Movie Review: Rambo: Last Blood

Rambo: Last Blood * ½ / *****

Directed by: Adrian Grunberg.

Written by: Matthew Cirulnick and Sylvester Stallone based on characters created by David Morrell.

Starring: Sylvester Stallone (Rambo), Paz Vega (Carmen Delgado), Yvette Monreal (Gabrielle), Óscar Jaenada (Victor Martinez), Adriana Barraza (Maria Beltran), Sergio Peris-Mencheta (Hugo Martínez), Fenessa Pineda (Jezel), Marco de la O (Miguel).

 

They really should have left John Rambo alone after his last outing – 2008’s Rambo, which was the best film in the series next only to the original First Blood, and ended on kind of a perfect note. After perhaps the bloodiest shootout in the entire series – truly, it was Stallone (the director) trying to outdo The Wild Bunch - he didn’t succeed, but you have to give him credit for the sustained chaos he created, and because it lasted so long you were forced to deal with the violence in the way you normally don’t in these films – the film ended with Rambo returning home to the farm he left all those years ago – looking finally for some piece. 2008’s Rambo really was Stallone’s version of Eastwood’s Unforgiven – although, of course, because Stallone isn’t the artist Eastwood was, it played as a cartoon version of Eastwood masterpiece – but I gave Stallone credit for trying, and that film really does work – and is perhaps even underrated.

 

Now, 11 years later, we get Rambo: Last Blood (although, as the ending makes clear, perhaps Last doesn’t really mean last) – which is Rambo for the Trump era – in that it paints a portrait of Mexico that Trump would love, and ends with an extended sequence that is basically an ultra-violent Home Alone, in which Rambo kills perhaps dozens of Mexicans. I’m sure Stallone and company would argue that the film isn’t racist – that he has “good” Mexicans in the film as well – like the journalist played by Paz Vega (who I would point doesn’t actually do anything in the film) or Rambo’s beloved niece Gabrielle (Yvette Monreal) and her grandmother Maria (Adriana Barraza). But it’s hard to deny that the film is basically Stallone killing a lot of Mexicans criminals in grisly, gruesome fashion.  (Not to get sidetracked here, but I would love someone to explain this whole niece thing – as the film never does. If she is an actual niece, that would mean that she is the daughter of Rambo’s sister – who is dead – as we see Gabrielle’s no-good father in the film. But if that’s the case, then that would mean that the father is the son of Maria, who makes no reference to him being her son, and really, deeply, truly despises him. If she’s not an actual niece, then you would think that would be addressed in some way – and yet, it isn’t really. End rant).

 

The niece Gabrielle really is a poorly thought out, written and performed character. Her basic job in the film is to be the portrait of beauty and innocence, only so we can watch as she is defiled and debased for the majority of the runtime, to give Rambo the excuse he needs to kill everyone he clearly wants to kill. It’s horribly uncomfortable to watch her scenes in the film – as she really is a complete innocent – impossibly naïve about the real world for a teenager in 2019, and she suffers constantly despite the fact that her only sin is going to Mexico.

 

Basically what happens is that Gabrielle wants to find the father that abandoned her years ago, and hears from a friend in Mexico where he is now living. Against the wishes of Rambo and her grandmother, she goes anyway – and with the assistance of her “friend” is basically sold into sex slavery. Rambo gallantly tries to save her – but is too late. So, he decides to get his revenge – first by going back to Mexico, then luring the rest of the gang to his Arizona farm, where he has constructed a series of insane tunnels underground, that he’ll booby-trap to kill all these evil, evil men.

 

Rambo: Last Blood would be more offensive if it weren’t such a cartoon. This film clearly hasn’t been thought through very much, and was made quickly and cheaply by director Adrian Grunberg – who, it must be said, is able to keep the pace of the movie up, and able to disguise what was perhaps limited budget in the kills that are mainly in the dark. It’s not a movie where people have put a lot of thought into anything like plot or characters. Everything is just an excuse to let Stallone kill a lot of people.

 

What’s disappointing about the film is that Stallone seems to think this is a proper send off for his second most famous character. It has always struck me as odd that the good first film – about a Vietnam vet with PTSD who has not been able to fit in at home, and becomes a killer when pushed too far, essentially became a series in which Rambo was a superhero in the second and third installments (the latter of which is a film remember that Stallone helps what would become the Taliban). You would think that at Stallone’s age – and given what the two Creed films have done for his most famous creation – that Stallone may have wanted to do something similar with Rambo. To bring him into the real world, or at least treat the character with respect. Instead, Rambo: Last Blood plays like a cheapie exploitation film – the type of film a movie star makes when they have tax trouble (I haven’t heard that about Stallone). It’s impossible to really accuse Stallone of selling out (if he did that, it was decades ago) – but you would think he would have more respect for Rambo’s legacy then he clearly does.