Rambo (2008)

In Thailand, John Rambo joins a group of mercenaries to venture into war-torn Burma, and rescue a group of Christian aid workers who were kidnapped by the ruthless local infantry unit.

Director:

Sylvester Stallone

Writers:

Art Monterastelli, Sylvester Stallone,

Stars:

Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sylvester Stallone	...	John Rambo
Julie Benz	...	Sarah
Matthew Marsden	...	School Boy
Graham McTavish	...	Lewis
Reynaldo Gallegos	...	Diaz (as Rey Gallegos)
Jake La Botz	...	Reese
Tim Kang	...	En-Joo
Maung Maung Khin	...	Tint
Paul Schulze	...	Michael Burnett
Cameron Pearson	...	Missionary #4 (Jeff)
Thomas Peterson	...	Missionary #2 (Dentist)
Tony Skarberg	...	Missionary #3 (Videographer)
James With	...	Missionary #5 (Preacher) (as James Wearing Smith)
Kasikorn Niyompattana	...	Snake Hunter #2
Shaliew 'Lek' Bamrungbun	...	Snake Hunter #1

Storyline

Vietnam veteran John Rambo has survived many harrowing ordeals in his lifetime and has since withdrawn into a simple and secluded existence in Thailand, where he spends his time capturing snakes for local entertainers, and chauffeuring locals in his old PT boat. Even though he is looking to avoid trouble, trouble has a way of finding him: a group of Christian human rights missionaries, led by Michael Burnett and Sarah Miller, approach Rambo with the desire to rent his boat to travel up the river to Burma. For over fifty years, Burma has been a war zone. The Karen people of the region, who consist of peasants and farmers, have endured brutally oppressive rule from the murderous Burmese military and have been struggling for survival every single day. After some inner contemplation, Rambo accepts the offer and takes Michael, Sarah, and the rest of the missionaries up the river. When the missionaries finally arrive at the Karen village, they find themselves part of a raid by the sadistic ...

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Plot Keywords:

rambo | missionary | burma | boat | mercenary | 

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Taglines:

Heroes never die.... They just reload.

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Genres:

Action | Thriller | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong graphic bloody violence, sexual assaults, grisly images and language

Details

Official Sites:

Metropolitan Films [fr] MySpace page

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English Burmese Thai

Release Date:

25 January 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

John Rambo

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,247,195 (UK) (22 February 2008)

Gross:

$42,724,402 (USA) (21 March 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lionsgate, Weinstein Company, The, Millennium Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min 99 min (extended)

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rambo was banned in Myanmar (formally Burma), and bootlegs are a hot item. Burmese Freedom Fighters have even adopted dialogue from the movie as battle cries, most notably "Live for nothing, or die for something." Sylvester Stallone said "That, to me, is one of the proudest moments I've ever had in film."

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Goofs

In the beginning map scene, CALCUTTA is clearly spelled CALCUTA, indicating that the map was prepared in a foreign language such as Spanish.

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Quotes

Burnett: [to Rambo] I have to report this. I know you think what you did was right, but taking a life is never right.

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Crazy Credits

Salad and Fruit Hand - Buakai Boonsri

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Connections

Referenced in The Angry Video Game Nerd: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2007)

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Soundtracks

"The Wishing Well"
Written and Performed by Jake La Botz
Published by Bug Music o/b/o Under the Well Music (BMI)

User Reviews

tag line says all, the year's first great action movie.

A straight action film only Stallone could deliver. Nobody else could direct such an uncompromising pursuit of battle. The battle sequences of this movie are glorious and violent in a way that is special, a new extreme level of tension was achieved in my opinion and I don't say this in blind excitement.

This movie delivers a movie-high that is not often attempted. Movies usually hold back or simply fail at achieving visceral action and instead try to balance themselves between action, plot, drama, comedy, etc, and in many cases in modern films this only lowers the quality of the experience. The downfall of Rambo you could say is its small concern for character drama, indeed the scenes looking at the female lead and the mercenary group are pretty poorly acted (though this allows the scenes to focus on Stallone's disregard for their antics, it can get annoying to sit through).

The mercenary group's character were so over the top in acting however it came off like farce to me which was actually really entertaining, seeing their macho lines fall dead in the air, Stallone giving them no respect.

The battles were glorious even if the film has flaws, but it focuses on the battle as it should, and achieves glorious cinematic victory. Great experience.