reprises his role as Bill Williamson, notorious and previously thought to be deceased domestic terrorist, responsible for the deaths of over 100 persons, in the third installment of the Rampage series. After attacking his hometown and a television station in the first two installments, we meet back up with Bill (who is sporting a fantastically lumber sexy blonde beard nowadays) as he plots his latest political onslaught; the president of the United States (as well as the VP and Secretary of State). After the assassination (and before you start crying SPOILER! SPOILER! it’s in the synopsis and the opening sequence so STFU) of the three political figures, Bill plays a game of cat and mouse with the two leading investigators of the FBI unit leading the hunt for the assassin(s) responsible. Having already placed the blame on Isis (who else, right?), the FBI is unable to confirm the link between the assassination and Williamson so the investigators are left with a small task force to infiltrate Bill’s booby trapped mountainside hideout.

Before we get into the technical bounds and shortcomings of this film, let’s discuss the message because it’s pretty fucking blatant. Uwe Boll is no stranger to controversial dialogue and themes. This whole series oozes with his disdain for classism and the new world order. Williamson as a character is a far right extremist bordering anarchist. He realizes the distractions and allowances allotted to us by the governing entities of our world and how they are implemented to distract and divert us from the real occurrences happening within this secret society of leaders. His character refers to many figures from Britney Spears to the president as “puppets” and rightfully so in my opinion. These people hold no actual power and are just distractions so that corporations and the 1% can continue their rape and pillage of the earth, it’s resources, and our livelihood. That’s why bills like the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act), the Drone Bill, and even more recently the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) are passed and widely go unnoticed and unchallenged even though their language hides many detrimental side effects. Bill Williamson is a slightly narcissistic and proud self-martyred victim of these after effects (financial collapse, growing wealth inequality, crippling debt) and uses all of his “God given” freedoms to make a point to the world that the way things are going are not the right way. So what does he do? Stocks up on automatic weapons, explosives, and armor and causes a scene to get his message across. This movie is like God Bless America (Bobcat Gold thwart, 2011) but less funny. Like not really funny at all. More dismal.

Aside from all the political mumbo jumbo, we watch these films because we want to see things go BOOM! And believe me, they definitely do. As I mentioned earlier, the FBI unit (probably like 50 men) tasked with infiltrating Bill’s mountainside runs into a lot of surprises from a field of land mines, to remote control turret guns, to Williamson sniping them down himself. It’s a bevy of bullets and bountiful with explosions. My only critique is where did all the blood go? This film’s budget can accomodate dozens of explosions but no limb dismemberment? I can make an amputated land mine victim out of 50 bucks and some cocoa powder so I have a hard time believing this movie didn’t have the capacity for practical or at least crappy half-assed CGI effects. All we need is like some screaming, and a missing leg over here with some blood in the snow and quick shaky shots of the aftermath of all these beautiful explosions y’all spent so much money and time on (and let me tell you, practical explosions in films take time AF). I guess I’m just a little disappointed with the gore factor. They spent all this time and effort to do practical explosions and create a warfield type of setting but it doesn’t hit home until you see the aftermath of explosions and how grizzly war actually is. They could have also used some shell-shocked shots where all the sound goes into a high tone to create more drama and confusion in such scenes but I can’t be picky especially with low budget movies such as the Rampage series. Regardless of the shortcomings, this installment offers a lot on the explosion front and it’s mostly badass.

Rampage: President Down is a refreshing example or filmmakers who want to use their voice for a cause. Is Uwe Boll saying “hey kids, grab a gun and kill the rich!”? Probably not verbatim but he is stating that this outcome is completely possible under our current statute of laws and corrupted leaders. We have relatively no gun control in this country and domestic terrorist attacks like this are growing more frequent in present times due to economic inequality, lack of resources, and fear-mongering hatred spread by our political figures. This coupled with unconstitutional laws passed out of an irrational and calculated fear of the terrorist threat (which by all counts was created, controlled, and armed by the United States) leads to a scenario where relatively anybody can grab an assault weapon at Walmart and decimate a small town, or gun down dozens of people in just a few short minutes. For this voice, I salute Uwe Boll for his courageous agenda to wake America up.

A lot of people will despise this film because of the real factor. People like to hide in their small bubbles and act like elections aren’t rigged right in front of them and freedoms aren’t savagely ripped from our hands because CSNBC says so and obviously has no bias whatsoever. It’s a fact. We would rather believe our government is protecting us as they are supposed to than lift the veil from our eyes and fully see the widespread corruption in a blatantly flawed system. Boll’s depiction of a rather bleak and violent scenario is looking all too possible nowadays and I believe this film as well as the entire series is his attempt at curtailing that outcome in favor of a more civilised method but at the same time warning the public and his audience where we are heading. If you’re into far left and far right politics and explosions this film is for you. If you find yourself voting for Hillary at the polls, you’ll probably hate this film because the message inside is exactly the opposite: don’t be sheep, stop trusting corrupt leaders, get rid of them all.

IMDB: 5.3/10 (284 votes) ⬅certified obscure!

Rotten Tomatoes: “No Results Found” ⬅hazzaaaahhh we got this one first!

DEAD🐶PUPPY: 3 political figures down/5