Spring is upon us, and the first action movie of the warmer months is Dwayne Johnson’s latest leading film “Rampage.”

Along with starring roles by Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and even appearances from Joe Manganiello and Malin Akerman.

Let’s not forget this includes an albino gorilla George, a massive flying grey wolf and a giant crocodile.

The film tells the story of three animals infected with a mysterious gas that causes them to grow rapidly to a large size as well as boost their strength, speed, and stamina.

The animals were engineered by the leaders of a company called Energyne to respond to certain sound frequencies which they begin to transmit from the top of their large company building.

Now, as three unstable animals rapidly approach downtown Chicago to find and stop the signal, The Rock, who plays primatologist Davis Okoye and Dr. Kate Caldwell (Harris) must race to find the anecdote and attempt to save the city with the help of government agent Russell (Morgan).

The movie as a whole contains really well put together action sequences and solid CGI visual effects, as well as a strong performance by Johnson.

Despite the entertaining and believable visuals, the story can become patchy at times and the plot doesn’t quite piece itself together.

Instead, it paces itself better as it goes on which makes it an enjoyable ride that will keep your attention, but it does a poor jobs developing any of its characters well.

It simply picks up a few new ones now and then and then leaves others behind never to be seen on screen again when they were just starting to become ingrained in the story.

As a result it fails to tie its loose ends and provide a narrative that feels cohesive, and in the end it resolves the main conflict but hardly wraps up anything else but the threat they were facing.

It also seemed to become muddled in the storytelling of the poorly explained motives of various organizations of the Department of Homeland Security of the military, Energyne and the San Diego Zoo as to what exactly they are trying to do in the film.

Meanwhile, it titles a new location roughly a dozen times which becomes tiresome after a few and begins to make you question if every scene is actually necessary to tell the story or is just placed there for filler material.

The movie is its title, and accomplishes what it set out to do. It’s an action film, there is plenty of destruction and aggression in this movie and it remains one of many average movies.

It has a few standout performances, including one from The Rock, and great comedic relief that will make the whole theater laugh and smile.

However, despite not being the most well-written and effectively told plot, it will make for a good time.

Alex Novak is an entertainment reviewer. Contact him at [email protected].