Rambo - Review

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Length: 93 min

Rated: R

Distributor: Lionsgate

Release Date: 2008-01-25

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

Directed by Sylvester Stallone

Produced by Kevin King, Avi Lerner, Sylvester Stallone, John THompson

Written by Sylvester Stallone

Visit the movie's Official Site!

Reviewed by Mariana McConnell : 2008-01-24 19:33:05

In a literal world, Rambo would be subtitled “1,001 Ways to Rip Apart the Human Body”. During the course of this relentlessly gruesome fourth sequel in the Rambo series heads explode, limbs go hurtling in all directions, bodies erupt into clouds of blood, and there is even a sequence where a man’s intestines are ripped out of his stomach and go whipping around him as he rolls down a hillside (it’s hard to stand up when your innards are falling out). Oh and corpses, lots and lots of corpses, in various states of bloat and decay. You have to hand it to scribe, star, and director Sylvester Stallone: he sure knows how to come up with creative ways to blow people up. If carnage is your thing and you care not a whit for “plot”, “acting”, or “craft”, then by all means go see this film. But if a pleasurable movie experience for you includes character development, a believable storyline, and interesting ideas then, for God’s sake stay away. But you knew that already.

When we last left our favorite brooding death-machine, he was fighting in Afghanistan and excoriating enemy du jour of the 80’s, the Soviets. When Rambo begins, John Rambo has abandoned the killing life in favor of an idyllic existence in northern Thailand, piloting a longboat on the Salween River and catching fish with a bow and arrow – Thoreau would be all over this shit, especially when Rambo welds the propeller for his boat himself. His retirement is interrupted when a group of white-bread corn-fed Christians from Colorado show up beseeching him to sail them upriver to war-torn Burma. Needless to say, these Americans have no clue about what they’re getting into. The leader of this group, Michael (Paul Schulze), the dweebiest dweeb who ever dweebed, is such a stereotypical Ugly American that his noble intentions – to bring western medicine and the word of God to the Burmese – are overshadowed by his arrogant stupidity. We hate him on sight for no reason other than he doesn’t possess the same jaded fuck-it-all attitude as Rambo. Michael’s willowy blonde gal pal Sarah, (Julie Benz), whose presence is this movie seems to be only to charm Rambo with doe-eyed looks and scream like a baby when heads start flying, convinces him to do as they wish with hallmark statements like “Saving a life is worth your life, isn’t it?” Despite his reluctance, Rambo concedes and delivers the naïve God squad members to a Burmese village, but not before blowing the heads off some river pirates on the way there. This is a Rambo film, after all.

As expected, things are hunky dory for about 5 minutes before the military shows up and starts slaughtering people, in an extended cinematic succession of gory and gorier deaths. The Christians are taken prisoner and their pastor shows up at Rambo’s Thailand shack in a suit and tie asking him to accompany the mercenaries he has hired into Burma and rescue his flock. And then… the rest of the movie happens. I feel no need to describe it, as the plot is so aggressively A-B-C that by the end I was still waiting for something to happen. Stallone sneers rather than acts, and the dialogue is so skeletal (“Fuck the world.”) that his sneering speaks volumes in comparison. All the characters in Rambo aside from the titular protagonist are as wooden as Michael is brash and consistently underestimate Rambo for no real reason (his muscles are huge and he captures deadly snakes for a living), making it easy for him to come off as the greatest combat soldier ever. Any glimmers of individuality in persons other than Rambo are quickly squelched and otherwise decent set ups never deliver: A Burmese military commander promises to be a grand antagonist in the mold of Herman Goering, but the only lasting impression of his inherent rottenness is the cigarette hanging from his mouth. Only Graham McTavish as a dickish mercenary is any fun to watch.

By the end of the film, it is assumed that John Rambo has undergone some sort of great change of heart but what that shift in perspective might be is never made clear. At one point, Rambo asserts his credo, growling, “Die for something, or live for nothing” and accentuating each word as though the sentence were the most important ever uttered, however what Rambo believes in dying for other than a chance to kill generic bad guys is left ambiguous. This is a serious flaw in a film that purports to examine the troubled soul of a Vietnam vet. The only sequence is the film that even begins to explore his apparent inner torture is a montage of scenes from the previous films in the Rambo series, a lazy move and one that doesn’t illuminate anything if you aren’t familiar with the other movies.

Unlike Stallone’s last outing, Rocky Balboa, which earnestly tried to give depth and meaning to another iconic Stallone character, there is no profundity here though parts of the film indicate that there was supposed to be. The newsreel that opens the film tells the audience everything they need to know about the Burmese civil war (war is bad, doncha know) and all details are left to the imagination and Wikipedia. But all of this is fine, as who goes to see a Rambo film for its political subtleties? Except for Ronald Reagan, I mean. To Rambo’s credit, the film is not another reiteration of the white man saving the brown people from themselves, as it easily could have been. Rather, it is the worldly white man saving the dumbass white people from themselves, which is actually pretty cool when you think about it. However, don’t worry about thinking while watching this movie. Just focus on the gore. And the blood. And the exploding heads. And that part with the intestines. Anything else would be giving this film too much of your precious brain space.

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Hamish Cashinella
January 26, 2009 at 22:25

i love stallones rambo series and this was 2008 best Action film it delivered old school style it went where hollywood is to afraid to go these days to the Extreme with gore violence oh did i mention fuck the world this rambo film rocks im hoping another 4 come out RAMBO.

