Weeklies
Movie: "Rambo"
Year: 2008
Rated: R
Genre: Action / Adventure
Directed by: Sylvester Stallone
Writing credits: Art Monterastelli, Sylvester Stallone
Reviewer: Protoclown
Posted: 2/11/2008
Plot: Rambo kills.
Review: Holy shit! This movie is fucking intense. In fact, it's so intense that it makes the first three Rambo films look like playground slap fights by comparison. Seriously. I know that many of you were expecting a thinking man's movie, and I'm sorry to disappoint, but you won't find much of a story to speak of here. But if you were expecting one, you probably walked into the wrong movie.
Those of you more realistically expecting a non-stop bloodbath of violence and brutality will get exactly what you were looking for. In fact, I'll wager you're going to get a whole lot more than you're looking for. With CGI these days they're able to depict gore in much greater detail, and what used to be shown as a blurry body flying through a cloud of smoke after stepping on a land mine is now shown in ghoulishly uncomfortable detail.
This movie is full of scenes that will even make the most desensitized among you cringe, and rightly so. The vast majority of the brutality is committed by the bad guys, a role filled in this film by the Burmese military, and the scenes of rape and pillage they commit on quiet, simple villages are truly disturbing. But Rambo himself has upped the brutality level as well, and after seeing what the bad guys have done, you can't help but feel that he's a little bit justified in his acts of vengeance and anger.
A lot of critics have complained about the gratuitous "video game" violence in this movie. Yes, there is an unreasonable amount of violence in this movie, and yes, it is over the top. But it's also gritty, visceral and real (most of the time). And you know what? It should be disturbing. Shit like this actually happens in the world we live in, and maybe we need to be shocked once in a while to remember that. I'm sorry to wake some of you out of your Disney Coma, but it's true, like it or not.
Rambo has never glorified violence, however. He has always shied away from it unless necessary, and this film is no exception. But once John Rambo realizes it's time to party, he pulls out all the fucking stops.
The most obvious thing lacking from this movie is Richard Crenna's Colonel Trautman, and it is an absence you will certainly feel in this film. But as Crenna passed away back in 2003, they had to make due without him. And they did. Still, even without Trautman, I'd rank this movie in third place, behind the first two movies, but I feel it's a stronger film than Rambo III.
If you're a fan of the Rambo franchise there's nothing to dislike here, and if you're a fan of these kinds of military shoot 'em ups, you really need to check this one out. Parts of it may be hard to watch, but I'll be damned if I could look away.
Overall rating: 
(Scored on a 0.5 - 5 pickles rating: 0.5 being the worst and 5 being the best)
Reader Comments
spatter was masterfully executed with dirty finess.
Seriously, this movie rocked. Period.
And I gotta say, Im SEVERLY awed at Stallone's physique and ability to throw down the action like a young mid 40 (aka Rocky 4 Stallone) in this movie. The man runs, screams, shoots unlike any 61 year old I ever met. Kudos to him.
I used to despise his films (except "Demolition Man" that movie rocked) but if you look at the last Rocky and this amazing, hardcore, "War is Hell and your a killer" film...
You can see the complexity of the man, the actor and the director.
Yay for Rambo
No doubt in my mind that if this had been the first Rambo, and the first Rambo had been this one, everyone would be saying that this new one is the best... If was the old one.
If you see what I'm saying here. Also I sort of pity people who look for messages in movies like at some point a guy who makes entertainment for a living will come up with a revolutionary philosophy about life.
And is it just me or is Stallone looking more and more like a Native American as he ages?
Unabashed slaughter for Jesus! First Commandment? What's that?
| And you know what? It should be disturbing. Shit like this actually happens in the world we live in, and maybe we need to be shocked once in a while to remember that. I'm sorry to wake some of you out of your Disney Coma, but it's true, like it or not. |
The only message that Rambo portrays is the old Bugs Bunny Complex: "Don't start things, but if somebody else starts it, you feel free to finish it."
If you're looking for a war movie that's about the human condition amongst the horrors of war then stick with flicks like Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, or Saving Private Ryan. If you're looking for a war movie that's all about turning off the mind and watching bad guys get the ol' "eye for an eye treatment" then enjoy Rambo. But let's just call a spade a spade and not pin Rambo up as a brilliant way to remind people that living in the rest of the world sucks a lot more than living in the USA.
Obviously there are far better "war" movies out there that offer up some worthwhile social and political commentary. This is not one of them. You can call a spade a spade all you want, I'm sticking to calling Rambo a damned enjoyable action movie.
So, if with this line of reasoning you are not suggesting that it should call us to action (of any degree) against brutality, then by what reason should we be reminded that terrible things happen around the world?
Honestly Protoclown, this line is the only thing I have a problem with in the whole review. I think you did an excellent job of describing Rambo as an ejoyable shoot 'em up action flick. However, the producers of Rambo know just as well as you and I that what they are putting out there is a cathartic "bad guys get what they deserve" romp and the gore is a result from the assumed demand for it by the target demographic. Saying that the disturbing violence is necessary to remind that target demographic that it is a real issue around the world is like saying that the useless scene in Transformers that featured an Escalade, an Xbox, and a Mountain Dew machine that came to life was necessary to remind us that the movie is about robots and not a tacked-on bullshit product placement.
This movie rocked. The End.
Also: Burmese strippers suck. If you're going to sway from side to side, at least do it to the music, and with your top off!
its rare nowadays to find a good and gory flickdamn pg13
Favorite part: Missionary dude flipping out and splattering that bad guy's head with a rock.
If you believe that sort of thing, it was the one God wrote about having no other gods before Him. But if you're talking about the sixth commandment, the original translation reads "do not shed innocent blood," and I doubt the bad guys in this movie qualify. Rambo's in the clear, as far as God is concerned.
And for all the people giving Protoclown shit: it almost seems like you're deliberately missing his point. No, Sylvester Stallone doesn't go around exploding SPDC troops with a .50 machine gun -awesome as that would be- but the things those SPDC guys do to the Burmese people really happens over there. THAT'S the stuff he was talking about.
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Something tells me that this is going to be like Pan's Labyrinth minus the Fantasy, with an overdose of testosterone and steroids. I could be wrong, but judging from the review, I might not be.