Rambo-a-Thon, Part 4 - Rambo (2008)

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden, Paul Schulze, Graham McTavish

Country: United States / Germany

Rating: R

Run Time: 90 minutes

From Washington, to Vietnam, to Afghanistan, Rambo has been all over the place. Each of the Rambo films focus on the effects of large scale wars such as Vietnam and the Cold War. In today's society, there really are no more large scale wars such as these. Instead, riots, violent occupations, and genocide pepper the globe on a day to day basis. Therefore, the fourth Rambo focuses on a small scale "war", the genocides in Burma. In doing so, the film gives the character of John Rambo a good reason to return (besides box office dollars) and delivers on some of the most brutal violence in cinema history.

"You didn't kill for your country, you killed for yourself."

Rambo finds John Rambo living on his own in Thailand near the Burmese border. A group of missionaries come to Rambo and ask him if he will pilot them up river in his boat. Their mission is to provide aid and spread the word of God to the Karen village people. Rambo agrees to take them but only up to a certain point. While on their mission, the missionaries are captured by Tatmadaw soldiers. When Rambo gets word of their capture, he agrees to join a group of mercenaries and help free the missionaries.

There is no denying it, Rambo might just be the most brutally violent action film I have ever seen. Children are shot, heads are chopped off, and bodies are literally ripped to shreds by .50 caliber bullets. Even though the first three Rambo films are violent, they were never graphic or disgusting. This film on the other hand is incredibly brutal and very difficult to watch at times. I actually had to fast forward through two scenes where the Tatmadaw soldiers massacre two villages full of people. It was really graphic material that was depicted so realistically that one could mistake it for actual footage. I want to emphasize this aspect of the film because Rambo is not for the squeamish. Rambo defines why action films are Rated R.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, I have another bold proclamation to make about this film. Rambo might just be the greatest come back film for any action star past their prime. If you analyze all of the current films of the great aging action icons, (Van Damme, Schwarzenegger, Lundgren, Seagal, etc.) few of their films achieve the greatness of their older days. However, Rambo came out in 2008, well after Stallone's prime. Therefore, no one could predict that Stallone would make such an incredible action film in 2008 of all years. But guess what? Stallone did it! Rambo is so balls to the wall, violent, action packed, powerful, and dramatic, it is a complete miracle.

Things do not end well for this guy.

Rambo has a lot of great stuff in it that homages the old Rambo films. The first is the classic Jerry Goldsmith "Rambo" theme. New composer Brian Tyler homages this theme at the beginning and end of the film with two fantastic pieces of score. These beautifully composed pieces remind you that Rambo is not just some violent action franchise but also an emotional and dramatic action series as well. Tyler's score is especially affective during the film's final moments as Rambo returns home to his father.

Rambo also gets to use his classic bow for one very short but memorable action sequence. How about Rambo's trademark hair, muscles, and knife? Well, Stallone never takes his shirt off in this film. Therefore, we don't get to see Rambo sans shirt. He does sport that headband in literally every scene though.

Surprisingly, Rambo no longer has his trade mark knife. When it comes time for Rambo to get ready before he goes off on his killing spree, he welds a brand new knife. It looks far different than his classic pointy knife. It looks more like a machete that you would use to hack away at bushes with. I loved this update of the Rambo knife and thought it was cool that Rambo hand made it while delivering a moving monologue. 

I'm getting Seven Samurai / Apocalypse Now vibes.

There is also an awesome scene in the film where Rambo has a dream that includes snippets of Colonel Troutman's dialogue over scenes from the first three films. The dream ends with Rambo waking up in First Blood hearing Troutman call his name. He than wakes up in real life to hear his name called by a pastor who has walked into his hut. This was a really cool scene that paid homage to the late Richard Crenna. It is quite sad to have no Richard Crenna in a Rambo film. However, he had passed away in 2003 and it was completely understandable. Still, when Rambo hears the pastor call his name, I honestly thought that it was going to be Colonel Troutman for a moment, even though that is impossible.

All of the performances are first rate. Stallone is at the top of his game as Rambo for the fourth time. You can tell that the character means the world to him and that by also directing this film, Rambo is 100% his baby. The supporting cast is pretty massive, so I won't go into detail about each and every mercenary, missionary, or henchman. The two I will point out though are Julie Benz as one of the missionaries and Matthew Marsden as one of the mercenaries. These two characters are the only people who believe and want to help out Rambo throughout the film. After seeing three movies where people crap on Rambo and consider him an outcast, it was nice to see two people out of all of the haters gravitate towards him.

Rambo is also a very swift film. At just 90 minutes (I watched the theatrical cut), Rambo has more deaths and more action than you could possibly imagine. And would you believe that it still makes time for some dramatic and heartfelt moments too? The entire second and third act are incredibly exciting. The film concludes with an epic battle of gunfire, explosions, rockets, sniping, and .50 caliber gun toting. It is truly one of the most insane and bloody action scenes to ever be put to the big screen. It's a spectacle to behold. 

And as usual, how great is the dialogue of the film? Well, I think all of the awesomeness is summed up in one chunk said by Stallone. Check it out. "You know where you are? What you're made of. War is in your blood-don't fight it. You didn't kill for your country-you killed for yourself. The gods are never going to make that go away. When you're pushed killin's as easy as breathing."

The last 11 minutes is just this.

Rambo is a fantastic way to end the franchise. It takes the gut wrenching drama of First Blood and combines it with the balls to the wall action of First Blood Part II and Rambo III. The fact that such an aged action hero could come back in 2008 and kick so much butt is truly awesome. Sylvester Stallone proves his importance to the action genre with this film and this franchise. I had a blast watching all four of the Rambo films and consider the series to be consistently entertaining from film to film. Without a doubt, I highly recommended this film and all of the previous Rambo films to all action junkies. They are all a must see!

Rating: 9/10 - A painfully realistic action film that pushes the limits of on screen violence and action. It's a contemporary classic that should be seen by all action fans new and old.

Franchise:
First Blood (dir. Ted Kotcheff, 1982)
Rambo: First Blood Part II (dir. George P. Cosmastos, 1985)
Rambo III (dir. Peter McDonald, 1988)
Rambo (dir. Sylvester Stallone, 2008)