Rambo IV (or John Rambo) is the latest in the Rambo franchise starring Sylvester Stallone. John Rambo is a Vietnam War veteran that, in his four movies, has probably killed more people than Jack Bauer, Chuck Norris and Pee-Wee Herman combined. Rambo is not known for deep Shakespearian dialogue. He communicates mostly through a series of mumbled grunts. Rambo is a man of action.
In Rambo IV, Rambo is living out a meagre existence in Thailand, trapping snakes and fishing. He's a simple man, with simple needs, and from first impressions, he no longer needs to kill bad guys to get through the day. That all changes, obviously, when he is hired to take some missionaries into war torn Burma. The missionaries are setting out to do some good, whilst Rambo thinks the only thing they achieve is a bloody death. Unfortunately for the missionaries, Rambo is rarely wrong.
Rambo dumps the missionaries in Burma and heads back down the river to Thailand. Upon his return he finds that the missionaries have gone missing and is hired by their church to go in and bring them back. So off Rambo trots, with mercenaries in tow. From here on in, there is some fairly extreme violence, where Rambo and friends take on most of the Burmese army. The movie then lurches on to its predictable conclusion.
Make no mistake, Rambo IV is a bloody film not for the squeamish. There are beheadings, exploding heads, disembowelments, exploding bodies, limb removals, and people being fed to the pigs. At times it is a little hard to take. But perhaps that was Stallone's point, as if nothing else, it shines a spotlight on a conflict that is perhaps not all that well known or understood.
As a movie, and entertainment, Rambo IV is average at best. It's predictable, and at time plodding. It seemed to go much longer than it's relatively short running time. Stallone keeps his shirt on for the entire movie, which I found to be a blessing. The brutality involved in some scenes makes this a film hard to enjoy, and the plot is very much based on the basic connect the dots style, that the film neither works as a mindless popcorn action movie, nor a serious dramatic depiction of war.
For the statistics boffins, Rambo IV holds the record for most "kills" out of the entire Rambo series, with 236 total "kills" at an average of 2.59 "kills" per minute. This is a big increase from Rambo III which featured 132 "kills" at 1.30 "kills" per minute. For those of you that are into numbers, here's a statistical comparison of the four Rambo movies.
What conclusions do I draw from this table? I would suggest that the bottom line explains why Rambo is such a violent guy. Psychologists may argue that he just needs to relax, find a good woman and get laid or something.
Overall, I'd give Rambo IV 1.5 out of 5 pickles.
