Rambo: Last Blood Review

John Rambo has had an erratic cinematic career. He has gone from a shunned Vietnam veteran, a badass who single-handedly fought the Cold War, and becoming a reluctant saviour. His fifth film sees Rambo go on a dark and personal quest.

Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) has seemingly found peace. For ten years he has lived on a ranch in Arizona with Maria (Adriana Barraza) and Gabrielle (Yvette Monreal). He has raised Gabrielle as if she was his own daughter. But Gabrielle wants to go down to Mexico to find and speak to her birth father, leading her to be taken by a Mexican gang. Rambo has to go to Mexico and return to his violent ways.

The Rambo series has wildly swung in tone and political messaging. First Blood was a serious film about the treatment of soldiers and PTSD, the second two were Reagan fantasies, and 2008’s Rambo was a full-blown war where the Rambo takes on the Burmese military. Rambo: Last Blood was a revenge film.

Rambo: Last Blood wanted to mirror First Blood. The most obvious was the titles for both films. Last Blood was the first film since First Blood to be set in America and Rambo acted more guerrilla fighter than a one-man wrecking ball. Both were dark films that pushes Rambo to a low ebb.

Rambo: Last Blood was a bleak film. It was bound to be because Gabrielle gets kidnapped and forced into sex slavery. But it surprising how dark the film goes. This was a double edge sword – it showed that filmmakers had balls to go in such a direction, but it makes Rambo: Last Blood a joyless experience.

This entry ends up being a nihilistic film. Rambo has suffered throughout his adult life – he has been to war, been betrayed by his government, and the only thing he was good at was killing people. He has seen humanity at its worst which leads him having a pessimistic worldwide view. It’s a cruel world that chews up and spits out good people. Rambo is a character who’s not allowed to have a crumb of happiness.

The basic plot of Rambo: Last Blood is Taken. Rambo could have done the Liam Neeson speech. Due to the plot similarities to Taken, Rambo: Last Blood was more like a thriller than an action film. The only action scene in Mexico was when Rambo raids a brothel. The Rambo style action we all know and love only happens in the final third. In this fifth entry Rambo was using the tactics of the Vietcong – he had dug up tunnels under his ranch and set up booby traps. Although it leads to the question why did Rambo dig tunnels under his ranch in the first place?

This action sequence was incredibly gory. Spikes go through people and heads get carved up. 2008’s Rambo when for gritty realism – Rambo: Last Blood was more like a horror film.

A major feature of the Rambo series has been its politics. Stallone injected the jingoistic politics in the sequels. When the film goes into Mexico it plays like how Trump envisions the country – that it’s a crime-infested hellhole where young women are drugged and kidnapped. These things do happen, but they are extremely rare and the film did leave a nasty aftertaste.

Stallone can give a great performance and he did have some moments in the sequel. Rambo’s early speech to Gabrielle when he says how nasty the world is and when he suffers a tragedy it was appropriately poignant.

When Rambo: Last Blood finally unleashed all its action it was cathartic fun. But compared to other Rambo films it was a slow and depressing experience.