Capital Punishment (2014)

The sequel to Uwe Boll’s one movie considered to be a generally good film, Rampage: Capital Punishment sounded like a feature with unprecedented promises and you will have fun watching the movie online. Having gone into seeing Rampage: Capital Punishment without watching its predecessor there is no certainty of what I can expect from the film. But as the intro loosely covered the plot dynamics of the film’s predecessor, I gather that it isn’t essential to recognize the plot of the first Rampage to understand the narrative of the second. I can’t precisely gather why Bill Williamson is bent on killing everyone from the start, but I later found out his motives towards the end though the cause of his psychosis remained enigmatic. I can certify that Rampage: Capital Punishment is far from the greatest film, but by the standards of Uwe Boll as a filmmaker it is a truly brilliant piece of cinema. Even when Uwe Boll standards are not considered, Rampage: Capital Punishment is still a solid film. The support of a low budget prevents Rampage: Capital Punishment from turning into an overblown film while the fact that the source material is all Uwe Boll’s own prevents him from insulting the fans of video game franchises he has repeatedly failed to adapt material out of.  

The production values in Rampage: Capital Punishment are far better than in any of the bigger budget Uwe Boll films I’ve ever seen, surprisingly enough. Which is why it is a good idea to free download the full movie in HD. For one thing, the cinematography in the film makes a valid use of shakycam. Unlike the Hollywood productions that Uwe Boll has admitted to despising, Rampage: Capital Punishment actually uses the technique in a valid manner. It is never excessive, never seeming pretentious or amateur. In actual fact, it effectively adds a sense of realism into Rampage: Capital Punishment. Comprehending everything that happens remains easy amid all this, as well as in some of the quick edits which effectively add fast tension without making the experience cluttered. The stylish potential for the film comes heavily from how it depicts its titular rampage and how it uses technical tricks to build tension. With little money to spend, Uwe Boll manages to stretch it into its maximum potential. There are quite a few moments where the script comes off as being thinly written, but there is no denying that it is some of Uwe Boll’s most passionate work because he very clearly has something to say in this production. There is actually a lot of social commentary in Rampage: Capital Punishment. Although the loose nature of the script prevents it from being deeply insightful and it may be the same kind of information a lot of people have heard before, the fact that audiences are reminded of it amid a film which offers little premise outside of a mass shooting effectively gives meaning to the feature. Perhaps it is the fact that the material remains consistently focused enough not to go off on a tangent and perhaps it’s the limited budget that prevents the film from turning into a spectacle of disillusioned filmmaking, but either way Rampage: Capital Punishment is definitely one of the films from Uwe Boll’s finest hour.  

Some of Rampage: Capital Punishment’s elements even serve as valid commentary for mass shootings in America. Though the perpetrators of mass shootings are frequently apprehended, there is always a new one around the corner as society’s treatment of criminals and general gun laws never work enough to prevent mass shootings from becoming part of the monthly routine in America. And the fact that Bill Williamson is back to unleash rampage once again works to comment on how American laws fail to achieve effective results. This could simply be unexpected subtext as a result of Uwe Boll’s desire simply to make a sequel to Rampage, but the result just adds meaning. There are some key scenes in Rampage: Capital Punishment when Bill Williamson holds people hostage and rants to them about subjects such as the media or yoga. At these points in the story, Rampage: Capital Punishment actually seems to provide a portal into the mind of Uwe Boll. Anyone familiar with the extensive internet rants he has gone on where he has referred to filmmakers such as Eli Roth or Michael Bay as “f*cking retards” will know that Uwe Boll is aggressively anti-establishment. When considering this notion and the fact that the script directly makes references to those who have made use of the Fifth Estate, it seems as if Uwe Boll considers himself the Julian Assange or Edward Snowden of filmmakers.

Anyone who has seen the majority of his films will consider this a pretentious delusion, but the way that Bill Williamson uses violence to make people listen to him contrasts the way that Uwe Boll uses this film to do the same. Rampage: Capital Punishment hurts nobody but will only reach a limited market while a man like Bill Williamson who actually uses guns will get significantly further. If there is anything to take away from Rampage: Capital Punishment, it’s a realization that violence is the only sure-fire way to get recognition in the world. It’s not a message that the movie encourages, but its a clear cut fact that the film recognizes. And on top of it all, the film has a solid lead portraying the psychopath. Brendan Fletcher captures the feeling of an angry young American lost in the pretentious idea that by executing a mass shooting he is actually doing something right. He is deluded into thinking that he is a hero, and behind his weapons he offers very limited intimidation. In that sense, he actively captures the ideal persona for a mass-murderer along the lines of killers such as Elliot Rodger, the perpetrator of the 2014 Isla Vista killings. The fact that such an event happened only months prior to the release of Rampage: Capital Punishment actually serves to boost the relevance of the film and Brenan Fletcher’s performance. His effort is timely, capturing the perfect level of insanity and faux masculinity to create a sensible level of balance. So though Rampage: Capital Punishment boasts a simplistic premise with a familiar message, Uwe Boll’s consistently straightforward direction manages to achieve an intense thriller with valid social commentary and a solid performance from Brendan Fletcher.