Rambo

I am a Rambo fan, I am a Stallone fan, but I’m not a big fan of this movie. While it’s novel getting to see the 60-plus Stallone donning the bandana again, he has taken his silly character into major serious territory, and the result is a confused, mixed bag. The film picks up 20 years after the last chapter, with John Rambo tending to snakes in Thailand. Some whiny missionaries ask him for help getting to Burma for some humanitarian relief project, and Rambo tells them to screw off. Then, the hot blond missionary (Julie Benz) persuades him to go. Rambo takes them up river, where they promptly get their asses kicked, causing one of cinema’s best known killing machines to swing into action. While the violence in chapters two and three was almost comical, this one is a horror show, and it doesn’t fit with the serious tone of the script. It doesn’t help that every character other than Rambo in the film is poorly executed. There’s actually talk of a fifth chapter, and considering how much of a letdown this is, I would welcome the idea of closing the character out on a good note.