Rambo (2008)

 

Brutal.

No really. This is one heck of a brutal film. It is also one of the best in the entire franchise.

Sylvester Stallone was at this point revisiting several of his iconic characters and delivering some top notch stories. His return to Rocky with 'Rocky Balboa' was spot on, and this one also simply titled 'Rambo' where he once again dons the headband, picks up the bow and stares menacingly in the distance is an absolute delight for fans of this man. 

He also upped the violence by several notches, believe it or not. 

John Rambo is living a fairly quiet life in Thailand, being skipper of a motorboat and occasionally catching snakes for the local snake show. One day he is approached by members of an American church that want him to take them upriver into Burma, where they want to help the Christian Karen people.

Not Karen as in the meme, but Karen as in the 'tribe'. 

Only one problem: there is a civil war going on and the Karen tribe is systematically eradicated by the regime, something that doesn't really endear Rambo to the cause of these do-gooders. He is eventually convinced by Sarah (Julie Benz), because she managed to appeal to his humanity that still lingers beneath his gruff exterior. Things go south fairly rapidly though, as the village where these aides go to is soon overrun by the cruel local commander and is in essence wiped out, most of the white people are taken prisoner. 

When John hears about this, something in him snaps and as the music swells, we know shit is about to go down. He once again heads upriver with some mercenaries and from then on, you know what's coming.

But do you really?

If you love Stallone and the character of Rambo, this is a must see. But there are several reasons why this one works so well. First off, the runtime is snappy, with barely 90 minutes to tell the tale, so there's little to no fat to be trimmed away. Second, the cinematography is excellent. A lot of shots are very well done and the colour palette is diverse and gorgeous in spite of some ugly happenings on screen. The jungle never looked this convincing, except maybe for something like 'Predator'. Third: Stallone knows this character through and through and it shows. This Rambo is once again more of the introverted man from the first film; also a lot older, a bit more cynical at times, but it feels believable. 

It also helps that they brought the series back to gritty realism. Nothing wrong with 2 and 3, but they were pretty over the top and at times a little silly. None of that here, this is grimy, because war is hell and war is ugly and people are sometimes even uglier. 

The supporting cast is okay, but you'll probably only remember the slightly crazed SAS mercenary, as he is the only one with some character; most of the others are pretty disposable. And Julie Benz doesn't get a lot to do besides being captured and looking horrified at all the violence. 

Oh, and what violence there is. There is no exaggeration that this one is brutal as fudge. None of the other films even come close, as here the violence is in your face, raw and apparently pretty realistic. People blow up, get shot, stabbed, torn apart by bullets, impaled by arrows, the whole nine yards and it's all here in bloody, visceral shots. Even fans of the franchise were stunned at how insanely gory it can get at times. The worst part is that this seems too much, but is actually fairly accurate. 

Okay, the villain is just pure evil, that is a downside. This guy has no redeeming features whatsoever and he isn't as memorable as either Brian Dennehy or Steven Berkoff, so there's that. But it's not the villain people will remember.

In the final act everything is cranked up to eleven. Most people might not be ready for the insane carnage of that part of the film, so you'll either be appalled or you will shout "YES!" at the screen. 

Trust me: when Rambo's theme swells when he prepares for war, the goosebumps will rise and the orgasmic destruction at the end is the inevitable climax. In short: this is a bloody good time.