
There is so much to say about this film, I do not know where to start.
This was a horrible end to the Rambo saga; that is not to say that the first two sequels fared any better, but if Stallone wanted to leave the business finishing up his projects (first Rocky, then Rambo, and eventually Oscar), he failed miserably with this piece of shit. And that is truly what it is: a piece of shit.
Some back-story... Rambo: First Blood (the original) probably is the most under-rated action movie of the past twenty-five years. I know I throw out "under-rated" too much, but think about it. When the experts list the best action flicks, they typically comprise of Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise and others. But not Rambo. Why?
Rambo is the story of a Vietnam marine who returns home but doesn't fit in. A loose-cannon of a sheriff considers him a danger to his town, and commences a man-hunt to get rid of the outsider. Rambo is, well, Rambo however, and he ends up kicking ass. It was awesome.
Rambo may be one of the defining films of a generation of men (those who were young boys in the 80s). When I think of Rambo, I think of a hero. The Rambo in Rambo 4 (this film), however, is not a hero. He is insane. There is so much blood in this film, it borders on stupidity; in fact, it passed the stupidity threshold several times.
This is the last 15 minutes of the film -- and I will give it all away because the movie sucked, and you should know this before seeing it (which you shouldn't). Rambo is standing behind a machine gun parapet, and sprays bullets endlessly in all directions, killing all the bad guys -- but he does manage, of course, to avoid accidentally hitting any of the good guys. When you think it is over, it is not. He whips the machine gun ninety degrees and sprays a couple hundred more bullets into bad guys. This scene lasted fifteen minutes. Everyone dies; except the good guys. I can only imagine the writer's room during this scene.
There was one good scene at the beginning. Out of nowhere, Rambo shows up at a killing field (where the militant Burmese were killing innocent farmers) and kills the five men with bow and arrows. A few of them were even head-shots. And he only needed the five arrows. The enemies all had machine guns, but they weren't fast enough for Rambo. It was pretty damn impressive.
The worst part about this is that this final sequel taints the original. And also, now my wife is wary of any action movie that may be sent via Netflix. I have told her that we need to see Rambo I -- and we will, eventually. But first, I will need to throw in a couple extra romantic comedies at the top of the queue to settle all debts.
I know my wife will realize what I have told her about the greatness of Rambo when she finally sees the original. I just hope Rambo I is as good as I remember.
(Returned 08/26/08.)
Rent with Netflix.