Movie Review

Rambo

This is the first Rambo movie I have seen in a theater, and the only one besides First Blood (the original) that I have actually seen. For the sake of this review it would probably be more ideal to have seen them all, but I’ll catch up on that soon. The violence in this movie is unrelenting, which may put off some people – but for action junkees who like their carnage raw, this is good stuff. I was surprised Stallone pulled off some of the scenes to the level he did, as the movie shows he has some craft. The action scenes are some of the best in recent times, and the movie has a nice usage of a commanding musical score. In a way the movie reminded me of Apocalypto in its savagery, and rather than looking at it in disbelief, it’s as if we’re open to cheer it on here (or perhaps part of that vibe could’ve been the pepped up midnight audience).

Rambo takes a little bit to get going, but once it does, it fires on all cylinders. I was ready to give this movie a solid B grade towards the end as the action was really impressive, but its resolution kind of ruined that for me. First I laughed when the last scene started – as did the audience, fully aware of the camp value – but when it was clear there was nothing else going on, I was disappointed it ended on such a cheesy note. It could be in the spirit of the Rambo movies; I don’t know. For me it kind of took it down a peg after reaching such an intense finale. But the movie still delivers. It can definitely be watched more than once, which is what Rambo should be there for. It does what you want it to do for the most part, which is pretty gratifying.

Lee's Grade: B-
Ranked #17 of 117 between The Strangers (#16) and Life Before...Eyes (#18) for 2008 movies.

A	0.4%
B	30.0%
C	61.7%
D	8.0%
F	0.0%