What director Peyton lacks in artistic vision he compensates for in his ability to wrangle such a CG-intensive production." Brian Tallerico of "RogerEbert.com" gave the film 2.5/4 stars, and wrote that "when Johnson is doing that movie action star thing he does so well and giant animals are going enormous-mano-a-enormous-mano, there’s undeniably goofy fun to be had. You just have to be patient during the downtime." The "Mir Fantastiki" review gave the movie 7/10, claiming it's a stupid movie, but one that's good at what it's supposed to be, and honest about not being any more than that. Michael Phillips of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars, and said, ""Rampage" is a drag. Three times during the thing, I wrote down the phrase 'NO FUN,' with increasingly impatient underlines." In an article for "The Hollywood Reporter", Nick Allen wrote about what he called the film's "disastrous" tone, saying that "despite the "Rampage" arcade cabinets being constantly visible in its villains’ headquarters, director Brad Peyton's live-action adaptation comes off as too emotionally glib and mean-spirited, even for a mega-budget B-movie." "Empire" described it as quintessential Johnson project: "it sounds like a dreadful basis for a movie. And it sort of is, but it’s also sort of a lot of fun." "Empire" notes that the film is not as tongue-in-cheek as viewers might expect, concluding that ""Rampage" is big dumb fun, but not as big, dumb and fun as it could have been". In an April 14 Interview, Director Brad Peyton was asked if the rat in the beginning of the film was based on "Larry" from the Atari Lynx port of the original game. Peyton responded "We didn't name him Larry, but I'm going to use that, if there is a sequel, I'm going to make the rat's name Larry." The film was also speculated to be a prequel to "The Walking Dead" television series because of the similarities between Negan and Harvey Russell, both of whom are played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. "Rampage" was nominated for three Teen Choice Awards, in the category Choice Sci-Fi Movie, and for the acting performances of Dwayne Johnson (Choice Sci-Fi Movie Actor) and Naomie Harris (Choice Sci-Fi Movie Actress).