Heroes Never Die.... They Just Reload!

After Afghanistan (Rambo III) John Rambo has turned his back on the violence, for 20 years he has lived a relatively peaceful existence in isolation; for cash Rambo hunts down Cobra’s and sells them to locals for sport in a small Thai village. Nothing can however be left retired and one day Rambo is approached by a group of Christian Aid workers who desperately want to cross the border into war torn Burma. At first Rambo refuses to help them, but one woman called Sarah somehow manages to get through Rambo’s harsh exterior, she touches something inside of him.

Having skipped through a pirate blockade, in which Rambo is forced to murder rather than have Sarah raped, the group finally leave Rambo on bad terms (not understanding the severity of events). But within a few short hours the Aid workers come to harm trying to help a village, some die and some are taken hostage. As the transporter of the Aid workers Rambo is again approached this time by a representative of the Aid workers families, asking him to take a group of mercenaries to the same spot that the Aid workers were left, these Aid workers are allegedly the best, with everyone unaware that the very best was already there.


I’m somewhat of a purist, I generally tend to believe (Godfather and Saw as an exception) that the original is always the best. First Blood (the original Rambo movie) was a film I loved, as a child of the 80’s it was THE action movie. It was amazing to watch Rambo decimate and Army of Americas’ finest, after hillbilly locals failed to let him stay in their town. But in the cold light of day First Blood was highly unbelievable, and to a large degree John Rambo (Rambo or by whatever other name it is known) follows that same level of unbelievable storytelling. What this chapter brings however is a cold harshness to events; this is the most brutally savage Rambo instalment ever.

I need to elaborate on the harsh aspect of Rambo, in previous movies bullets met victims and really you never saw anything. This time the violence is at its most graphic, but it’s not graphic for the thrills it’s delivered to bring home the harshness of the world we all live in but often pay little attention too. This is illustrated as the opening credits show scenes of torture victims, from various Burmese wars, the victims include young children. Back into the movie itself and the first ultra violent scenes we see show the almost complete annihilation of a small village, rape, decapitation, death by gunshot, limbs severed, and children brutally murdered some of which are thrown into fires. Sylvester Stallone in his multiple role of star, writer and director delivers a jaw dropping image of a very real threat, no mucking about this time, some of the imagery will be the worst you have ever seen for cinematic entertainment.

From a perspective of plot, the movies first 45 minutes in particular are incredibly well paced out, and rather colourfully written, rather than going straight for the throat with a crescendo of violence Stallone packages as much story as he does action, if not more so. You don’t need to have seen the previous three movies; Rambo is delivered in a standalone form, it is blatantly obvious even to someone that has never heard of the Rambo franchise that when you see John Rambo the boatman, he is capable of much bigger things. The next half of the movie has minor structure, but it’s very much a case of all the surprises being out of the box and the inevitable “Lets Escape” scenario ensues with Rambo and co being hunted by Burmese militia.

The effects are phenomenal, from the general dismemberment to the massive explosion three quarters of the way in, that makes for a most magnificent spectacle (obviously delivered courtesy of CGI). But it’s the bullet wounds that create the biggest awe factor, people shot with large machine guns are literally cut in two, more often than not it’s the bad guys thankfully. From things I have seen on the likes of ogarish.com (now defunct), and the more well known rotten.com I really believe this movie offers the most realistic war related injuries I have seen on screen. Again its not to glamorise violence, its devised to make you see the realities of violence; the events visually effect those that are involved, people are driven to tears by the intensity of the violence.

The performances are great, Stallone understates his own value slightly as Rambo in stark comparison to previous offerings, although obviously the benchmark for the movie he lets others get involved. The most notable action buddy being the considerate Schoolboy played by Matthew Marsden. But it’s Sarah played by Julie Benz that delivers the equal role to Stallone, never venturing into violence you care as much about her as you do for Rambo, with her rationalizing issues keeping him on the straight path.

There is a rather nice return to the series of series regular; Lt. Samuel Trautman makes a brief dream sequence return, brief because the actor who plays the character Richard Crenna died five years previous to the movie. Luckily stock footage of Crenna that never made previous movies is put to good effect here, allowing you the belief that Trautman is still very much alive, and there for Rambo. I think this is a most honourable homage to the actor whose passing was met with a whimper of media.

If you read my review for the forth Die Hard movie, I asked a question and that was where action movies could go from there. The answer is John Rambo, while it does not have the vehicular effects of Die Hard it delivers a human action series of stunts and effects that will rock any action buffs world. How does this movie compare to previous Rambo movies? This is ultimately the best Rambo movie, but don’t take my word for it, reviews are glowing and it’s got the highest IMDB.com score of the year, with equal amounts of women as well as men loving this return of franchise.