Grade: B-
Synopsis: Haunted ex-G.I. John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) accompanies a group of mercenaries into Burma to rescue a group of aid workers.
Rambo is everything the wildly disappointing Die Hard 4 wasn’t: a successful resurrection of a franchise by returning to what made it great in the first place.
Indiana Jones, take note.
As a director, Stallone proves himself more than capable. Granted, he does include a useless voice-over/flashback sequence at the film’s mid-point that should have been more haunting, but he more than makes up for it with the sweeping action sequences that form the film’s core. Further, the location photography is top-notch and belies the film’s relatively low budget.
As an actor Stallone plays Rambo as a hulking, beast of a man, drawn to the very violence that haunts him. He looks and feels the part, with his extra years adding an increased gravitas to his performance. While his scenes with Julie Benz are painfully wooden, this is more a fault with the script than his or Benz’s performances.
Now, about that script. There’s no getting around it. Some of the dialog, especially in the first half, is wincingly bad. Not so much that it ruins the movie, but enough that it keeps a good movie from being great. Still, if your biggest complaint in an action movie is the dialog, the filmmakers did a descent job.
Bottom Line: While the violence will doubtlessly be off-putting for some, fans of the series or its ilk have cause to rejoice. Walking out of the theater, I couldn’t wait for a sequel.
One Response on “Rambo (2008)”:
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Stuey M said:
Grade: A
Wow. What a surprise. When I saw the board for this at the theater in december I was like wow theres really been 4 of these? But I heard it had some kickass action and i like those one man war machine types, so I went. A Great Action movie. Stallone had the best dialogue in the movie. I didn’t mind the missionaries but they did have the worst of the speaking parts. Also i felt the mercenaries weren’t exactly needed. Rambo could have freakin taken the whole damn army down lol. But wow that end shoot-out, is one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen, and i tend to judge those harshly because this is my favorite genre, but that was great. Limbs flying and bad guys getting cut to pieces with a .50 cal. Classic Rambo. My only gripe is i wish there would have been more action, but what we got was certainly satisfying. After i saw this my interest in the series doubled, so I watched the 1st 3. Great series. Thanx Sly. Hope a sequel is in the works because I cant get enough of this guy dealing out Rambo justice to the bad people of the world
