History Film / Rampage

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Rampage_1779.jpg]]

''Rampage'' is a 2009 film directed by Uwe Boll. Despite its name and the fact that it's made by a director most famous for video game adaptations, it is unconnected to [[{{VideoGame/Rampage}} Midway's series]]. The plot concerns a young man named Bill Williamson (no, not ''[[VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption that]]'' [[VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption Bill Williamson]]) posting vlog rants about how the world is overpopulated and society's going down the drain, while building a suit of body armor and stocking up on weapons, leading up to a bloodthirsty rampage through his town. Amazingly, given the poor reputation of its director, [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct it's actually a pretty good movie]].

A sequel, ''Rampage: Capital Punishment'', was released in 2014. The third and final film, ''Rampage: President Down'' was later released in 2016, which will serve as Boll's last film as a director. It was to be funded on Kickstarter, but failed to make its goal. Because of this Uwe Boll [[http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/uwe_boll_loses_mind_after_rampage_3_kickstarter_fails_goodbye_hollywood-2015-06 decided to quit Hollywood in general]] and [[http://www.fangoria.com/new/uwe-boll-is-directing-his-last-movie-rampage-3-after-all/ once he gained funding, he decided this installment would be one to go out on]].

Not to be confused with the 1987 Creator/WilliamFriedkin film of the same name, [[VideoGame/{{Rampage}} the series of kaiju arcade games]] or [[Film/Rampage2018 the movie based on said games]].
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!!Tropes:
* AnAesop: Almost anybody can become a killer.
* AuthorTract: These films are a particularly weird breed of an Author Tract. Its EvilGenius VillainProtagonist Bill Williamson is a deranged psychopath slash domestic terrorist who, while GoingPostal, murders innocent people by the dozens for nothing but his own self-serving reasons. However, at least once per film he'll go on a minutes-long rant explaining that his violent actions are supposed to wake up humanity, giving a very thought-out analysis about political and economic corruption. Considering it's coming from the mouth of a ''mass murderer'', the message is pretty much [[DontShootTheMessage shooting itself in the foot]].
* AxCrazy: Bill is outright ''gleeful'' when he starts slaughtering people.
* BankRobbery: Bill pulls one off not for the money, but to make a point; he burns the money outside in a garbage can to show that it's meaningless to him. [[spoiler:This is actually a ruse, if you watch earlier in the film, Bill is printing counterfeit money, and that is what he burns in front of the bank. The entire movie just turned out to be an elaborate bank robbery, as Bill leaves some of the money at Evan's dead body in order to frame him for the killing spree, and keeps the rest for himself.]]
* BittersweetEnding:
** From the second film: Most of the hostages Bill had survives. However Bill himself survives after killing all the police officers and Chip. Furthermore in the last scene he encourages a young girl who was reading a book to kill her parents by giving her a gun.
** The third film has an even worse one. After his latest rampage Bill dies from his recent injuries and justice is finally served. However, all the FBI officers and SWAT members that were featured are dead including Jonses and Molokai and Bill's wife is left utterly devastated and must now raise their child on her own. What's worse is that Bill has now started utter chaos by urging people to target and kill elite and wealthy people and the film ends with news reporting multiple deaths worldwide before the homeless man Bill encountered earlier kills two people (one of whom was a news anchor) at a news station while raving that Bill "changed his life" and shoots the camera.
* BoobyTrap: In the second and third movies Bill Williamson starts to use booby traps against the authorities pursuing him, primarily bombs and mines.
* BloodlessCarnage: Though not completely bloodless, the injuries Bill inflicts result in much less blood than is realistic.
* BottomlessMagazines
* BulletProofVest: Bill's suit of steel-plate armor makes him effectively invincible.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: In the second film Bill is confronted by a young woman who says he killed her twin sister. He remarks that she will have to be bit more specific, as he's killed too many to remember their faces. Turns out it was the waitress at the fast food restaurant from the previous film, whom Bill killed for [[EvilIsPetty merely spilling some food on him]].
* ChekovsGun: The first Rampage film is full of these, containing Chekov's Guns leading to bigger Chekov's Guns. One good example is Evan's angry rant in the fast food shop. [[spoiler:The scene becomes relevant later on, as his angry rant could be viewed as evidence of motive. Bill takes advantage of this, using it to further frame Evan. The Chicken Den is paid a visit, and the waitress is executed with the same handgun used in Evan's 'suicide'.]]
* CreatorCameo: Director Uwe Boll has a small role in ''Capital Punishment'' as Andy, the head of the news company. Bill jokingly refers to him as "Baldy".
* CoversAlwaysLie: The poster for the sequel shows Bill detonating Capitol Hill, despite no such thing happening in the movie. Though that's not to say that Bill doesn't want such a thing to happen.
* DisproportionateRetribution: The Chicken Den waitress who spilled food on Bill and Evan, and the Gelato server who wouldn't complete Bill's order [[spoiler: are both killed during Bill's rampage. They are each the only ones in their respective restaurants to die, and the Gelato server is even given a chance to try to make Bill's order again but fails to do so.]]
* DoubleMeaning: When Bill is [[spoiler:going to kill Evan and has to convince him to stay (ostensibly for a paintball match), Evan]] asks for a good reason to stay. He's given one.
* DownerEnding:
** The first film ends with Bill completing his killing spree by killing his friend Evan, framing him for said killing spree and his father getting arrest meanwhile Bill disappears to start a new massacre.
** [[spoiler: Despite Bill getting shot by Vincent in the third film, by now Bill has already amassed thousands of devoted followers who took his word to continue his legacy of executing innocent people to achieve Bill's delusional quest that doing so can curb political corruption, poverty and wealth inequality]].
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Bill is a politically motivated mass murderer, but when Chip presses him on what his mother would have thought of his actions, Bill says that his rampage doesn't negate his affection for her. The third movie also shows Bill with a German-American girlfriend and a baby.
