Rambo (2008, R)

Directed by: Sylvester Stallone

Grade: C

Wow, who would have ever thought that Stallone would have come out with a fourth Rambo movie?  Granted, he did direct, produce and star in the sixth Rocky installment in 2006, Rocky Balboa.  While Rocky Balboa was far from a movie of greatness, I liked it for ending the Rocky series on a much more decisive note then the inconclusive Rocky V.  Same goes for the Rambo series.  This fourth Rambo definitely has all of its cheesy and unbelievable moments, but at least it ends the series on better terms then Rambo III.

None of the Rambo movies are much of cinematic achievements, and really, they only form together as entertaining star vehicles for Stallone.  The last Rambo outing was Rambo III in 1988, and I must say, it was unintentionally funny!  The first two Rambo pics, First Blood and Rambo First Blood Part II, were far better than the third installment, but even so, I couldn’t take any of them as more than simple minded adventure flicks that were meant only to entertain those who wanted to be entertained.

Rambo, the fourth installment, has got to be one of the goriest movies I have ever seen.  Yet, I don’t think that Stallone was making it that way just to make it gory.  I really do think that he was trying to raise some awareness for the situation going in Burma.  I’ll be honest here: up until I watched Rambo, I had no idea whatsoever that the situation was that bad over there.  So in all respects, this fourth Rambo, amidst all its gore and Stallone almost singlehandedly wiping out an army of bad guys, at least has some decent meaning to it, and I thought that the actual character of Rambo was in his best definition here.  If we view the Rambo series from that standpoint, then the fourth Rambo is not necessarily the best, but maybe the one that deserves the most attention.

Even so, the style of filmmaking that Stallone employs in making Rambo feels hastily rushed, corny, and poorly edited.  Very corny!  It could be that Stallone really wanted to get his acting career back in business over ending the Rambo series, and so he hastily came up with a script, which is cheesy in itself, and rushed the production and the filming all together.

After watching all four Rambo films, I can’t really say which one is my favorite, though it’s easy to say that Rambo III is the worst.  I’m glad that this fourth Rambo was made as it ends the series on a stronger note then Rambo III ever could have.  There are moments in this fourth Rambo, as there are in all the Rambo films that are so unbelievable we want to laugh.  The level of violence evidently isn’t for everyone here: its gut wrenching and unflinchingly brutal.   The filmmakers also could have worked harder on the production value to at least make the film feel far more accomplished even for an action film.  Rambo is far from utterly satisfying, but at least it ends the series on a semi-upright note.