Cinema review: rambo

By Kay Harrison on February 21, 2008 12:24 PM |

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After the agony of watching Sylvester Stallone’s mid-life crisis played out in Rocky Balboa, expectations for a revisit to the Rambo series were low.

There is simply nothing endearing or believable about a 60-year-old going back to professional boxing or in this case taking on the Burmese militia.

With Rocky we got a film about an actor unable to cope with growing old gracefully, clumsily masking his midlife insecurities behind layers of cosmetic surgery.

So we might expect Rambo to continue in the same vein. We can all imagine the horror: an ageing Rambo sat atop a mountain somewhere in the Tibetan wastes imparting his world-weary battle
wisdom on unsuspecting Sherpas for three hours before a wheezy fight in the last 10 minutes.

It would be awful but it would not be unexpected.

What was completely unexpected was the entertaining, visually impressive and blissfully simple film Rambo is.

Stallone’s direction allows Rambo to be its own film rather than a horribly nostalgic look at earlier works. Aside from one dubious montage sequence, there aren’t the constant flashbacks that we got in Rocky.

The plot is only as complex as a film of this nature requires – Christian aid workers are being held captive by a murderous Burmese militia. Rambo must save them with the aid of some mercenaries and a very big knife. An action-packed and brutal extravaganza ensues.

The impressive array of effects, afforded by the film’s considerable budget, allows for legs to be blown from torsos, insides to become outsides and many other gut-churning mutilations.

Unlike a knowingly modern action film like Die Hard 4.0, Stallone has tried here to make an 80s-style film updated with modern effects.

The result is a shameless 90 minutes of beautifully choreographed action, amazing visuals and
no-nonsense masculine madness.

In cinemas across Docklands from Friday, February 22.

Review by Owen Williams