Rambo (2008)

John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) returns to us in this fourth installation of his life. This time around he is living a quiet life on the Burmese river collecting rare snakes for a man that has a snake charming show. His life takes a turn when he is asked to take a Christian relief group down the dangerous river, into the violent Burma, and drop them off. Though he initially declines, after the earnest begging of Sarah (Julie Benz), he is convinced to take them anyway. It isn’t long before the man in charge of the missionary seeks Rambo out with the news that the group has gone missing. Rambo agrees to take mercenaries to the location where he dropped the missionaries off, but soon finds himself compelled to search and destroy as well. 

 

The original Rambo films are classic action flicks, but Rambo III was released in 1988, so the question becomes, does the twenty year aged Stallone have what it takes to still play Rambo, and does it remain true to the original films? In a nutshell: Yes. The plot is essentially thin. Rescue the missionaries and blow things up. However, the back round of Burma mixed with the awful brutality of the Burmese soldiers and their pedophile leader, raping, murdering, kidnapping, and destroying their own people, makes for an immediate hatred of our antagonist and distinct loyalty to the mercenaries and Rambo. In some of the most violent and gore ridden scenes in any film out there right now, Rambo makes no apologies for it’s authentic violence, though it’s careful not to exploit itself entirely. 

 

Stallone shows up strong and enormous to replay the role of John Rambo, though no attempts are made to make him a twenty year old man in is prime, he is obviously aged, and there are no combat scenes that you wouldn’t believe Stallone couldn’t actually do himself. Most of the work is done in true Rambo form, with explosives, a bow and arrow, and the beast of a gun that deserves it’s own movie credit: the .50 caliber rifle. 

 

In a time where PG-13 sequels are prevalent to make the box office trophy more successful, Rambo tries for none of it. This is the kind of movie “R” rated films were created for. Between the violence, the language, and the action, not to mention the films overall theme, it is a gory and nasty film that is excruciatingly entertaining. True to it’s simple, but entertaining nature, Rambo still rocks. Three out of Four stars.