11 years have passed
since what happened in the last film, “Rambo.” Rambo has left Burma and has
come back to his father’s ranch in Arizona. He has found a family somewhat in
the ranch’s caretaker Maria Beltran (Adriana Barraza) and her granddaughter Gabrielle
(Yvette Monreal), a young girl about to leave for college. Before leaving for
becoming somebody, Gabrielle wants to visit her estranged father, played by
Rick Zingale, in Mexico but Rambo warns her not to go. Like any other teenager
who wants answers, she doesn’t listen and goes to Mexico, only to be kidnapped
and sold to a Mexican flesh trade cartel. Rambo drives to Mexico when he hears
the news. He’s beaten up and left for dead. A freelance journalist Carmen
Delgado, played by the hot Paz Vega, helps him out. He goes back, rescues Gabrielle
but it’s too late. She dies on the drive home because of a drug overdose. Now,
Rambo is out for revenge and will go to extreme measures to get the job done.
Devesh Sharma said in
his review, “Given the storyline, there would be obvious parallels to Taken. A
lone fighter seeking revenge -- there isn't exactly anything new in the plot.”
What’s new is that for the first time since the second movie, someone has tried
to humanize Rambo. He comes back to his family home, and becomes somewhat of a
family man, putting his war veteran self behind him. He does create an
underground tunnel around his farmhouse for defense and forges guns and knives.
Sharma is right when he states, “But as they say, old habits die hard. While
his blood lust may have been subdued, it's not completely gone. Rambo V can be
said to be the goriest Rambo film ever. The bad guys die in ways which will put
the Saw franchise to shame.” The last act is just complete chaos. To praise
Stallone, who is 73-years-old, he still looks good at performing just intense
violence to the villains. While the previous films the action was complete skill,
here is really upfront and shocking. Too many people get killed in so many ways
and after a while, you can’t really keep up with the count.
Sharma credited, “Revenge
drama aside, Rambo V is also a cowboy movie at heart. The Arizona imagery, what
with blue skies merging with acres of green grass, a man and a horse trotting
along in each other's company, lost in silent contemplation and a very Ennio
Morricone like score blaring in the background -- it seems like another film in
some patches. And the end too -- where a wounded Rambo gallops away into the
horizon -- brings back memories of Westerns of yore.” The title is “Last Blood,”
but will John Rambo’s lonesome self ever settle down?
The film starts off
slow, but does eventually pick up. I like that Stallone brought this back to
the first one, where he was making it humanizing and emotional, where you feel
everything that happens here. Like I had stated before, the last film was very
violent and warlike, but the violence in this film takes it to a whole new
level in ways that you never imagined. In all honesty, I sincerely think that
this is the best of the sequels. Critics seem to really thrash this, but
audiences are praising this. Check it out if you’re a fan of the “Rambo”
franchise, like I am. Even though this is said to be the last, I don’t know how
true that will be. It was in talks for years, but then Stallone said he was
retiring the character, and then he announced that the film was being made last
year. Everyone must have thought that a fifth movie was inevitable, and we got
what we thought.
Thank you for joining
in on today’s review, look out Monday for the continuation of “Halloween Month.”
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