"Rambo"

Seen on: January 26, 2008

The players: Director: Sylvester Stallone, Writers: Sylvester Stallone and Art Monterastelli, Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, James Brolin, Paul Schulze, Matthew Marsden

Facts of interest: This is the first film of the series directed by Sylvester Stallone.

The plot: This time, John Rambo heads out to rescue a group of aid workers captured by the Burmese army.

Our quick thoughts: My hopes were quite high after I saw Sylvester Stallone’s excellent “Rocky Balboa” last year, but I’m sad to announce that his resurrection of John Rambo didn’t work out that well at all. “Rambo” is probably one of the most violent action flicks I’ve ever seen, offering countless disturbing scenes of children being thrown into fire and people being shot, cut in half and literally torn apart.

This time, the action goes down in Burma, where Rambo and a crew of mercenaries attempt to rescue a group of kidnapped Christian aid workers. Brainless violence erupts early on and dominates the film all throughout, leaving absolutely no room for proper story and character development. I’m not saying that hardcore action spectacles always require a subtle plot, but what is there left to discover in a film in which a badass Vietnam veteran spends 90 minutes eliminating hundreds of ferocious soldiers?

Rambo is still in good shape and certainly knows how to handle his bow or a machine gun, but as a character, he couldn’t be less interesting. Sad to say, every time the violence slows down a bit and the actors get a chance to speak, Rambo ends up with the cheesiest lines. Poor guy. But the tasteless brutality of war resumes quickly enough, supplying cinemagoers with more blood spatter they could possibly handle. I don’t really see the purpose in exploiting such crass violence on the big screen, but I guess it must be somehow related to box office revenue.     

Freaky quote: "Live for nothing, or die for something. " - Sylvester Stallone

The final word: I respect Sylvester Stallone for all the work he’s done over the years, but “Rambo” is nothing but a massive disappointment. I love hardcore action flicks and I certainly appreciate suspenseful horror films, but this proves to be nothing short of humiliating. I wish they had left Rambo in peace. It would have been the best for everyone.