Rambo

46

Lionsgate (93 minutes)
and Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone , Julie Benz , Paul Schulze , Matthew Marsden , Graham McTavish , Rey Gallegos , Tim Kang , and Jake LaBotz

Rating: R for strong graphic bloody violence, sexual assaults, grisly images and language

Summary: Twenty years after the last film in the series, John Rambo has retreated to northern Thailand, where he's running a longboat on the Salween River. On the nearby Thai-Burma border, the world's longest-running civil war, the Burmese-Karen conflict, rages into its 60th year. But Rambo, who lives a solitary, simple life in the mountains and jungles fishing and catching poisonous snakes to sell, has long given up fighting, even as medics, mercenaries, rebels and peace workers pass by on their way to the war-torn region. That all changes when missionaries are captured by the Burmese Army. Pastor Arthur Marsh turns to Rambo for help. Although the United States military trained him to be a lethal super soldier in Vietnam, decades later Rambo's reluctance for violence and conflict are palpable, his scars faded, yet visible. However, the lone warrior knows what he must do. (Lionsgate)

Pete Vonder Haar
Film Threat:
(80) A straight-ahead exercise in brutality.

J. Hoberman
Village Voice:
(70) A sort of parody "Apocalypse Now," complete with listless coochie dancers entertaining the Burmese troops, the movie finds its own heart of darkness once Rambo drops the doctors in Burma.

Kevin Crust
Los Angeles Times:
(70) Moved to take charge by something like chivalry, Rambo hits his stride in the film's second half, meting out justice in an unjust world and ultimately the movie works best when warbling its out-of-tune greatest hits.

Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly:
(67) Rambo teaches that fighting sucks, good intentions can be futile, and coalitions of the willing are a charade: A man's got to do what a man's got to do.

James Berardinelli
ReelViews:
(63) In the Rambo canon, where does this one fit? The tone is closer to "First Blood" but the body count is more "Rambo III." No matter how one dices and slices this new Rambo, the first one in 20 years, it will likely please fans of the long-in-the-tooth series.

Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide:
(63) The result is the farthest thing from a bland, spineless sequel: It's a brutal, insanely excessive successor to grindhouse pictures of yore.

<< Home