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| Rambo (2008) Grade: D- by Phil Bowles |
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Action heros are not in short supply these days. Why Sylvester Stallone felt it necessary to go back and add a new chapter to the Rambo saga is beyond me. The need for a sequel to a trilogy about a strung-out, convicted murderer who served in Vietnam, which was originally made in the 1980s, ranks about as high on many lists as the need for a root canal.
The film leaves much to be desired. While there are quite a few laugh-out-loud moments, many of them unintentional, the action sequences are horribly predictable and unnecessarily violent. Now I know what you're thinking - "Phil, this is a movie about war! It's supposed to be violent!" That's where you're wrong though. This wasn't a movie about war, and that's where, for this reviewer, the movie completely fell apart. The movie seems to want to make a point, though we never clearly understand what that point may be. Is it trying to illustrate the harsh realities of genocide? Is it trying to show us that one man can make a difference? Whatever the point may be, it is lost in scenes filled with exploding heads, disemboweled corpses, and limbs that come off easier than Mr. Potato Head's. Stallone, for his part, plays the stoic, thousand-yard staring Rambo fairly well. This doesn't seem as though it would be difficult, given that he can probably move about three of his facial muscles because he's so overly-injected with steroids. Being that he is also the director, I have another chance to rail on him, and say that he should probably never be allowed behind a camera again. Mike Gilday put it best, when describing a conversation between lead actress Julie Benz and Stallone.
Benz - "What's my character thinking? What's my motivation?" I couldn't agree more with this. The movie played out like a stereotypical action film filled with cliches about the harshness of war, the "inner struggle" of the character to join the fight, and the search to save a damsel in distress. I'm going to go out of my way and recommend that not only should you avoid paying the 10 bucks to see this movie in the theater, avoid it when it comes out on DVD/Blu-Ray/Hi-Def/BetaMax, and even hesitate to watch it when it's on late night cable television. Maybe Stallone should just quit making bad movies and run for governor of a random state. It worked for Arnold, right?
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