RAMBO (2008)

RAMBO

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz

Director: Sylvester Stallone

I am not surprised when people are reporting applause and whistles as Stallone's name appears on the screen. Neither am I amazed when the fans are sent into a frenzy as John Rambo is unleashed upon the Burmese soldiers onscreen. Because, Rambo is one of the greatest icons of cinema that has transcended across boundaries and countries, beyond languages. This red banded Vietnam veteran is the true super hero when it comes to the global world, enjoying a certain awe and admiration that none of the current top bracket heroes can command. It was never about the acting or the dialogues. That lone figure and Goldsmith's memorable theme music blaring was all it was.

Exactly why I am surprised when people demand Oscar winning material from the makers of Rambo. Rambo is something that literally means in Japanese violent and unreasonable (the actual word being ''ranbou''), and to expect something NOT all that from this character is like asking the mobsters of Godfather to break into a musical. The genre of Rambo more or less like its prequels spells out just that - mindless brainless action.

And that is exactly what you get. Atleast that is what I got. 90 mins of pure brutal raw violence and however fast and furious they came, I enjoyed it in the overall format of the film. And Rambo as a character does not need any time to beat around the bush, it is straight to the point approach that Stallone takes. But then again, it is not until 50 minutes into the movie, that Rambo takes out his arrows upon his enemies, and from there on it is total mahyem- literally to hell and back!

The storyline is just an excuse for the action set up. Things are not exactly great in Burma. The villages of minorities are being raided, kids burnt, women raped, and men brutally masacerred in the hands of the Burmese army .

A group of Christian missionaries show ups with medicines and bibles to help these victims of one of the longest civil wars of modern earth. However for that they require the assistance of the boat man John Rambo, to get them across the rivers of Thailand into Burmese shores. John Rambo is content staying out of trouble with his boat for hire services, but the persistence of the lady member of the group makes our man relent. And so he drops them to the Burmese river banks and returns, only to be told weeks later that they have not returned and are feared to be captives.

So now the boat man takes a bunch of merceneries in order to bring back the survivors. Yeah, sending the Devils in order to rescue God's men! But little they know that it is the ''boat man that will show them how. The boatman is instructed to stay by the boat by the arrogant mercenery leader but when the time comes, it is the boatman that unleashes the fighting machine upon them. Now they will get a taste of John Rambo!

As one of those pure action flicks, this had me excited. It took me back to those times before CGIs and flash edits took over Hollywood, the ones that had us lapping up the Arnolds and Van Dammes. It was nostalgic allright. And what makes it better was the unflinching portrayal of violence on the big screen. It had the graphical voilent-porn nature that is now a Mel Gibsonish trait.

Not that the movie was perfect..I had my complaints too. To begin with, it left me wanting more of Rambo and I wish that I got to see more of Rambo, especially a more jungle combat. Also I wish he was pushed to an extent mroe on the lines of Apocalypto. Yeah, unlike his Rocky, this character is not one that be defeated, but never does the going get tough either and that was a let down. So there you have...my biggest argument was that inspite of all that blood splattered, I wanted more of the Rambo, cause this one ends up as a tease once the pile of dust and smoke settles down.

But for the playstation crowd, they do get a lot of action, lot of blood and gore. And I am certain most of it did make it way outta the screens onto the front row.

Cast wise it was Stallone all the way. The rest was quite an example of bad acting talents. However one notable character that did stand out was Schoolboy played by singer cum actor Mathew Marsden.

If Stallone wanted to go out in style, in style he does! He wrapped up the Rocky series with passion and now with Rambo, he showed us that he is still bad ass, and probably change the studios mind into giving him a bigger budget this time around. This is certainly the answer to all those rotten chick flicks that the studios throw at us day in and day out - the kickass guy flick!

So for all those hard core critics, There Will Be Blood is a frontrunner for the Oscars, but for all those who wish to catch Rambo - trust me - there will be blood, lots and lots of them! Guilty pleasure!

MovemagiK rates it 3 outta 5

Also have a look at the Rambo Death Chart (source:slashfilm.com)