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almost 2 years ago

Rambo: Last Blood

a review by GenerationofSwine

So I'm going ahead and giving this 10 out of 10 stars, not because I think it deserves it, but because there is a 1 star review entitled "White Supremacy is Cancer" and that seems to be the concept of a LOT of negative reviews.

However, I have actually seen it and I can 100% guarantee that it has NOTHING to do with the content of those reviews. None of that is mentioned or implied.

HOWEVER, there are negative reviews that ultimately say that this is NOT a Rambo film... and that is fair. If you compare it to Rambo First Blood Part II, III, and Rambo the 1 star reviews make sense. It is not at all like 2-4... so if you are expecting a Rambo like the sequels you're probably not going to like it... but you are probably not going to like it for entirely fair reasons.

I won't fault you for that negative review.

It's a lot more like the first film. More like Rambo First Blood... only instead of the military it's a drug cartel and instead of chasing Rambo he's... kind of... chasing them.... kind of... for revenge.

Like all the other Rambo movies, it's formulaic. Once more we start off with Rambo trying to get out of the business, and this time he has gotten out and been adopted as an "Uncle" by a Latino family.

And to follow the formula, like in the Godfather, he gets pulled back in. This time the daughter of said Latino family leaves to track down her family, goes to cartel occupied Mexico, and gets promptly kidnapped, sending Rambo on a blood crazed path to get her back and deliver vengeance on the cartels.

Unlike the sequels, however, it's a little more of a slow burner. It takes a little more time to set up the characters, it takes a little more time to set up the plot and the relationships, and (shockingly given that in most of the Rambo films the enemy is almost faceless he's so under-developed) it actually takes a little time to set up the heavy as well.

And in the end there is a lot of killing, a lot of elderly action, and ultimately a lot of fun... but what there is not a lot of is political messaging... because, at it's heart, it's just another action movie.

Which leads me to the third type of negative review... the reviews critical of it being an action movie... those I don't understand... It's a Rambo movie, you know exactly what it is... and action movie... so what kind of film did they think they were going to see?