Rambo (2008)

O Masterpiece
X Excellent
O Rental
O OK
O Mediocrity
O Avoid

Review by Jason Pyles / January 25, 2008

Hollywood loves trends. It simply can’t help itself. The newest trend of marketability, which really isn’t new but is both weird and amusing, is revisiting old ‘80s action stars in a reprisal of their roles from 20 years earlier: A 52-year-old Bruce Willis returned as that resilient cop, John McClane, in last year’s “Live Free or Die Hard.” On May 22 of this year we’ll get to see a 65-year-old Harrison Ford pick up his whip and return as Indiana Jones. 2006 gave us Sylvester Stallone in yet another installment of “Rocky” at the ripe, old age of 61.

And now he’s back as Rambo. The children of the ‘80s have been smiled upon again. And really, 50s and 60s aren’t all that old, but these age ranges seem to be pushing it for the action genre. SAG comes to mean more than just Screen Actors Guild.

Unlike “Rocky Balboa,” “Rambo” is excellent if we judge it according to its dual purpose: Naturally, people want to go see “Rambo” because they want to see John Rambo shoot-up and blow-up everything and everybody that disgruntles him. Check. And in David Letterman’s interview with the film’s writer and director, Sylvester Stallone, he said he intentionally wanted it to be this violent and graphic to raise awareness of the atrocities occurring in Burma. Check. “Rambo” achieves what it set out to do, ergo, it’s excellent because it does these two things effectively.

But the film will have its critics. Because it rivals the explicit, graphic depictions of war found in “Saving Private Ryan” (1998), there will be those who call it “over-the-top” (which is funny when describing Sly Stallone movies), gratuitous and excessive in its body count. Perhaps, but the same things could also be said of war, in general.

John Rambo lives in present-day Thailand where he captures cobras and other dangerous snakes for the Maesa Snake Village, a touristy place that has daily shows where villagers with catlike reflexes slap around cobras and try not to get bitten.

But Rambo’s quiet existence is interrupted by a do-gooder church group that wishes to take medical supplies upriver to the suffering people in Burma, a dangerous place where genocide and “the longest running civil war in the world” is taking place. After flatly refusing too many times for a sensible screenplay, Rambo is persuaded to be their boat-man-river-guide by Sarah (Julie Benz), a naïve, all-about-causes gal that seems to have some sway over him. So, Rambo takes them up the dangerous river. And that’s all I will describe of the plot, since the previews were reasonable about not revealing too much, for once.

What you really need to know about “Rambo” is that it is brutal, graphic, ferocious and upsetting. The MPPA rating describes the type of content; but in reality, the horrific tragedies depicted in this movie are indescribable. Unfortunately, I’m typically not very sensitive about violence, but there were moments when even I felt overwhelmed by it. Be warned. “Rambo” is more than just an action film; it seems to me to be a document of war.

If such things are truly happening in our world today, a cobra swatter’s life is comparatively as cushy as an ice cream taste tester’s … or a movie critic’s.

Directed by Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone / Julie Benz / Matthew Marsden
War / Action 93 min.
MPAA: R (for strong graphic bloody violence, sexual assaults, grisly images and language)

U.S. Release Date: January 25, 2008
Copyright 2008: 224