★★
Rambo must confront his past and unearth his ruthless combat skills to exact revenge in a final mission.
Classification: 18
John Rambo isn't necessarily a revered cinematic character in the eyes of this critic but even the least informed fan of the famous war hero knows that his latest cinematic instalment does a disservice to everything that has come before. With a script obviously retooled from a failed Taken rip-off, Rambo: Last Blood is a miserable, upsetting affair that uses real-life horrors as an excuse for violent action rather than insightful storytelling. The franchise was revered for its epic action but also allowed the Rambo character to be a vehicle to portray PTSD, and examine the effects the Vietnam war had on its survivors. He was still an American power fantasy during the Reagan era but there was still an effort to have Stallone's hero be more than just a murderous brute. It only makes sense in the modern American age, the nostalgia of the character be perverted as Rambo becomes a proxy for violent, xenophobic rage and any nuance the character may have had is now lost in an unrecognisable character.
With Mexican cartels and sex trafficking taking centre stage in Rambo's latest conflict, it feels as though the film is taking notes from a certain politicians perspective of the Latin American country. It appeals to all the negative stereotypes with almost most every character and extra being a violent criminal or drug-addled prostitute, a country infested with drugs, guns and vile people. Rambo: Last Blood is an ugly film, filled with bad hombres and suffering, with no reprieve as the macho fantasy just leaves a foul taste in the mouth of the audience with every new development. The escalating action actually can cause one to laugh from the absurdity of the violence, the only reason that the film exists is to have Rambo hunt and murder as many Mexican cartel members as possible. It's the classic exploitation formula of using the suffering of others to inspire man pain and allow for senseless violence in the name of revenge. It's violence for violence's sake and goes against everything that Rambo represented.
Even though its always satisfying to see a sexual abuser's face being smashed in with a hammer, there's no real reason for it beyond just because. The film has impressive sound design and gore effects so you can really feel the bones break with every vicious strike but nothing about this violence is informative. Rambo: Last Blood isn't a bold look at the horrible world we live in but instead takes clichéd conceptions about these criminal activities and just uses them as an excuse for the threadbare plot and emotional manipulation towards the audience. Yvette Monreal as Rambo's "niece" Gabrielle catalyzes all this carnage when she is kidnapped into the cartel sex trade and is consistently raped, tortured and forcefully injected with heroin. Last Blood has its female characters by seen as tools for the men, either to offer exposition or to be exploited and doesn't want its vile imagery to represent violence against women but rather just be fuel for the fire. Gabrielle represents innocence and more importantly represents Rambo's "humanity", she's not a character with her own agency just a tool for the filmmakers to use for Rambo's bloodshed to be justified. It's the glorification of abuse and pain against victims, the nightmare Gabrielle endures is only shown so that when Rambo impales nameless criminals with pitchforks and blows their heads off with a sawed-off shotgun the audience will cheer because of the pain Rambo suffered because of her ordeal not her own.
If the title is to suggest that Rambo: Last Blood is supposed to be Stallone's swan song for the character then it is a pitiful and insulting conclusion. Especially when compared to the graceful handling of Stallone's other iconic cinematic hero Rocky Balboa, Rambo's end has his character appeal to the most degenerate of fantasises of endlessly butchering immigrant invaders on his All-American ranch. Rambo was a character whose war always was with him, an inescapable reality of violence and pain that haunted him but his return to the United States does not bring him the poignant conclusion audiences hoped for. Stallone is always fun to see on screen and the brutal kills have a fleeting flash of adrenaline but nothing truly stays with the audience. It's all hollow entertainment, stapling a generic story to an iconic IP that even seeing Rambo pull back the bowstring doesn't make the nostalgia cry out and sing. Last Blood is a Rambo film in name only as every aspect of it insults the legacy of the character.
Director: #AdrianGrunberg
Cast: #SylvesterStallone, #PazVega, #SergioPerisMencheta, #AdrianaBarraza, #YvetteMonreal, #GenieKim, #JoaquínCosío, #OscarJaenada
Release Date: September 19th 2019
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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