Rambo: Last Blood

Rambo: Last Blood

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Yvette Monreal, Oscar Jaenada

Directed by Adrian Grunberg

The Story:
Now living a retired life on a farm in Arizona where he raises horses, John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) still suffers from PTSD from his time in Vietnam, but takes pills and relaxes by riding horses with his surrogate daughter Gabriela (Yvette Monreal), whose grandmother Maria (Adriana Barraza) was befriended by Rambo.  Gabriela tells John that she found her real father in Mexico and, despite John's warnings, goes down there and ends up getting drugged and thrown into a sex slave trade run by brothers Hugo (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) and Victor (Oscar Jaenada) Martinez.

Rambo easily tracks down the men, but is accosted by their gang and left for dead, until journalist Carmen Delgado (Paz Vega) saves him and tends to his wounds.  Rambo then turns to revenge as he sets out to kill the Martinez brothers - who knows where he lives after stealing his identification - and booby traps his home for their eventual arrival.

The Synopsis:
Very few actors in cinema has been able to not only have one iconic character tied to their name (such as Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins) but two.  One of those actors is Sylvester Stallone, who's best known for two polar opposite roles - that of spunky underdog Philadelphia boxer Rocky Balboa, and Vietnam War veteran John Rambo.  As Stallone gets older, he's begun to retire these famed, iconic Hollywood characters to varying degrees of success.  "Rocky Balboa" was a fitting end to the Italian Stallion's career (and subsequent supporting role in the "Creed" films only adds to his legacy), while "Rambo: Last Blood" was something akin to what seemingly should've been a direct-to-video outing instead of a nationwide theatrical release.  While the blood and gore are amped up and only serves as the enjoyable part of the film, overall it's a lackluster way to send out such an iconic character.

Rambo has taken down countless bad guys, leaders, and other villainous rogues who were actually intelligent and formidable, but now Rambo takes on a gang of meathead Mexican sex traffickers who has the combined intelligence of a newt.  After they kidnap his pseudo-daughter (she's not really his, but the granddaughter of a family friend, and considers her his own kin), Rambo turns up the heat and sets the stage for yet another blood-soaked vengeance fantasy that's reminiscent of the 1980s action blockbusters he's known for, but provides very little in the way of actual story of even characters you care about besides the titular war hero - in fact, if you took the name "Rambo" away, you'd think this was just another Sylvester Stallone action flick.

What makes this film the least bit enjoyable is the over-the-top blood and guts used, as Rambo slashes his way through Mexico (even decapitating a man and throwing his head out of his truck) before returning home and turning into Kevin McAllister as he booby traps his home (technically his underground labyrinth of mazes) for the eventual retaliation.  There's very little dialogue throughout the film that amounts to anything of importance, and many believe that the film unfairly labels all Mexicans as drug cartel leaders and sex slave operators, since Gabriela is literally sold into sexual slavery about an hour after entering the country.  Neither of those grievances really bothered me because I already knew what to expect - nothing more than blood and guts filling the screen.

When the Rube Goldberg traps begin slicing and dicing the unnamed bad guys, it almost makes it look comical.  Rambo doesn't really need to use a lot in the ways of intellect or even firepower to take these haphazardly written stereotypical drug cartel members down, and the only really great part is his one-on-one against the head honcho, as he finally uses his weapon du jour - the bow and arrow - and serves as a brooding, hulkish figure that's actually frightening (unfortunately he never dons his trademark bandana).

Stallone himself (despite co-writing the script) seems to not even care anymore, as he limps Rambo across the decades-long finish line with little more than a whimper, but at least he's enjoyable to see once he goes off the rails.  The remaining cast members exist purely to either die horribly or adhere to their stereotypes - Paz Vega is the Mexican journalist who lost her sister to the drug cartel but only serves to expunge exposition and isn't really heard from after; Sergio Peris-Mencheta and Oscar Jaenada play the generic drug cartel/sex slave dictator brothers who butt heads over how to handle the business; Adriana Barraza is your typical Spanish grandmother who's caring but also tough; Yvette Monreal is your generic soon-to-be college student who has the whole future ahead of her who chooses to defy the wisdom of her elders and go to Mexico alone to find her deadbeat dad so she could ask him why he left them (which turned out to be unintentionally comical), and of course gets kidnapped and sold into the sex trade.  Basically, the only purpose to breathe in this film is for Rambo to snuff you out.

The Summary:
Once an iconic action character, John Rambo has become a shell of himself, and while he still maintains his blood lust, his heart died years ago - and hopefully Stallone will hold to the film's title and let this be the Last Blood.

The Score: C+