Rambo (18.)
Directed by Sylvester Stallone.
Starring Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Paul Schulze, Graham McTavish, Matthew Marsden, Tim Kang. 91 mins
Forget Ashes to Ashes, this is the real 80’s nostalgia. After his soppy but majestic Rocky Balboa, Stallone resurrecting his Reaganite Crypto-Fascist American Imperialistic wish fulfilment character had almost seemed like a good idea but the result is a pure 80’s action movie experience – hateful, simplistic, rudimentary, thuggish and just unimaginably violent.
No really, it IS more violent than you can imagine. Flesh is torn asunder, limbs are crushed or snapped and heads blown apart with no exceptions made for women and children. The sullen glee with which this is shot is sickening. It’s almost impressive that after more than three decades as a pampered Hollywood superstar, Stallone has been able to summon up such a degree of adolescent nihilism.
For his Rambo farewell Stallone has fused the small scale of First Blood, with the three figure body counts of Rambo: First Blood II and Rambo III. (By my count this is Rambo III: First Blood IV. This was originally to be called John Rambo. The change means there are now two films with fundamentally the same title.) After winning the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan, this time he takes on the military junta in Burma.
The film opens with Rambo in Thailand doing what any aging ex-soldier would be doing living in Thailand – catching dangerous snakes for a living, obviously. His life is disrupted when some wishy washy Christian do-gooders (the film’s view, not mine) persuade him to take them down the river into Burma. Of course, they soon all end up in need of rescue.
Now, in theory, who wouldn’t want to see a film where some Burmese military types suffered some retributive Rambo head smashing? But Stallone just gives us generic sneering cruel villains that are as current affairs relevant as Imperial Stormtroopers, so there’s no fun in their comeuppance.
There's nobody to cheer for. We get two-dimensional baddies but no goodies. Everybody is just fodder. Previous Rambo films were simplistic one sided jingoistic affairs but this is no-sided; everybody and every principle is debased by it. It’s like a propaganda film that doesn’t believe in anything.
Directed by Sylvester Stallone.
Starring Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Paul Schulze, Graham McTavish, Matthew Marsden, Tim Kang. 91 mins
Forget Ashes to Ashes, this is the real 80’s nostalgia. After his soppy but majestic Rocky Balboa, Stallone resurrecting his Reaganite Crypto-Fascist American Imperialistic wish fulfilment character had almost seemed like a good idea but the result is a pure 80’s action movie experience – hateful, simplistic, rudimentary, thuggish and just unimaginably violent.
No really, it IS more violent than you can imagine. Flesh is torn asunder, limbs are crushed or snapped and heads blown apart with no exceptions made for women and children. The sullen glee with which this is shot is sickening. It’s almost impressive that after more than three decades as a pampered Hollywood superstar, Stallone has been able to summon up such a degree of adolescent nihilism.
For his Rambo farewell Stallone has fused the small scale of First Blood, with the three figure body counts of Rambo: First Blood II and Rambo III. (By my count this is Rambo III: First Blood IV. This was originally to be called John Rambo. The change means there are now two films with fundamentally the same title.) After winning the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan, this time he takes on the military junta in Burma.
The film opens with Rambo in Thailand doing what any aging ex-soldier would be doing living in Thailand – catching dangerous snakes for a living, obviously. His life is disrupted when some wishy washy Christian do-gooders (the film’s view, not mine) persuade him to take them down the river into Burma. Of course, they soon all end up in need of rescue.
Now, in theory, who wouldn’t want to see a film where some Burmese military types suffered some retributive Rambo head smashing? But Stallone just gives us generic sneering cruel villains that are as current affairs relevant as Imperial Stormtroopers, so there’s no fun in their comeuppance.
There's nobody to cheer for. We get two-dimensional baddies but no goodies. Everybody is just fodder. Previous Rambo films were simplistic one sided jingoistic affairs but this is no-sided; everybody and every principle is debased by it. It’s like a propaganda film that doesn’t believe in anything.
