Reviewed By: Erin Cullin

Rating: 7/10

Last year, when I was researching production notes and press interviews to prepare a review of “Rocky Balboa”, I came across a slightly disturbing article that Sylvester Stallone was in the midst of production for “Rambo” - yet another sequel to the tired and weathered “First Blood” film series. I thought that I was hallucinating. Apparently, I was not.

This week, the object of my hallucination finally found its way to theaters. And, much like a passerby staring at a car accident, I simply could not look away.

Twenty years after John Rambo (Stallone) battled the Soviets alongside the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, he resurfaces in Thailand. Far from his battle-weary past, he has carved out a simple existence for himself, capturing cobras for local snake charmers and operating a water taxi on the river into neighboring Burma. After reluctantly agreeing to take a group of American missionaries to a remote village, Rambo finds himself drawn into the fray once again when the group is captured by a brutal Burmese warlord and his army.

It will come as no surprise to most that I went into this film with the lowest expectations. Although I have seen more of his films than I care to admit, I am not a member of the Sylvester Stallone fan club. To me, this was yet another attempt by him to breathe life into a long-dead film corpse.

Rambo is, unapologetically, an action film and, as such, it carries with it all of the typical action film baggage. The neanderthal dialogue, the implausible one-man-against-one-hundred battle scenes, the gory, gratuitous violence - they are all there. And yet, even in the face of all of these things that I deplore, I feel compelled to admit that Rambo was actually not a bad film.

Viewed purely as an action film, Rambo is a respectable addition to its genre. In the character of John Rambo, Stallone has created an action-film icon, and this film does nothing to tarnish that image. Stallone does not overplay the role, and looks surprisingly good for a fossil (it must be those testosterone injections that he has been raving about in his recent press interviews). The action sequences are outlandish, but are well-choreographed and technically realistic. The story unfolds at a reasonable pace, and manages to retain the attention of the audience.

Rambo is a film for a limited audience - that is, fans of the action film genre. If you do not enjoy watching things explode on-screen, this is not the film for you. If you are looking for a film with an intricate plot and memorable dialogue - this is not the film for you. If you are hoping to watch Sylvester Stallone return to the brief moment in the sun that he enjoyed with his star-making turn in Rocky - well, you get the point.

But, for those of you who appreciate action films and would enjoy nothing more than a couple of hours of bombastic, thought-free cinema, then Rambo is a film that is certain to, “blow you away”.