Julie Benz and Sylvester Stallone star in RAMBO(2008).
© Lionsgate
Mania Grade: B+
DVD: Rambo (Special Edition)
Rating: R
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden
Written By: Sylvester Stallone, Art Monterastelli
Directed By: Sylvester Stallone
Distributor: Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Original Year of Release: 2008
Extras: Audio Commentary by Stallone, Deleted Scenes, 6 featurettes
Buy it now!
DVD: Rambo (Special Edition)
Rating: R
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden
Written By: Sylvester Stallone, Art Monterastelli
Directed By: Sylvester Stallone
Distributor: Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Original Year of Release: 2008
Extras: Audio Commentary by Stallone, Deleted Scenes, 6 featurettes
Buy it now!
RAMBO (Special Edition)
By: Tim JansonReview Date: Monday, May 26, 2008
Sylvester Stallone returns to his iconic role as former Viet Nam Green Beret John Rambo in the series’ fourth installment. He is living in Thailand near the border to Burma (Myanmar). Rambo is hired by a group of American missionaries to take them into Burma on a humanitarian mission to deliver medicine and other aid to Karen refugees who have been targeted by the military for extermination. Rambo insists that unless they are bringing in weapons for the Karen rebels that they are not helping at all. Sarah (Julie Benz) finally convinces Rambo to take them.
Their peaceful mission quickly turns into a disaster when the village they go to is raided by the military and the missionaries are captured. Rambo joins forces with a group of mercenaries to rescue them before they are executed.
The plight of the Karen minority in Burma has been one that has largely been ignored by the world community. Aid workers have stated that this film has done far more to attract attention to the situation than any other previous effort. Many critics bashed the film for its exploitation of the dire circumstances. First, these critics did not do their homework and second, they did not have the benefit of seeing the special features that come on the DVD. Stallone and his crew visited some of these refugee camps and saw first hand the results of the Burmese military’s atrocities. Rambo is manipulative certainly. The villains are VERY sadistic but some Karen refugees who have escaped the country comment that the violence shown in the film is extremely realistic and perhaps even toned down to a degree.
And yes, this is a bloody, violent film, at times uncomfortably so because of its realism. The blood and gore makes horror films like Saw and Hostel seem like Disney films in comparison. The battle scenes are films in a similar jerky style to the D-Day sequence at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan. Bodies are blown to bits, literally. Heads and limbs are hacked off, people are burned to death by flame-throwers, and even women and children are not spared the carnage. This is not the super soldier Rambo of the 1980’s. Rambo harkens back to First Blood with its heavy political message in trying to alert the world to the on-going civil war in Burma.
Stallone, even at 61, still cuts an imposing figure on screen. He has perhaps less dialogue than in any previous Rambo film and is content to allow his co-stars to carry much of the film. Stallone plays the character as a man beaten down by his past and unwilling to come to grips with modern times. Benz was surprising. Known best perhaps for her roles as the vampire Darla in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel TV shows, Benz more than carries her own weight. Interestingly, the man who plays the leader of the Burmese army regiment was a real life Karen rebel who eventually escaped the country. He took the role knowing that his family members still in the country could be imprisoned.
In fact, the Myanmar government has banned the film and anyone caught selling the DVD faces a sentence of life in prison.
The one glaring weakness of Rambo is the short running time. This is the shortest film in the series. 91 minutes is ok for a straight up action film but there was more that could have been said…more of a message that could have been delivered to viewers. Fortunately the message is delivered in a strong set of extras. Ultimately, this film brings the character of Rambo full-circle and as enjoyable as this latest entry was, it’s time to give John Rambo an honorable discharge.
Extras
In addition to commentary by Stallone and 13 minutes of deleted scenes there are six featurettes with a total run time of about 65 minutes.
In “Resurrection of an Icon”, Stallone discusses the original plot for Rambo in which he would travel to Mexico to try and locate a missing woman. He ultimately decided it would be best to keep Rambo as a “lost man” still living in East Asia. The film was shot in Thailand not far from the Burma border.
“Legacy of Despair, the Real Life Struggle in Burma” features comments from several Burmese refugee and humanitarian aid workers who talk frankly about the real-life situation in the country and how the film has helped their efforts to raise money and other aid.
Other featurettes focus on the film’s music, editing, sound, weaponry, and reaction to the film. The film has been extremely popular with soldiers who have lauded the film for its brutal accuracy.
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