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Roxy
March 14, 2008 at 16:21

when i saw so many negative comment on Rambo4 i was not surprise, but feel bad i mean not only on this website i saw so many criticising comment on the others web side too.How many of you guy know about burmese and the suffer of burmese people.In burma if you happend to talk about politic, the next day you may never know where you will end up.Sylvester stallone did the best job for the whole burmese people. When nobody care even U.N He is the only hollywood celebrity who did the hard work and not the talk.Did anyone out there who read stallone interview their crew were threaten by the burmese military.When you got only a very small place that had a boundryto shoot the flim and to work with the very few people who dare to act in this movie don't think that is easy.ofcos you can't expect that to be a movie like blood diamond.i never thought their crew could gather this much people to involve in this movie.Stallone did his very best to show the world a hint of what really happening to those poor people in their daily life.when this people can't get the life they want atleast they deserve to have this kind of fantasy.And that fantasy give them more courage to fight for their right,there no need to be a fraid to die when you are already in hell."LIVE FOR NOTHING DIE FOR SOMETHING" what a word.As an hollywood famous celebrity HE take the criticising for his movie quality and all the bads commant out there just to promote how burmese people live their daily life.And again criticising about his body structure, for GOD's sake in his 60.Age 60 and this body? AMAZING.
HE had made history for burmese people.
GOD bless STALLONE.

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peter christoforou
February 27, 2008 at 12:45

http://thebigbadfilmreview.blogspot.com/

Alternate Title:

Rambo-4 arms

Ram-Bore

This film had such a weak story line it could only be strung out for an hour and a half. It basically concerns a group of christian missionaries being held hostage in Burma, and Rambo, along with a group of mercenaries, being contracted by a Pastor to free them.

Rambo 4 is in stark contrast to the other Rambos where he muscle posed his way to self glory. In this film, however, he must have been too self conscious of his love handles and sausage veins that the central focus of Rambo, and his character as a whole for that matter, was his forearms.

The Burmese soldiers were portrayed as verminous killing scum who feed live people to pigs, and Sly even makes further propaganda swipes at Burmese generals by portraying the one in this movie as a raper of young boys.

The killing is so gratuitous and lustful, you wonder what kind of sick, sado-masterbatory audience could enjoy this snuff movie. Rambo manages to effortlessly kill everybody in every imaginable way, and would have encountered more resistance had the Burmese army been replaced by a bunch of grannies armed with knitting needles and balls of wool. And where the hell he manages to find , in the middle of the jungle, some kind of huge, thermo-nuclear device to detonate at short notice is any one's guess.

This abomination of a movie further insult by trying to add believability to this sado-wet dream, by allowing Rambo to get a slight nick from a bullet to his shoulder in the last minutes of the film, as he's mopping up the final remaining Burmese 'skittle' soldiers.

It was a pity Rambo's Kernel is no longer alive as he was the real star of the Rambo franchise and provided the only hint of class and proper acting.

Anyone claiming this was just a bit of fun should watch again the actual footage of the suffering of the Burmese people shown at the beginning of this film, appreciate how Sly has tried to glorify himself at their expense, and then should proceed straight to the doctors and have their brains checked out for advanced syphilis.

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Ben
February 17, 2008 at 14:42

This movie was badass!! The reviewer doesn't know what he's talking about. People go to see Rambo for the action and excitement the film brings. Was there too much gor? Absolutely not. It was realistic and anybody that ever set foot in a combat zone knows that's how it is. Go see this flick.

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jeremy
February 2, 2008 at 21:15

Rambo rocks, its an action flick through and through. I have to agree it was gory for a "rambo" movie, at times unnecessarily so however...its still Rambo. Also i was disappointed that we didn't get to see more "Rambo moments" where Stallone personally kicks a@@! Thats why we love rambo he can do what no one else can but in this movie i think i could've done alot of what he did. I'm still a fan don't get me wrong either your a rambo fan or your not. I definitely am!

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cyndy
January 31, 2008 at 05:12

I work with the Shan people, one of the ethnic groups in Burma, what was portrayed on the screen, is what goes on every day in these peoples lives. The violence is exactly what goes on there. I thank Sylvester Stallone for showing the public what these people have to put up with every day. I hope the world asks why we are not doing anything to help. check out our web site WWW.shanrelieffoundation.org.
I hope it had impact on you.

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steve
January 30, 2008 at 03:21

i totally agree with fred and the chipmunk lover. Alvin and the chipmunks is gonna be fantastic.

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Chipmunk lover
January 28, 2008 at 19:10

i agree with fred and the chipmunk coment, its looks like the best movie ever.

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Casina
January 28, 2008 at 00:13

First of all I don't see how anybody can dog on Stallone. I would really like to see them up there trying to play that part- talk about stupid. Nobody can do the job like him. I thought Rambo 4 was awesome. Nothing like a good action packed Stallone movie. I also think that if somebody doesn't like it then they are not true Stallone fans, because even if they didn't like they should learn to appreciate all the time and effort that Sly put into it. As for me I loved and wanted more maybe Rambo 5? Your not to old stallone, you still got it. CASINA in Grants Pass, OR

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fred
January 26, 2008 at 14:42

Cant wait to see alvin and the chipmunks

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AdamT
January 26, 2008 at 00:47

Can't wait to see Rambo tonight! I've been watching Stallone as Rambo since I was a youngster, and this new movie looks more bloody and action-packed than any of the previous ones! You can find some trailers and tv spots for Rambo here: http://movies.break.com/rambo/

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Andrew
January 25, 2008 at 13:13

I don't think anyone goes to see Rambo for anything but violence anyways.

I mean, come on, it's Rambo.

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