2008 Woodie Awards
'Rambo' retaliates
Vintage movie hero returns for a timely battle
by Nicholas Larson
Issue date: 1/24/08
Section: Movies
Put aside for a moment that Sylvester Stallone's "Rambo" provides needed publicity to the current atrocities in Burma. In a decade when the Terminator dons Elton John glasses, John McClane no longer swears and explosions and bullets fly without casualties, the film would be laudable just for restoring grit and guts to the adult action picture. Many college students weren't alive the last time John Rambo frequented movie theaters 20 years ago, and the character has since become short-hand for monosyllabic machine gun rage. But the character had humbler origins in 1982's "First Blood" as a discarded warrior returning to an America who, neither wanted nor acknowledged him until he snapped. As with the recent "Rocky Balboa," co-writer/director Stallone reclaims his icon from increasingly ludicrous installments, while providing a sense of closure for those who have grown up or grown old with the character. The latest entry finds John Rambo living a quiet life in the Southeast Asian jungles where he once warred, without enemies, friends or any meaningful human contact. A group of missionaries asks for his help in getting up river to Burma, to aid the people caught in the midst of bloody civil unrest. He refuses, until one of the missionaries (Julie Benz) personally appeals to his remaining shred of humanity. Soon after their arrival, the missionaries are promptly captured or killed by the military, and the old warrior dusts off the headband and knife for one last battle.
Stallone spends half the movie establishing the brutality of the Burmese military regime, including some scenes of violence against children that made this viewer wince. The film also provides Rambo with a colorful group of sidekick mercenaries hired to rescue the missionaries, who shun the old warrior as dead weight before a few well-placed arrows make them fall in line behind him. These supporting actors help fill the void of the late Richard Crenna, who played Rambo's mentor Col. Trautman in the previous films. Trautman appears in a flashback that makes nifty use of the original ending of "First Blood" (that would have rendered the sequels moot), but the absence of another actor approaching Stallone's presence is noticeable.
The payoff comes in the cathartic final act, a chaotic, bloody ballet that puts to shame anything in "300." Stallone's directorial style utilizes a dull color palette and jerky hand-held photography that both heightens the urgency and disrupts the flow of many scenes. The level of violence is likely to shock anyone used to the standards of mainstream cinema, and possibly even fans of the earlier installments. "Rambo" is unapologetically a film for those fans, and makes no attempt to appeal to younger viewers with slickness or watered-down brutality. Like the character, it may not be pretty, but it does the job it was meant for.
THE GRADE: B
A four-course meal for those with strong stomachs.
Nicholas Larson is a Reporter staff writer
Stallone spends half the movie establishing the brutality of the Burmese military regime, including some scenes of violence against children that made this viewer wince. The film also provides Rambo with a colorful group of sidekick mercenaries hired to rescue the missionaries, who shun the old warrior as dead weight before a few well-placed arrows make them fall in line behind him. These supporting actors help fill the void of the late Richard Crenna, who played Rambo's mentor Col. Trautman in the previous films. Trautman appears in a flashback that makes nifty use of the original ending of "First Blood" (that would have rendered the sequels moot), but the absence of another actor approaching Stallone's presence is noticeable.
The payoff comes in the cathartic final act, a chaotic, bloody ballet that puts to shame anything in "300." Stallone's directorial style utilizes a dull color palette and jerky hand-held photography that both heightens the urgency and disrupts the flow of many scenes. The level of violence is likely to shock anyone used to the standards of mainstream cinema, and possibly even fans of the earlier installments. "Rambo" is unapologetically a film for those fans, and makes no attempt to appeal to younger viewers with slickness or watered-down brutality. Like the character, it may not be pretty, but it does the job it was meant for.
THE GRADE: B
A four-course meal for those with strong stomachs.
Nicholas Larson is a Reporter staff writer
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