Rambo is back,
and this time he's in Thailand to sort out the 60-year civil war between the Burmese police and the Karen people,
who are routinely killed, sometimes for sport.
It doesn't start out that way, though. He leads a simple life taking travellers here and there in his boat and
also capturing snakes for local snake show entertainers. At that point, he's approached by Michael Burnett (Paul Schulze,
who I last saw taking a bullet in the back of his head from Jack Bauer in 24), a Christian missionary
who wants to rent Rambo's boat to go into Burma along with his group and help the people.
After initially refusing, he's eventually persuaded by one of Burnett's helpers, Sarah Miller (Dexter's
Julie Benz, below-right)... well, if he wasn't then it would be a short film. Burnett's clearly a complete dick, even
when they arrive at their destination and he tells Rambo that he has to report the fact the he shot dead a
few Burmese pirates who tried to take them hostage, even though they would've made mincemeat of the religious
lot. However, you can imagine what happens when they do try to make a difference, and it shows an example of the
genocide they were trying to stop.
With them now captured, killed or otherwise, he's tracked down by Arthur Marsh (Ken Howard), pastor of
the Christ Church in Colorado to enlist Rambo to lead a team of mercenaries to bring back those who are still
alive. When we get to see where they're held, we see Sarah's tied-up and she's panicking because she hasn't
been able to exfoiliate for a while...
Of the supporting cast, Julie Benz gets to do nothing more than cry and whimper a lot, which gets tiresome
after a while. The only mercenaries who stand out are Matthew Marsden - because he gets more of a part
than most - as School Boy, so-called because the name stuck from when he was in sniper school, and Graham McTavish
as Lewis, the archetypal cockney wanker, trying to be a bigger double-hard-bastard than Rambo.
Of course, Stallone doesn't really have a look of a man who's spent most of his life out in Thailand and similar
places because of his ridiculous plastic surgery. In fact, it makes him look a bit like Jo Brand does these days,
in Getting On.
Overall, Rambo is worth watching the second half for the gory finale, but the first half is so plodding.
It passes 90 mins okay, but it's not particularly enthralling.
|