* FacialRecognitionSoftware: In the third movie brand new facial recognition software is used to scan all the cameras in Washington D.C. to track down the shooter of the U.S. President.
* FrameUp: [[spoiler: Bill pulls one on Evan and his dad, implicating them for his crimes. It works, at least initially, as [[KarmaHoudini Bill just returns home and goes about his day]]. In the sequels the police have long figured out that Bill was the actual shooter.]]
* GlobalWarming: Bill insists it's real and details in his interview to Chip that given the current yet growing rate of global warming's damage done to the environment, the earth will be irreversibly ruined within only a century.
* GoingPostal
* GunsAkimbo:
** Done with a pair of submachine guns.
** Taken up a level with a pair of M-16s in the second film.
* HollywoodAtheist: Bill declares there is no God and views religions as just one among many scams, with [[CessationOfExistence death being the end]].
* IHaveAFamily: In the beauty salon scene, one of the employees tries to reason with Bill by mentioning that she's got a husband and two kids at home. It doesn't faze Bill for a second, and he does end up killing her.
* InvisiblePresident: In the third movie Bill Williamson assassinates the U.S. President and several other high-ranking politicians with a sniper rifle from a mile distance. Neither the assassination nor the President him(?)self are depicted, only the aftermath of the authorities tracking down the shooter.
* IWantMyMommy:
-->'''Bill:''' "DAD! Put mom on the phone."
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Bill kills his friend Evan and frames him for his killing spree, and winds up getting Evan's dad sent to jail. All the while, he returns to his normal life as though nothing had happened and prepares to go on another rampage as soon as he had the money.]]
* LeaveNoWitnesses: The reason why Bill kills [[spoiler:everyone in the beauty salon -- he took his mask off to have some water, then realized that they had seen his face, ruining his plan to get away with his crimes]].
* MalevolentMaskedMen: Bill.
* MilitariesAreUseless: Bill protests the U.S. Army soldiers are nothing more than puppets of the nation's richest 1 percent who, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks which Bill claims was funded by Saudi Arabia, attacked Iraq instead. In the epilogue of ''President Down'', anarchists who sympathize with Bill rain hellfire down on military outposts.
* MoreDakka: This film could be renamed 'MoreDakka: TheMovie' and you wouldn't have to change anything.
* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: [[spoiler:Mass murderer/terrorist Bill Williamson orchestrates several massacres while releasing viral videos urging people to cause violence all over the world. He's finally killed by the end of the third movie after a massive manhunt, but more chaos erupts after his death since more people are shown going on massacres.]]
* NothingIsScarier: The scene where Bill is in the bingo hall full of old people, all of them too engrossed in their game to notice a guy in full body armor and tactical getup walking around. The tension of the scene comes from the anticipation that Bill is just going to lay into the defenseless crowd with his machine guns. [[spoiler:And it never happens.]]
* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: Bill claims that he wants to help the world by fighting overpopulation, but the sheer cruelty, [[{{Sadist}} sadism]] and [[EvilIsPetty pettiness]] he displays shows that he isn't doing what he does for any reason other than because he [[ForTheEvulz enjoys it]].
* PoliceAreUseless:
** {{Justified|Trope}}. Bill's first act is to take out the police station so that there's nobody to stop his rampage.
** Played completely straight in the sequel. At this point Bill takes out entire SWAT teams and anti-terrorist units because he's TheChessmaster.
** The third film continues this, though at least then it's helped by him having a mole in the FBI unit.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: There was [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1337057/board/thread/170127496 a big thread]] on the film's Website/IMDb message board saying how this movie was entirely unrealistic and could just never happen in real life. Cue the Utoya summer camp massacre, which played out almost exactly like Bill's killing spree (a bombing to distract the cops, followed by a run-and-gun massacre). To quote one of the posters:
-->Look at your thread. Look at the news about Norway. [[Advertising/TheManYourManCouldSmellLike Look back at your thread.]] Slap yourself, because you have been owned.
* SoapBoxSadie: Bill is a villainous male example, particularly in the second movie, which features several long monologues about government corruption and fixing the world. Evan counts, too.
* TheSocialDarwinist: Bill blames overpopulation for the world's ills in the first movie, claiming that he must "cleanse" people. In the sequels however he instead emphasizes blame on wealth inequality and cries for the people to overthrow their country's banks, conglomerate [=CEOs=] and government.
* TheSociopath: Bill. Despite whether he is truly trying to help the world or just doing everything for kicks, he takes a very chilling satisfaction from his crimes, goes out of his way to be as sadistic as possible to his victims in his killing spree and feels no remorse for any of it. In the sequel, Bill's calls for action against the nation's wealthiest can be considered another ruse after he spent two films killing almost exclusively lower-class citizens. Trying to incite more people into killing is likely just him wreaking havoc by proxy.
* StrawNihilist: Bill often rants about how there is no God, people are all slaves to their leaders, modern life in general is meaningless without violence, and humanity is doomed to extinction.
* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: Bill [[spoiler:to the gelato server. Bill gives him five seconds to run, and gets rather... enthusiastic about the countdown.]]
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Nobody at the bingo hall seems to mind Bill. Given that they're all senior citizens, Bill figures this must be because their old age has hindered their senses.
* VillainHasAPoint: Bill makes points many people would agree with. Of course, it's detracted from by his being a sociopathic mass murderer [[NotSoDifferent not unlike those he rants about]] in the sequel.
* VillainProtagonist: Bill is the main character and a domestic terrorist.
* WouldHurtAChild: The second film concludes with Bill, after successfully orchestrating another rampage and getting away with it, giving a gun to a random little girl and telling her to kill her parents and then herself.
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* IWantMyMommy: "DAD! Put mom on the phone."

