The Synopsis:
Rambo must confront his past and unearth his ruthless combat skills to exact revenge in a final mission.
The Review:
Rambo’s getting a bit older. He spends time on his property, riding horses, working in the tunnels he’s made and forging a letter opener as a gift. It’s for a young woman, like family, who’s going off to college soon. Things change when she goes searching for her biological father in Mexico. While there, she’s kidnapped and forced to be a sex slave. Rambo figures out that something’s happened and goes full Rambo-mode.
Rambo commits a slew of atrocities we’re expected to celebrate. And by the end of the flick, he seems like he’d be buddies with horror villains more than Rocky Balboa. He’s no anti-hero or villain-as-protagonist. He’s a monster fighting other monsters. And are we supposed to adore him?
There are glimmers of emotional heart in the movie, and the actors do an okay job with what’s provided, but is the film really about emotional subtlety?
The movie’s brutal yet sidesteps deeper moral questions. It seems to promote Rambo’s revenge and acts like it’s taking some bold, moral high ground. It’s like a stale slash-and-torture flick without suspense; it’s got action with few thrills, shortchanging its dramatic potential. It has good performances and effects that are wasted by the movie they’re in. And it’s got an abundance of boring, graphic gore.
Rambo: Last Blood is not Dove-Approved.
