No this is not a remake. Stallone reprises his role as John Rambo, who has become reclusive in the jungles near Burma. He is called into action because of the kidnapping of Christian missionaries by a genocidal group of paramilitary personnel in Burma.
This latest Rambo movie was just such an enjoyable guilty pleasure. I plan to see it one more time before it leaves the big screen. It is far more violent than any of the previous Rambo films. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say that this latest installment of Rambo is so bloody that it makes Rambo I, II, and III look like PG rated movies.
The movie simply takes belligerence to a whole new level, almost to a pornographic excess, which in my mind is a good thing. Utilizing big weaponry - from Rambo wielding a wicked homemade machete, to Rambo using a mounted .50 cal machine gun, to Rambo’s mercenary associate using the Barrett M109 .50 cal sniper rifle - you see heads explode, arms sliced clean as bread, torsos cleaved in half, entrails spilling from an adversary’s abdomen, and blood spattered everywhere.
The movie’s plot is fairly simplistic, and the dramatic development is almost nonexistent compared to “First Blood”, but you go to a Rambo film not with the intention of seeing a first rate Oscar worthy drama, but instead you go into such a film to see well choreographed shootouts, and in this sense, the latest Rambo delivers in spades. It is simply one of the best action films of the past two years. I rarely find action films moving anymore, but Stallone’ latest foray as the long haired disgruntled Vietnam vet, made me hate the antagonists of the film so much, that I had to stop myself from jumping out of my seat every time Rambo or his sniper wielding friend tore a man’s body to pieces. This fourth Rambo is pure catharsis, plain and simple.
My only complaint with the film is that I believe for political correctness, they did not set the film in a Middle Eastern context, which in my mind would be more relevant to our times. According to Stallone, from interviews I have heard, he placed it in Burma to bring awareness to a bloody civil war in that country that the West has ignored for the past 60 years. Though I grant that this is possibly the reason why it is not shot in a post 9/11 context, with Islamic terrorists being the bad guys, I have an inkling that protecting people’s religious “sensitivities” has something to do with it.
Outside of that minor problem, the movie is superb. Rambo IV is a film for anyone who loves action.