Rambo: Last Blood

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Paz Vega, Sergio Peris-Mecheta, Adriana Barraza, Yvette Monreal, Joaquin Cosio, Oscar Jaenada
Directed by: Adrian Grunberg
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: On the U.S.-Mexican border, John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) clashes with drug dealers and human traffickers when a loved one is kidnapped.

Review:

Tim: You have to give the Rambo franchise some credit. Sure, the 1982 original is still the best film in the franchise, but the franchise delivered two sequels by the end of the 1980s. They were at least decent/good movies. After a 20-year absence, Rambo came out in 2008. That movie was flawed, but enjoyable. Here we are, 11 years AFTER that long absence ended with the fifth film in the franchise. Rambo: Last Blood is a step back from the previous movie, but it's a decent film with some good action sequences. Not a lot of franchises get to 5 films, spanning 4 decades (although it did only have films released in 3 out of those 4, taking the 1990s off).

This time around, John Rambo is living in the southern United States, near the Mexico border. A girl he's friends with is kidnapped and he has to cross into Mexico and fight the cartel responsible. The story is fine, it really just serves the purpose to give Rambo someone to kill. I suppose there's some level of emotional involvement in the story, which is a plus. On the other hand, it's hard not to feel like the story is really secondary to the action. I suppose it was interesting to see Rambo as a rancher and fighting Mexican human traffickers. We've seen him in the Pacific northwest, in various jungles in Asia. It was interesting to see him in this setting. The downside is that we've had a number of movies of heroes fighting against cartels, so while unique to the franchise, the movie as a whole felt somewhat generic.

Sylvester Stallone will always been enjoyable as Rambo. It's impressive that he's kept himself in such incredible shape that he's believable as an action hero. He's certainly aged quite a bit since the last film, but you could still believe he was Rambo and he was able to accomplish (most of) what the character does in this film. Some people might dislike this trend of actors reprising old roles, but I love it. We get to see movies spanning 37 years in the life of John Rambo. That's amazing and that longer-form storytelling is a privilege that we get. I was thankful for this movie, even if I wish it was better.

The biggest issue I had with the movie is that the script isn't good. There's too many logical plot holes. Rambo crosses the U.S.-Mexican border pretty easily. A number of events are too convenient and the product of lazy writing (thank goodness the betrayer friend kept her victim's bracelet on her wrist!). Characters aren't fully developed and act in illogical ways. The movie just doesn't always make sense. The direction was decent, but it's not surprising that Adrian Grunberg has only directed 1 other feature film, and that film was released 7 years ago. The swan song of John Rambo needed a more talented, experienced director. This film got a generic director in Grunberg and he delivered a mostly generic movie.

While I didn't have much invested interest in the characters or the story, I did love the climactic battle in the tunnels. This fight scene was utterly ridiculous and a bit illogical, but man, it was fun. It was a chance to see Rambo being Rambo- mowing through the bad guys with no hesitation and no remorse. The scene requires you to suspend your disbelief, but it's a lot of fun if you can accomplish that. It felt like a fitting conclusion and if this is indeed the "last" Rambo movie, it's not a bad way for him to ride into that sunset. I wish the movie was better, but it was a pretty good action sequence at the end.

In the end, we've definitely seen better Rambo movies. Rambo: Last Blood is a lesser effort, but not so bad that it tarnishes the franchise. The 2008 film would have ended the franchise on a higher note than this one, but there's more than a few things to like in this otherwise flawed film. It definitely needed to be better, but it was still a fun entry in a second-tier franchise.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III, Rambo