Well, maybe it isn't the best movie ever. But it sure as hell was a lot of fun. It's by far the goriest of the Rambo movies, but it isn't torture porn like the Saw or Hostel movies. It's gory because, well, war is gory, and terrible, and brutal. Children get shot point-blank, babies are thrown into burning houses, entire villages are mowed down with body-vaporizing .50-caliber machine gun fire...it was shocking. The movie opens with the villains of the movie, the Burmese military, making Christian rebels run across a mine field while bets are made over who will be blown up last. This gives the movie the perfect action film villains. These Burmese soldiers are even more faceless and unsympathetic than the ubiquitous Nazis in various films ranging from Schindler's List to Indiana Jones. When someone kills a Burmese soldier, you aren't just relieved, you fucking cheer that someone has taken one of the bastard's heads off. That's no exaggertation, the theatre was filled with bursts of cheers whenever one of those soldiers ate it. It helps that aside from being completely evil, most of these men don't speak any English and look distinctly foreign. Even the main villain for Rambo in this movie never says a word in English. Stallone wrote and directed this movie, and obviously played the main character. I've always felt that, of our country's action stars, he was the MOST talented, and that still shows here. Rambo is still a man of few words, but his body language speaks volumes. Through his actions you can see that for Rambo, this is not fun. There is no enjoyment for him, even though he has come to accept that he's a very good killing machine. Likewise, the direction is stellar. We see people blown to bits, but Stallone never lets the camera linger on these things. Someone gets shot / gutted / beheaded / blown to bits, and immediately the camera cuts elsewhere. We see enough to be horrified by the Burmese brutality, but not for long enough to actually feel sick. Stallone knows exactly how much he needs to show. All in all, if you like action films, and especially if you enjoyed First Blood, this is a must-see. If you're squeamish, then avoid this like the plague. The movie is definitely more like First Blood than the other earlier sequels, and that's a very good thing. I honestly can't recommend it highly enough. Four 's out of four!
You know, that's especially embarrassing for an English major. Sometimes I just get words confused. It happens to everyone. Right? Right?...... Editing now....
I'm not too surprised it kicks ass, given the effort Sly put into Rocky Balboa. He's been bitten by an army of muse pixies or something.
Well, you know the original Rambo and Rocky were also fine films with a strong storyline and great characterization as well. it's just that the years and subsequent sequels and general lampooning of the franchises has cause many people to forget what fine films "Rocky" and "First Blood" were. Having gone back recently and watched both of those films, it really disappoints me that Sly couldn't get out of the rut he found himself in creatively, having been pigeonholed as a meatheaded action star. He's a good actor, a good writer, AND a good director. How often does a combination like that come along?
My God how have I gotten by all these years without using either of these words? Anyway, the trailer on TV gives the movie a "video game" feel, and that steers me in the "avoid" direction. I heard Sly on Rush Limbaugh Friday talking about the movie, and he is one very intelligent, articulate guy. Critics mock him because they don't understand where he's coming from, and don't want to. Sly is laughing all the way to the bank, I'm sure.
My mini-review: John Rambo is a tragic character. Drafted into the Army and chosen to be an elite Green Beret, he became a killing machine, conducting brutal, clandestine warfare against the NVA in the Vietnam War, experiences that have left him solitary and cynical. As we saw in the first film of the series, First Blood, Rambo may have come back from Vietnam, but he never really came home. Flash-forward 25 years--and a couple of intervening sequels--and we find Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) much where we'd expect him, living a solitary life in Thailand, making a living sailing his rickety boat up and down the river to capture exotic snakes for use in shows for the tourists. We get the feeling that one day's pretty much the same as the next for Rambo, but that he finds a certain serenity in his isolated life. One day, a group of Christian missionaries come to him, looking to charter his boat for a ride into Burma. Despite the group's good intentions, Rambo reminds their leader that the country is a war zone, home to an incredibly hostile civil war that's been raging for decades. At first declining to take the charter, Rambo ultimately relents when the sole woman in the group, Sarah (Julie Benz), convinces him that her group's idealism isn't so naive. Rambo takes them up river and, after an experience that really should've given them more pause about continuing, the missionaries disembark and begin their work in a remote Burmese village. Rambo returns to life as usual. The peaceful village is attacked by the Burmese army and the slaughter is really quite graphic, moreso than I believe I've seen in any other movie. We are shown instances of violence that are simply horrifying. Gratefully, the movie doesn't hold on any particular instance too long--sometimes just a few frames conveys to you what's happening. It's shocking because it's so realistic. The Burmese army takes the surviving missionaries, Sarah among them, away... The church group's pastor (Ken Howard) shows up at Rambo's door and informs him of the situation and that he's hired a group of mercenaries to rescue the missionaries, if any are still alive. Rambo agrees to take these guys--all of them pretty competent, bad dudes--into Burma. The mercs all dismiss Rambo as merely "the boatman," but Rambo soons shows his mettle with a little bow and arrow action that will both satisfy you and make you cringe. The group sets out to rescue the missionaries from the camp and, once more, Rambo will be unleashed on the enemy... The last third of the movie is almost non-stop action while staying consistent with the conventions established in earlier Rambo films. You get the classic "Rambo-lures-the-bad-guys-into-a-trap" bit, this time with Rambo using a Claymore mine in a novel way (which, when you realize what he's doing with it, will make you smile wickedly, because the film set up the premise earlier). You get the "Rambo-kills-someone-with-his-bare-hands-or-with-his-knife" bit, although both instances are much, much more graphic than anything you've seen before. You get the "Rambo-uses-a-machine-gun-in-an-orgy-of-violence" bit, but, unlike the earlier films which had NVAs or Russians being knocked down like toys, the guys on the receiving end this time are realistically blown to pieces when they're hit. As an actioner, Rambo delivers the goods. Lots of good stuff in this one: Jerry Goldsmith's terrific theme song (c'mon, you know you want to sing it: "It's a long road, when you're on your own..."), a flashback to earlier Rambo films (including--strangely if you catch it--the alternate First Blood ending where Trautman shoots Rambo, but it is kindof a nightmare sequence), an interesting set of supporting-cast mercenaries whose fates aren't what you expect, and, of course, the relentless, realistic, horrifying violence. Negatives? I miss Richard Crenna's Colonel Trautman, though he does appear in the flashback. And considering how the other captured women at the Burmese army camp are treated, it's somewhat unbelievable that Sarah endures--what?--almost two weeks there without being raped or otherwise abused. That's about it. I have to confess, I got a little teary-eyed at the end when [?=Don't read unless you want to know the ending]we see Rambo returning home, looking much like a cleaned up version of himself from First Blood. The adventure in Burma has shown him that the world can change as long as people can, and that he doesn't have to stay apart forever. Rambo's war may finally be over. I think the film handled it just right by pulling back as he walks up the road to the Rambo house, leaving you to wonder what his reception will be.[/?] I've always enjoyed the Rambo films, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this one. Kudos to Stallone for both acting and directing and to a story that avoids predictability even where the climax is a foregone conclusion. 8/10. Highly recommended if you can tolerate extremely realistic depictions of battlefield violence.
Realistic violence is okay, as long as they don't show military related folk swearing. Here in the South that offends them and gives them "the vapors" and the rich, enlightened proper people drop their monacles in their tea. That's why they refused to show "Saving Private Ryan"... the swearing was offensive.
I saw it this morning. Definitely a good movie. I'm glad Stallone is sort of tying up some of the loose ends in some of these movies that made him a star.
You know if you are going to give away the endings of movies, you should put it behind the spoiler tags.
