Rambo

Though there are admittedly a few lulls in the narrative and the film moves a little slower than one might’ve liked, Rambo is a clear return to exactly the sort of overblown, uncompromising, and distinctly R-rated actioners that essentially defined the 1980s – ensuring that fans of the genre flat-out owe it to themselves to check out the movie theatrically (if only to encourage the studios to quit making watered-down garbage like Hitman and Live Free or Die Hard). As the movie opens, Sylvester Stallone’s iconic John Rambo’s peaceful yet dull existence as a Thailand-based snake wrangler is interrupted after a group of missionaries (including Paul Schulze’s Michael and Julie Benz’s Sarah) cajole him into transporting them to a nearby Burmese village. After things go horribly wrong, Rambo reluctantly steps into his killin’ shoes and – along with a team of hardcore mercenaries – embarks on a rescue mission deep within the jungles of Burma. Director and co-writer Stallone has infused Rambo with a gritty, downright brutal sensibility that’s nothing short of refreshing, as the filmmaker punctuates certain sequences with appreciatively over-the-top bursts of gory violence (ie heads are chopped off, throats are ripped out, etc, etc). Stallone’s emphasis on periphery characters – including the aforementioned missionaries and mercenaries, as well as a few villains – leads to a less-than-enthralling midsection, and one admittedly can’t help but grow impatient for Rambo to take center stage and just do what he does best. Stallone’s reliance on varied shutter speeds notwithstanding, the final conflict is certainly worth the wait – as Rambo and his cohorts inflict unspeakable damage on an army of hapless Burmese soldiers in a protracted sequence that’s as bloody and savage as anything contained within the film’s three predecessors. The conclusion effectively brings the John Rambo saga full circle, and there’s ultimately little doubt that Rambo stands as a fitting conclusion to an admittedly uneven series (although it sure would’ve been nice to find out what happened to Richard Crenna’s Sam Trautman).

*** out of ****