On a Hollywood level, I've enjoyed all of them. But of this foursome, you have 2&3 that were Good Cheezy Popcorn Action, and then you have 1&4 that have Soul and Spirit. I really admire Mr. Stallone for returning to the icon of Rambo the way he did. As an editor, to me, that dream sequence was perfect.
In this one, he shows us the basic brutality of war and military murder, and puts it under a brutal light. And John Rambo is not by choice a machine-gunning war monger; he, like most of us, just wants to be at peace.
Why isn't Mr. Stallone directing more films? Does he have to be in all of them, is that the deal? He really knows the craft. Anyway.
Some would say it is a gore-fest. Sure, as is "Saving Private Ryan". Face it, "Rambo"'s violent mess is a hell of a lot more true, I suspect, than a tank playing chicken with a helicopter gunship (First Blood 3).
If anything, it could have been longer. The mercenaries were well performed but inevitably one-dimensional.
This is a very different film from what you'd expect of the Rambo mythos, but if you like Rambo at all, you'll love it -- if you haven't seen it already.
-D
In this one, he shows us the basic brutality of war and military murder, and puts it under a brutal light. And John Rambo is not by choice a machine-gunning war monger; he, like most of us, just wants to be at peace.
Why isn't Mr. Stallone directing more films? Does he have to be in all of them, is that the deal? He really knows the craft. Anyway.
Some would say it is a gore-fest. Sure, as is "Saving Private Ryan". Face it, "Rambo"'s violent mess is a hell of a lot more true, I suspect, than a tank playing chicken with a helicopter gunship (First Blood 3).
If anything, it could have been longer. The mercenaries were well performed but inevitably one-dimensional.
This is a very different film from what you'd expect of the Rambo mythos, but if you like Rambo at all, you'll love it -- if you haven't seen it already.
-D