Rambo (2008) Review

"Live for nothing or die for something."
-John Rambo



John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) lives in Thailand and reluctantly takes a group of Christian missionaries into war-torn Burma to give aid.  When the missionaries are captured, Rambo takes a team of mercenaries in to free them, but they will have to take on the brutal and sadistic Major Tint (Maung Maung Khin) and his army.


What Works:

Sylvester Stallone does a job with the role once again.  He actually has a decent character arc.  He's completely given up on the world and lost faith in humanity, but eventually comes around to do the heroic thing.  

The violence in this movie is insane.  The action in the 2nd and 3rd movies was over-the-top and a lot of fun.  While it's over the top here, it's not fun at all.  This is brutal violence that shows some of the atrocities committed in Burma.  I have to respect the filmmakers for going in this hardcore direction to make a point.  War isn't fun, it's awful and horrible things happen.  I know that the violence was too much for some, but I appreciated it.

The action sequences themselves are solidly made.  This movie is far better paced than either of the other two sequels and the action sequences come at a steady rate.


What Sucks:

Most of the characters are underdeveloped.  None of the missionaries besides Sarah (Julie Benz) and Michael (Paul Schulze) have any personality and the mercenaries are all one-note at the most.

The CGI looks pretty bad, especially for 2008.  The scene where Rambo shoots a bunch of soldiers with arrows and the massive explosion are the worst offenders.  They look like they're from a cartoon.

Finally, there is a scene where Rambo and Sarah get into an argument on a dock when she tries to convince him to take her group to Burma.  The acting is fine, but the writing...not so much.  The writers got too fancy with the dialogue here and it just doesn't work.


Verdict:

While not as good as the first two movies, Rambo is far superior to the 3rd.  The action is solid, as is Stallone's performance, plus I appreciate how brutal the movie is.  It makes its point.  Unfortunately, most of the characters are underwritten, the CGI is bad, and some of the dialogue is rough, but I'd still say this movie has got it going on.

 7/10: Good  

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