* IWantMyMommy: "[[SuddenlyShouting DAD!]] Put mom on the phone."

* MilitariesAreUseless: Bill protests the U.S. Army soldiers are nothing more than puppets of the nation's richest 1 percent who, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks which Bill claims was funded by Saudi Arabia, attacked Iraq instead. In the epilogue of ''President Down'', military outposts are being targeted by anarchists who sympathize with Bill.

* MilitariesAreUseless: Bill protests the U.S. Army soldiers are nothing more than puppets of the nation's richest 1 percent who, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks which Bill states was funded by Saudi Arabia, attacked Iraq instead. In the epilogue of ''President Down'', military outposts are being targeted by anarchists who sympathize with Bill.

** [[spoiler: Despite Bill getting shot by Vincent in the third film, by now Bill has already amassed thousands of devoted followers who took his word to continue his legacy of executing innocent people to achieve the delusional quest that doing so can curb political corruption, poverty and wealth inequality]].

** [[spoiler: Despite Bill getting shot by Vincent in the third film, by now Bill has already amassed thousands of devoted followers who took his word to continue his legacy of executing innocent people to curb political corruption, poverty and wealth inequality]].

** [[spoiled: Despite Bill getting shot by Vincent in the third film, by now Bill has already amassed thousands of devoted followers who took his word to continue his legacy of executing innocent people to curb political corruption, poverty and wealth inequality]].

* CatchPhrase: Bill goes "Chirp chirp chirp chirp!" in the first movie then "Chip Chip Chip Chip!" in the second.

* DownerEnding: The first film ends with Bill completing his killing spree by killing his friend Evan, framing him for said killing spree and his father getting arrest meanwhile Bill disappears to start a new massacre.

* CreatorCameo: Director Uwe Boll has a small role in ''Capital Punishment'' as the head of the news company.

* TheSocialDarwinist: Bill blames overpopulation for the world's ills in the first movie, claiming that he must "cleanse" people. In the sequels however he instead emphasizes blame on wealth inequality and cries for the people to overthrow banks, [=CEOs=] and governments.

* TheSocialDarwinist: Bill blames overpopulation for the world's ills in the first movie, claiming that he must "cleanse" people. In the sequels however he instead emphasizes blame on wealth inequality and cries for the people to overthrow banks, CEOs and governments.

* TheSocialDarwinist: Bill blames overpopulation for the world's ills, claiming that he must "cleanse" people.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Nobody at the bingo hall seems to mind Bill. Given that Bill didn't shoot anyone at the hall and they were all elderly, Bill figured that must because their old age is hindering their senses.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The bingo hall scene.

** {{Justified}}. Bill's first act is to take out the police station so that there's nobody to stop his rampage.

* The third film continues this, though at least then it's helped by him having a mole in the FBI unit.

* SoapBoxSadie: Bill is a villainous male example, particularly in the second movie which features several long monologues about government corruption and fixing the world. Evan counts, too.

* StrawNihilist: Bill often rants about how there is no god, people are all slaves to their leaders, modern life in general is meaningless without violence, and humanity is doomed to extinction.

Not to be confused with the 1987 Creator/WilliamFriedkin film of the same name, or with [[VideoGame/{{Rampage}} the series of kaiju arcade games]].

* IHaveAFamily: In the beauty salon scene, one of the employees tries to reason with Bill by pointing out that she's got a husband and two kids at home. It doesn't faze Bill for a second, and he does end up killing her.

* IHaveAFamily: In the beauty salon scene, one of the employees tries to reason with Bill by pointing out that she's got a husband and two kids at home. It doesn't faze Bill for a second.