Rambo: Last Blood (2019)

 

After the very visceral and much better than expected 'Rambo' where Stallone once again proved he knows his stuff when given the time and passion, no one expected there to be yet another sequel. In fact, the ending of the previous one was a perfect sendoff for the character of John Rambo, finally returning home after so many years and so many conflicts. But I guess sometimes people need one more because it's too much fun or too profitable. 

Unfortunately, this one isn't as memorable or as good as the one before. No, it's not bad or horrible, but it just doesn't hit the spot in quite the same way and actually feels a little bland at times.

John Rambo is now content living on his father's farm and breeds horses. He has found something akin to family with the Mexican housekeeper and her niece, who is preparing to go to college. However, she wants to find her father and ask him why he abandoned her years ago. Rambo doesn't really like it as the father apparently is a total prick, but she does sneak away and finds him.

Lo and behold, not only is the guy a complete douche, but when she goes back to her supposed friend, this chick sells her out to sex traffickers. 

Yeah, you can see where this is going. 

Of course, Rambo grows concerned and heads to Mexico and finds out his surrogate daughter is in the clutches of two brothers who are vile arsehats and wants her back but he gets his ass handed to him. However, he soon regains his strength and finds the girl, who is now severely drugged and in the end doesn't make it out alive. 

So guess whose worst nightmare is back?

Rambo heads down to Mexico again and kills one of the brothers, so the other one naturally vows revenge and heads to Rambo's farm to get rid of this pesky gringo, unaware that Rambo has prepared for total war... 

What doesn't work as well as one would like is the story this time around. It makes sense to keep Rambo's conflict closer to home, as we have had plenty of exotic locations in the past, but the villains are fairly bland and uninspired. The film desperately tries to include a message about human trafficking, which is of course a very real thing, but misses the mark in making everything exceedingly black-and-white.

No, no one is saying human trafficking is okay, but the disparity between good and evil is a little too on the nose this time and the villains are woefully predictable. Even the barely present military guy from the previous one had more personality than these two. 

They also try to recreate the absolutely gory finale of the last one, but with more traps and a home game for Rambo, but here it doesn't have the same impact. It's neat, but it feels too much like a bloody version of 'Home Alone' and too little like John Rambo. Heck, a lot doesn't make sense. The Mexican thugs make a point of calling Rambo 'just a gringo', but after immediately blowing up several cars and dispatching numerous henchmen, most normal people would flee instead of just going on. 

That being said, the violence can be quite a lot of fun to watch, if you have a little sadistic streak. 

In the end, this one isn't bad, but it does feel inferior to the previous one. A real shame, because you can tell Stallone has true love for the character, but somehow, this one doesn't click as much.