Rambo: Last Blood - Review by @Kush_Hayes
When it comes to Sylvester Stallone vehicles, you know more times than not hes going to give you a solid performance. Rambo Last Blood is no exception in fact, while its a very fair comparison to splicing together several movies together into one cohesive 100 minute package, its maybe the most satisfying conclusion to any movie in 2019.
Growing up, while I was exposed to all sorts of violent movies, somehow the Rambo films were off limits. In hindsight, I think its because my mother concluded they were just exploitation of the Vietnam war. Thats where she drew her line, but Id be too young to process that and then immediately was distracted with something else that went bang, and kaboom. I dont think I saw the original First Blood til I was twenty and living with roommates.
While those first two Rambo movies, both incredibly different films, were great, once we got to Rambo III (no blood), things got schlocky and no one was buying. Eventually we got to the fourth chapter, just titled: Rambo (no number, no blood) - people felt like it was just quick flex based on how well the sixth entry of the Rocky series (Rocky Balboa) was received. Rambo 4 is also entertaining, and over the top with its violence, but its also as forgettable as the third.
So when it was announced we were getting a fifth Rambo it was understandable why I got a migraine rolling my eyes up into my head. Especially when all we’re told was: Rambo vs “The Mexican Cartel”.
Things do escalate to that, Rambo against a generic Cartel based out of Mexico, but its how we get to that situation that makes this film. We catch up with Rambo where we left him eleven years ago, on the family farm, where hes breeding Show Horses and helping raise 17 year old Gabrielle with her foster mother Maria. We quickly establish their relationship and her story. Rambo rescued her from an abusive father who fled to Mexico. Raised her as his daughter with Maria. And while she should be preparing to go to college in a few weeks shes been informed that a friend of hers has found her father south of the Arizona border.
As overly emotional teenagers do, Rambo and Marias demand to focus on school go unheard and Gabrielle heads to her friends house in Mexico. Through exposition earlier, Gabrielles friend, Gieselle, is still a horrible person and immediately sells her into sex slavery. It almost makes you wonder why she does take Gabrielle to see her father at all. Gieselle, is played by Fenessa Pineda, and while maybe the least experienced member of the cast presents someone you immediately despise as soon as she opens her mouth and you look forward to seeing what she will bring to the screen as she gets more experienced.
A day passes and once Rambo discovers where shes gone, he springs into action to go after her. Once he finds out shes been taken by gangsters, he doesnt hesitate, and gets discovered and thus beaten within an inch of his life. We meet the head gangsters played by Oscar Jaenada, who American audiences might recognize from 2010s The Losers, and Sergio Peris-Mencheta (Resident Evil 3D) chew on the scenery with Stallone whos face has been rearranged in great detail. Left for dead, Rambo is rescued and revived by Paz Vega. Vegas role in this strictly to pick up Rambo, nurse him to health, and then tell him the bad guys are “that direction”. I wish they had given Jaenada more screen time, Id have even made him the final villain, but perhaps his accent was just too think for the tone.
From here the violence ramps up by 10, the dramas increases, hearts are broken and then Rambo kills everyone in his house of horrors, violently.
This movie is full of cliches that are performed flawlessly. This movie is maybe the most violent movie of the last 5 years. It borrows from Taken, Home Alone, You Were Never Really Here, as well as a few others but does them all Stallones way. Stallone enhances everyone elses performances, including Adriana Barraza and Yvette Monreal. There are times where you know how much youre supposed to hate the bad guys but youre afraid for them because you know what Rambo is capable of and then its even worse. And while I rolled my eyes in the beginning when fans started clapping at the opening credits, I led the ovation when our film climaxes.
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie and think it has one of the most satisfying endings of most movies Ive seen this year.
Five Blueberries out of Six
Rated R for strong graphic violence, grisly images, drug use and language.
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