Welcome guys to the latest catch up review of a 2019 release specifically one of the many franchise movies last year that serves as some sort of finale to a series. Yeah there were quite a few of those last year what with Avengers Endgame wrapping up the Infinity Saga, Toy Story 4 providing another satisfying endpoint to the series, Star Wars the Rise of Skywalker supposedly closing out the Skywalker Saga and an arguable number of others. Yet today we will be looking at one of the ones that just kind of came and went in terms of buzz, which is pretty surprising given how big the franchise was back in it’s day. I am of course talking about Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo series which began all the way back in 1982 with First Blood and has seemingly come to a close with the release of Last Blood. Now I had not seen any of these movies prior to Last Blood’s theatrical debut so I am something of a newcomer to the franchise as during the Quarantine I was actually able to catch up on these movies and have now seen all of them and will actually be doing a ranking of them soon. But for this post I will talking about Last Blood and as someone who actually enjoyed the other movies to varying degrees how did I feel about this one? Well while I do think that some reviews may have been a bit too harsh I still was pretty disappointed in the movie as a whole. So let’s jump right in and figure out why John Rambo’s swan song didn’t completely do it for me (also just want to mention that I actually watched the extended cut of this movie which has 12 more minutes of footage).
More than a decade has passed since the events that transpired in Burma in the fourth installment, as Vietnam War veteran, John Rambo, has settled down at his father’s horse ranch in Arizona. He lives with an old friend, Maria Beltran, and her granddaughter Gabriela and while he can’t forget about past traumas he still is able to find some peace with his living, and him acting as something of a surrogate father to Gabriela. One day though Gabriella finds out from a former friend that her biological father is living in Mexico and she is desperate for answers as to why he left her, and her family. She asks if she could go to Mexico to find out but Rambo, and Maria tell her not to. So she decides to secretly drive over there for herself. She doesn’t come back the next day as she gets captured by a drug cartel that deals in trafficking sex slaves which leads Rambo off to Mexico on a bloody search for vengeance against the people who took her.
If the basic plot sounds like riff on Taken but with John Rambo well that’s because it pretty much is. In fact this really does feel less like a Rambo movie and more like a generic revenge thriller that just so happens to have Sylvester Stallone playing one of, if not his most iconic role. Now in terms of the positives well I actually did legitimately like the character driven first act where we see Rambo settling down and enjoying his peaceful life and it’s quite poignant as we see his relationships with this newfound family he’s made. It is also during these parts where we get some solid emotional beats that work in help furthering Rambo as a character (there’s one effective scene where he bluntly states he’d wish his family would’ve stopped him from enlisting in the army when he was younger) and it’s a promising start to the feature. But then once the main conflict ensues it just devolves into standard shlocky grindhouse fare that just goes through the proverbial motions. It just doesn’t quite justify itself as an installment in this franchise as it neither feels like a true Rambo movie and it feels like it somewhat regresses Rambo’s character a bit. The 2008 Rambo sequel was a somber, and downright cynical action picture that actually showed the violence caused by him as a tragic inevitability and all irrelevant in the end. It felt like it wanted us to root against that very violence and it worked as an appropriate bookend to Rambo’s character arc. This one on the other hand didn’t work really well as a finale and just felt like such a sour note for this series to end on in my opinion. Also the movie has gotten more than a little flack for how it portrays Mexicans, and some problematic elements regarding the basic plotline and while I can see why people would find it problematic (the scenes involving the girls being physically abused by their captors is a bit too much and felt a little gratuitous) I wouldn’t really call the movie itself some big political screed or as offensive as some made it out to be. Still though even if I don’t think it’s as bad as some critics made it out to be doesn’t mean I can’t help but feel disappointed in this finale which fails to stand out all that much compared to others of it’s type.
That being said though for those who just want to see Rambo kill a bunch of dudes in creatively gory ways then you will get your moneys worth here. There is plenty of gruesome carnage that goes down throughout the movie and it is over the top, and gory as all heck (though I wouldn’t say quite as carnage filled as the last one) and I will give director, Adrien Grunberg, that he does okay job with some of the big set pieces the most notable of course being the climactic showdown at Rambo’s house in which he goes full on “Home Alone” but with even more violent contraptions at his disposal (by the way I would recommend not watching any trailers if you haven’t and want to see this, because they give away quite a bit). There’s also an opening action sequence (which is in the extended cut) which concerns Rambo trying to save some hikers from an incoming flood and I think it actually does improve the movie slightly as it emphasizes the tragic nature of Rambo’s character in which even when he tries to save people there’s always death at the same time (even though I still prefer how the 2008 one handled that as a whole). As for the acting well it’s solid around. I’ve always been a big fan of Stallone and have felt some of his performances aren’t as appreciated as much I feel they should. He does a good job once again here bringing a sense of tragedy to the character and elevating the material he’s given and some of the best parts of the movie come from his conversations with Yvette Montreal (who does a decent job) as Gabriella which are touching even if some of the dialogue in these scenes can be a little clunky although I do wish there was a bit more time spent fleshing out his relationship with Maria (Adriana Barraza). Meanwhile Sergio Peris-Mencheta, and Oscar Jaenada play the Martinez brothers, the villains of the feature, and their pretty standard drug cartel baddies with nothing particularly memorable about them save for how Rambo (“spoilers” I guess) eventually does away with them in appropriately gory fashion, and Paz Vega is underutilized as this journalist, Carmen Delgado, who gives Rambo information concerning the Martinez brothers. Still everyone does do a fine enough job with their given at the very least.
As a Stallone doing Taken like revenge thriller Rambo Last Blood serviceable enough, but as a Rambo movie this finale doesn’t do much to justify itself. While I don’t think it’s awful like some made it out to be as the beginning is actually promising with some solid character moments, there are some fun action beats that deliver for those in the mood for gory fun, and it’s mostly well acted all around it still suffers from a premise that is executed in a workmanlike fashion, characters who could’ve benefitted from more screen time, and it’s regression of Rambo’s character arc, and what the last one had to say. It’s unfortunately my least favorite of the whole series and it just didn’t really provide an effective closure to the character. Again for those looking for violent fun this is well fulfill that demand, but for those who wanted a more satisfying Rambo finale, you’d best be off checking out the 2008 one. Anyway though if your curious to hear my thoughts on the other movies, well I’ll ranking them very soon so as always be on the look out for that.
Rating: C
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