The Pitch: 20 years following the events of Rambo III, John Rambo once again picks up a huge gun and this time tackles the political crisis in Burma. Colonel Trautman is nowhere to be seen (actor Richard Crenna passed away in 2003), and Stallone is now a whopping 60 years old (as well as, for the first time in the series, taking up directorial duties himself). The Result: Though some might argue that the Rambo series benefited from a break given that the only particularly decent one out of the first three was the original, a major issue with 2008's Rambo is that, due to Stallone's age, he's confined to standing behind a giant artillery gun for the final set-piece rather than actually moving around much. Given the movie's gritty nature, it would seem patently ridiculous if stunt doubles were used to make Rambo fly around and run like a man half his age, yet this just makes us think the movie should have been made at least a decade earlier. The lack of a Trautman cameo is also a shame given how much he meant to the series, and though the movie delivers a gratuitously, almost hilariously violent finale, it still felt like too little, too late. It's still the best of the Rambo sequels by far, and was a financial success, but it was the lowest-grossing movie of the franchise, which when considering almost three decades of inflation since First Blood, is rather embarrassing.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
