RAMBO: LAST BLOOD Review: From First To The Last Drop!
So there I am, seven years old running around my house, with a red Bandana using the broom as a rifle, playing First Blood on VHS and yelling to my parents “I didn’t do anything” in Sylvester Stallone’s Fashion, as my love for action movies grew more and more. Now, 37 years after the original First Blood came out and Sylvester Stallone hitting 73 years of age Rambo: Last Blood hits theaters like its 1982, and I am sitting there with my popcorn feeling I am no older than 8.
Even if my emotional connection to action movies is huge, and my opinion could be biased, I will always evaluate films with the following spectrum, objective and emotional. Honesty lies somewhere in between the two. So lets get this started.
Objectively speaking, Rambo: Last Blood has too much of a simple story for it to be considered a good Rambo film. A simple kidnapping of his adopted niece, with a backstory vaguely mentioned that in my opinion would’ve been a better premise for the movie. Instead of exploring the characters a bit more, It feels like if we are rushing to the climax without much of a buildup. Comparing it directly with its predecessor 2008’s Rambo, Last Blood‘s story falls flat.
That installment from Stallone, penned with an explosive social context as it was set in wartorn Burma, had the audience connected since the beginning of the film. If we follow that line of realism, Rambo: Last Blood sadly fails. There’s no backstory for the bad guys and no realistic social context on a chain of prostitution in mexico.
In terms of characters, John Rambo’s effort is impeccable compared to Last Blood.
Rambo had many characters very well presented with many arcs completely developed. The missionaries judged Rambo for his violent ways, and in the end had to violently react to save themselves. Rambo had no faith in the situation in Burma nor any reason to believe things would change. But regardless of his pessimistic views, he still ended up helping them. The mercenaries had their selfish motivations to go into Burma to save the missionaries, and yet at the very end, they sacrificed themselves to save others. Man, that is a very complete story!
Last Blood on the other hand, has none of this. All the characters have just one motivation and no room for change. There’s little or no character arcs, everybody stays the same and I had this weird feeling like the movie itself just wanted to get to the end. The villains are all bad and vicious like the other Rambo films, but the story is so simple you just sit there wondering why they’re so mean? Their ego is so unexplained, and their social status is so low that you don’t know why they simply didn’t return the girl and keep their modest business running, particularly since it honestly didn’t seem as if they had a lot to lose.
As I was reading other reviews, I realized how people paid attention to the political aspect of the film, presenting Mexicans as just plain bad guys. As a Latino, that really didn’t bother me, since all of Rambo films present collectives and cultures as the antagonist, but I understand why people would pay more attention to it in Last Blood since the story doesn’t help you to ignore it.
Technically speaking the movie is decent, with some continuity mistakes in wardrobe, giving away that some scenes even though separate in the story, where shot back to back, with characters wearing the same clothes on different scenes.
Photography, action and stunts kept that realistic approach of John Rambo, and I think that helped a lot into making this film an enjoyable ride for fans. Deaths are creative but at some point it felt like a montage instead of actual scenes, making me feel as if I were just watching a longer version of the trailer.
Now that the objective part is out of the way, my emotional standpoint is as follows: I had a lot of fun watching this film. And as a fan, I would definitely watch it again. It is fun to see how your heroes persist and win the test of time.
Sly is 73 years old, and he still pushes himself to make bankable products. As an action filmmaker myself, I get deeply inspired by that. If you are an action fan and/or a Rambo fan you can’t miss it. Even the most jaded Rambo fan might be entertained in the very least. If not, then there is really nothing much for you to relate to here.
Lead pics by Yana Blajeva
