rambo

Rambo

U.S. Release Date: 1/25/08
Running Time: 1:25
Rated: R (Violence, gore, rape, profanity)

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Paul Schulze, Graham McTavish, Matthew Marsden

Director: Sylvester Stallone
Screenplay: Sylvester Stallone
Music: Brian Tyler
Studio: Lionsgate

Alternately titled Rambo IV: To Hell and Back, Rambo is a cinematic demonstration of unremitting bloodshed. Much like the other three films in the series, Rambo does not hold a mercy rule. With its unapologetically hostile lead and plethora of murdered extras, Rambo is an incessantly violent capstone to what is now a ruthless quadrilogy.

Now a secluded snake capturer, Vietnam veteran John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is asked to deliver a group of Christian human rights missionaries – led by Michael Burnett (Paul Schulze) and Sarah Miller (Julie Benz) – from his current home in Thailand to the persecuted people of Burma.

Knowing that Burma is a war-zone under the vicious wrath of an unruly and corrupt army, Rambo initially refuses to assist the anxious Americans. However, after some minor convincing, Rambo agrees to guide the missionaries on their quest to aid the needy.

When the good guys (and gal) are inevitably captured by the bad guys, Rambo joins a set of mercenaries to vie with the Burmese army and rescue the innocent. The result is relentless bloodbath.

Honoring the no-holds-barred attitude of its predecessors, Rambo chooses not to shield its audience from the gruesomeness of combat. Throughout the film, intestines are spilled, limbs are blown off, heads are staked, and bodies are converted to pink mist via land mines. As shocking as it may sound, the killings in Rambo could be equated to the Holocaust; innocent civilians are shot, burned, hanged, and raped without remorse. On the whole, Rambo is more genocide than thrill ride.

After all, Rambo’s brutal violence is what makes it a suitable fourth chapter to the First Blood series. The Rambo motion-pictures are all about pure unadulterated action fit for men who feed on carnage. When Rambo states, “I don’t kill for my country; I kill for myself,” the feature takes on a homicidal tone. Yet, when Rambo possesses long stares that scream “I told you so,” after the battle royale, the audience both comprehends and appreciates his butchery.

This appreciation of death is one of the film’s dominant themes. When the medical missionaries realize how difficult it is to make a dent in something as unruly and complex as the Burmese civil war, their outlooks change from sacrifice to survival. In the process, the missionaries lose is their innocence, purity, and sanity. Meanwhile, the only thing they gain is a traumatic experience. What will those who survive report to their church when they return? Perhaps, the description of running through a corpse-laden terrain as gunfire takes the life of the person running beside you?

With this depiction in mind, how is it that the good guys never get pumped full of friendly fire as thousands of bullets rip through the air? With Rambo, fans must look beyond the unlikely, the cheap white text used on the subtitles and credits, and the fact that Jerry Goldsmith (composer) and Richard Crenna (Col. Sam Trautman) are not involved due to cancer. What’s most important is that Stallone traverses generations and represents an accurate representation of what John would be like two decades after Afghanistan.

There is no question that Stallone can still act, write, and direct; he has proved all three most recently with Rocky Balboa and Rambo. The question is however: can Stallone act, write, or direct a character that he hasn’t previously played? Not including Stallone’s 1983 effort Staying Alive, the answer will come next year in his chronicle of the life and death of Edgar Allan Poe. Keep your eyes peeled and your mind open.