January 28th 2008 Posted to
Film

I saw Rambo this past weekend and I’m still amazed by how much I enjoyed it. Hell, even super-snob Jeffrey Wells loved it. There are some movies that even though you know deep down are preposterous, inanely simple-minded and “bad” for you, debasing you, resorting you to your inner ape … you can’t help but give in to them. Stallone did a great job with this movie because all he’s looking for is your most primal feelings. Fuck your intellect.
He starts out showing you the horrors occurring in Burma. He does explain them. He just shows them. He shows you real footage of dead bodies. He shows you dead mothers. He shows you dead children. You hear the news reporters talking about the high levels of genocide. And all you really know is that the guys in the soldier uniforms are the ones putting these innocent people into the ground. You can’t help but be affected by these images.
Then you’re introduced to some movie footage. And you watch these soldiers toy with some captured villagers. They play the mine game. People die. Stallone wants you to hate these guys in the green uniforms. He wants you to know they’re evil. And boy oh boy does it work. You’re ready for some Rambo carnage before you even meet the 61-year-old fart.
But Stallone knows he has one more thing to do: he has to give Rambo a personal stake so we have to sit through some bonding scenes with the blonde chick in the movie and then we have to wait for her and her husband and friends to get attacked and abducted by the green uniformed storm troopers. And then we meet the shady good guy mercenaries. And this is where the movie becomes Rambo: First Blood Part II meets Predator minus the alien and plus more violence.
And it isn’t long before Rambo comes in, shows up the loud-mouthed mercenaries, and KILLS SCORES AND SCORES AND SCORES AND SCORES AND SCORES OF PEOPLE.
If you have any interest in seeing Rambo, you have no excuse to dislike this movie. What else were you expecting? Rambo kills bad guys. That’s all you need to know. Rambo kills bad guys.
This is an ’80s movie made today only more violent. More chests explode. More heads explode. More arms pieces burst towards the camera.
And let me say that Stallone is very smart in how he handles his 61-year-old actor. He doesn’t have to do a lot of physical stuff. He doesn’t have any real mano-a-mano. He sneaks up on some people unawares but for the most part, Rambo does the bulk of his damage 3 ways:
Arrows (unfortunately not the exploding tipped ones)
A Pretty Big Bomb
And A Giant Fucking Machine Gun With Bullets The Size of Steak Knives
So he really never puts his character into too laughable a mode. Don’t get me wrong, you will be covering your mouth at both shock and laughter at some of the goings ons here but thats what makes this movie the perfect kind of primal film experience. I have a special place in my heart First Blood Part II but I will say this movie blows Rambo III out of the water.
Rambo is - for better or worse - a childhood hero of mine and there is no doubt nostalgia fits into my great experience with this movie. But I still love his character. He’s the man of, well, no words basically. The fun of his character is that you know what he is. He’s a ticking time bomb and he takes a lot of shit before really exploding. He explodes again and it was hella fun to watch it all go down.