Remember the good old 1980s? Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, ThunderCats, the Atari, the NES, the NWA, Guns N’ Roses, Commando, Predator, the Rocky movies and that other guy…
Clunky dialogue, chiselled jaw, red bandana, greasy black hair and a thirst for blood. He’s Stallone’s darker, iconic character and he’s back for one more massacre in Rambo.
Rambo is the latest 80s franchise to experience a revival almost 20 years on. Following the events of Rambo III, we find the Vietnam veteran back in Thailand living near the Burmese border and capturing snakes for a living.
This is until a group of Christian missionaries come a long and ask Rambo to escort them over them into war torn Burma. Reluctant at first, Rambo is eventually persuaded by the movie’s damsel-in-distress Sarah Miller (Julie Benz) and it’s at this point the plot goes into slaughter mode.
The missionaries are captured and, along with a group of mercenaries, Rambo decides to rescue them.
The story is clichéd and the dialogue between the main characters is mechanical at times.
Although it is unoriginal, it is by no means a dire mess of a plot like reviews from across the pond have made it out to be. It is okay and average at best. But the Rambo franchise was never really about great story and evolving character development was it?
It’s about killing lots and lots of bad guys.
Stallone said that whilst making the movie he wanted to portray the sheer brutality of the state of Burma. Well he has achieved it and then some.
This movie is unbelievably violent. This is possibly the most gruesome western movie since Kill Bill in 2003. Even Saving Private Ryan pales in comparison to Rambo’s carnage. As vicious as Rambo’s action maybe, it is simply superb.
This film is definitely not for the squeamish, but if you can stomach the gore then you should definitely check out Rambo’s swansong.
Rated suitably with an 18 certificate and running in at 91 minutes, Rambo is out now in cinemas nationwide.
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