When a group of American missionaries approach Vietnam War veteran turned Salween River boatman John Rambo to take them up the river to the Burma, a country plagued by a never-ending Civil War, Rambo immediately refuses. It seems that every day he is forced to watch innocent citizens, all trying to help, cross the border, never to be heard from again. After taking a liking to the lone female on the voyage, Rambo agrees to drop them off. Two weeks later Rambo is visited by a pastor from the church that the missionaries were from detailing the report on the group. According to the pastor the members haven't been heard of since their initial landing and while a small group of men have offered to lead them to where they are being held captive the embassies will not help. The pastor pleads for Rambo's help and after little debate he decides that he must return to his roots and fight to save the innocent.
Even though it is intriguing and intense, Rambo ultimately fails on all accounts. From an over muscled lead actor to an inconsistent story and an abundance of violence and blood, causing many to laugh rather than be stricken by, the film fails to carry on a franchise that could have easily survived the test of time.
The first major mistake that Rambo made was in the once irreplaceable Sylvester Stallone and his tremendous muscles. Having admitted to using HGH to bulk up for the role, Stallone went way overboar, causing muscles to form where they shouldn't and ultimately creating a "˜creature' rather than a human. In fact his muscles become so large around his neck that it often looks like he is struggling to speak, forming broken, barely recognizable words. The effects that this has on the film are drastic as the franchise's new viewers are met with a hard, stern, impersonal hero instead of a vet, down on his luck, looking for a way out.
But it doesn't stop there as the story serves to be both inconsistent and unbelievable, taking one of the franchise's strongest features and casting it aside for this film. Now don't get me wrong, the story in and of itself is amazing and the development that the writers did was truly remarkable; however there is just something wrong with the fact that within the first half hour of the film I knew who was going to live and who was going to die. It was just so predictable. In addition the camp that Rambo and company plan to raid is said to have around 100 soldiers stationed there, but when we see it up close there has to be like 1,000 soldiers lined up "“ proving that the film is inconsistent, even on its most basic principles.
And lastly I want to comment on the violence. In past Rambo films there has been an abundance of violence and blood for the film's time; however I have to say that this time around they completely overdid it. From the unneeded graphic displays of pigs gnawing on humans hanging from the rafters to numerous unneeded shootouts the envelope was pushed with what seemed to be no major purpose. Too often the violence seemed to be a result of prestige rather than story development and really hindered the film because of it.
But with all that said I do want to say that the film was enjoyable for me; not great but entertaining. The story, though unbelievable, was great in plot just lacking the proper development needed to create a stellar film. Additionally the scenes that were needed seemed real as nothing was spared, except for the expected lives. So as you can see this film contains a love/hate relationship and always will. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Could it have been better? Yes. Will I recommend it to friends? Yes"¦on DVD. So while many films fit into one category: good or bad; I have to admit that Rambo truly has me stumped.
