Release Date: May 27, 2008 Director: Sylvester Stallone Screenwriter: Sylvester Stallone Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden, Graham
McTavish, Rey Gallegos, Jake LaBotz, Tim Kang, Paul Schulze Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
Review: If you've been wondering what ever happened to
ex–Green Beret superwarrior John Rambo since he singlehandedly shot up a Pacific
Northwest town (First Blood, 1982), returned to the jungles of 'Nam to
free U.S. POWs held long after war's end (Rambo: First Blood Part II,
1985), and interrupted the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan long enough to blow
lots of stuff up and rescue his old commandant from the Reds (Rambo III,
1988), then Rambo (2008) is for you. Without so much as a IV to
dilute the brand name, Rambo--which is what most of us called the second,
most iconic film in the series--may aspire to open a new era for a pop legend.
But it's a thoroughly mechanical attempt to reanimate a franchise that, absent
the anger, frustration, and self-loathing of the post-Vietnam years, has no
meaning or purpose. For some time now Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) has been
putt-putting along the Thai-Burmese border in a longboat, catching exotic snakes
to sell. As for the 60-year civil war in Burma between the brutal government and
the Karen independence movement, he ignores it. Enter a party of American
missionaries whose dewy blond spokeswoman (Dexter's Julie Benz) asks
Rambo to haul them upriver so that they can bring medical aid to the insurgents.
After the requisite number of monosyllabic refusals, he does. Soon afterward the
do-gooders are in a world of hurt, and he's summoned to lead a squad of
mercenaries on a rescue mission...more
Extras: Commentary by
Stallone, six featurettes, digital copy of the feature.
In single-disc and two-disc
special edition with extras.
Movie Spotlight
Rambo Release Date: January 25, 2008 Studio: Lionsgate Director: Sylvester Stallone Screenwriter: Sylvester Stallone Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden, Graham
McTavish, Rey Gallegos, Jake LaBotz, Tim Kang, Paul Schulze Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller MPAA Rating: R (for strong graphic bloody violence, sexual assaults,
grisly images and language) Official Website: Not Yet Available
Plot Summary: Rambo is back! It is now twenty years after the last film
in the series, and John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) has retreated to northern
Thailand, where he's running a longboat on the Salween River. On the nearby
Thai-Burma (Myanmar) border, the world's longest-running civil war, the
Burmese-Karen conflict, rages into its 60th year. But Rambo, who lives a
solitary, simple life in the mountains and jungles fishing and catching
poisonous snakes to sell, has long given up fighting, even as medics,
mercenaries, rebels and peace workers pass by on their way to the war-torn
region.
That all changes when a group of human rights missionaries search out the
"American river guide" John Rambo. When Sarah (Julie Benz) and Michael Bennett
(Paul Schulze) approach him, they explain that since last year's trek to the
refugee camps, the Burmese military has laid landmines along the road, making it
too dangerous for overland travel. They ask Rambo to guide them up the Salween
and drop them off, so they can deliver medical supplies and food to the Karen
tribe. After initially refusing to cross into Burma, Rambo takes them, dropping
off Sarah, Michael and the aid workers...
Less than two weeks later, pastor Arthur Marsh (Ken Howard) finds Rambo and
tells him the aid workers did not return and the embassies have not helped
locate them. He tells Rambo he's mortgaged his home and raised money from his
congregation to hire mercenaries to get the missionaries, who are being held
captive by the Burmese army. Although the United States military trained him to
be a lethal super soldier in Vietnam, decades later Rambo's reluctance for
violence and conflict are palpable, his scars faded, yet visible. However, the
lone warrior knows what he must do...
EN 5 Second Review:
We have been waiting about 18 years for this one, its
like the original Rambo, only bigger and badder,
amazingly, 180 year old Stallone still has it.
Stallone
is back. Rambo is back. It even ends with a nice
bookend to First Blood. Fred Topel: Can Magazine
You might pick apart some of the plot or some of the
mercenary dialogue, but that's not the point. The
point is to give Rambo fans the ultimate Rambo movie...more
Dance
with the one who brung you, as the saying goes Bill Goodykoontz: Arizona Republic
Do the ends justify the means? Do they ever? Like everything
else in the film, it's overkill. Then again, it's Rambo.
What did you expect?...more
EN 5 Second Review:
We have been waiting about 18 years for this one, its
like the original Rambo, only bigger and badder,
amazingly, 180 year old Stallone still has it.
Dance
with the one who brung you, as the saying goes
