From writer/director/star Sylvester Stallone, comes the fourth entry in the Rambo chronicles.  The film debuted to surprisingly good reviews and strong box office (it gained over $40 million in domestic box office).  It looks to debut strongly in the DVD market.

This fourth film in the series begins with John Rambo (Stallone) living in isolation in Thailand hunting and wrangling snakes along the river for a local village.  A group of Christian aid workers from Colorado are looking for passage into war-torn Burma and ask Rambo to help get them up the river into Burma.  Rambo reluctantly agrees after being persuaded by the woman in the group named Sarah (Julie Benz).  After warning the group of what awaits them in the ruthless villages of Burma and helping them ward off some nasty Burmese pirates, Rambo drops them off and returns to his village.

The village that the aid workers are helping is then brutally attacked by the savage soldiers reaping genocide throughout Burma.  Almost everyone is murdered but some are taken hostage including Sarah and a few other aid workers.  The pastor of the group hires a group of mercenaries to infiltrate the base where they are being held and extract the aid workers that have survived.  And they come to Rambo for transportation (having no idea of who he really is and what he is capable of).  Needless to say, once the mercenaries arrive and trouble comes their way, Rambo is put back in action to save the day.  

CRITIQUE

Very much like Rocky Balboa (that arrived just over a year prior to this film), Rambo is a welcome return for a film icon that solidifies Stallone’s relevance and continues this incredible resurrection of his career both as actor and writer-director.  Rambo is immensely entertaining and surprisingly effective.  It is short, simple, pointed and gritty, and I loved it for that.

There have been so many films upon films lately that are far too long, bloated and pretentious (it almost seems to be an epidemic as of late) and Rambo is the exact opposite.  It’s a pure pleasure to see Rambo doing his thing again and Stallone is truly a filmmaker to watch once again after this solid one-two punch of Rocky Balboa and Rambo.

I will admit though that this is a film for Rambo fans and mostly a film for guys.  It’s extremely violent (this has to be the highest body count of the three other films) and the pleasures come from seeing the character finding his inner killer again (so obviously the film has a somewhat limited audience).  But for those of us that grew up on the Rambo films and remember the heyday of the true action star (with Stallone and Schwarzenegger leading the way), this is a big welcome back and I hope Stallone does another one (which is rumored). 

One of the biggest surprises for me with the film is how sturdily directed it is by Stallone.  He makes all the right choices here.  The film actually feels like the first film of the series First Blood in tone as things are more realistic, gritty and grounded.  The camerawork is excellent as he keeps the images appropriately unstable and frenetic at times but never so much as to not be able to tell what is going on (which drives me nuts when action films cut and edit the action so much you can’t make heads or tails of it).

Stallone keeps things at a very brisk, energetic pace without being sidetracked by anything that would slow things down.  The film looks appropriately sweaty and dirty and the locations are just right.  The script is also nicely pieced together and subdued.  I love how he keeps Rambo as tight-lipped as possible and always right-to-the-point, never resorting to long explanations about what is going on, events from the past films, or his reasons for doing what he does.  Everything is played low key and gritty which benefits the film but especially the character of Rambo and the man inhabiting him. 

Stallone just is Rambo and Rocky, so it is hard to even try and judge his acting here.  Stallone nails the essence of John Rambo once again, perfectly inhabiting a character he hasn’t played in decades.  The rest of the cast has some bright spots but also a couple rough spots.

In fact, the only negative for me with the film is the casting of Benz as Sarah.  I have to admit she is saddled with some rough lines to pull off but she is so lifeless and wooden it’s hard to watch at times.  The rest of the actors that round out the group of aid workers don’t fair much better than her but the actors that inhabit the mercenaries do a fine job, especially Matthew Marsden as Schoolboy who helps Rambo out of a few jams.

THE VIDEO

The transfer (2.35:1 widescreen) looks great, the colors are vivid but not overly bright and the images come through sharp and clean.  I didn’t notice any clarity issues.

THE AUDIO

Rambo is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and the presentation is terrific as the subwoofers get a nice workout with all the action.  The dialogue and soundtrack come through crystal clear.

THE EXTRAS

There are quite a lot of extras included in this two disc set.  All of the extras are on the same disc as the feature though as the second disc is a digital copy of the film in which you can download it and put it on a portable device like an iPod and watch it whenever you want.

There is an Audio Commentary Track from Stallone in which he goes into all the various aspects of the shoot and the motivations for doing it.  Stallone is actually a very good speaker and can go on and on without getting boring or repetitive.  His commentary is littered with interesting side stories and it is informative and entertaining.  For fans of the film, this is well worth it.

There are a ton of featurettes as well (they all have interviews with Stallone and the rest of the cast and crew including behind-the-scenes footage).  This is really all one very large, very well-made and entertaining making-of documentary split into a bunch of sections.

The first is called It’s a Long Road: Resurrection of an Icon which gets into the reasons for Stallone bringing the character back and why they settled on this certain story and tone.  It’s a nicely put together piece that gives you a sense of where Stallone is coming from.

A Score to Settle: The Music of Rambo is a look at what went into the score and how a new young composer has taken over the deceased composer of the first three films.

The Art of War: Completing Rambo is a look at the editing and sound process.  Stallone used the same editor as he did for the latest Rocky film so they have a comfortable and funny relationship with each other.

The Weaponry of Rambo looks at the use of certain weapons in the film and the boot camp that the actor’s went through to train on the weapons.

A Hero’s Welcome: Release & Reaction is about the premiere in Las Vegas and the opening box office and initial reviews.

Legacy of Despair: The Struggle in Burma looks at the current struggles in Burma (now Myanmar) but this was obviously filmed prior to the massive cyclone that just devastated the area.

There are also some Deleted Scenes (most of these were cut for obvious reasons and some are just alternate takes on the same scenes) and trailers.

Finally, the second disc includes a Digital Copy of the film that you can download to your computer or portable device. The code works only once! (No second chances here.)

FINAL THOUGHTS

Rambo returns to the series back to its First Blood roots with a more realistic and gritty tone while maintaining an energetic and brisk pace.  It’s a welcome return that is extremely violent, action-packed and rough and is just what the fans of the series wanted.  The DVD is packed with excellent extras and is a must own for Rambo fans.