Director: Adrian Grunberg
Cast Headliner: Sylvester Stallone really all its ever been right?
Original Release Date: September 20th, 2019
When it comes to Syvester
Stallone's iconic franchises the Rambo series may as well be second
most recognizable after Rocky. However due to its decades long
journey and “evolution” to be relevant to whatever times it
released in it may as well be the Fast and the Furious. It's been a
long time since the last entry in this gritty action / drama series.
Rambo: Last Blood is the fifth in this legacy and has a bit of a
concerning political timing with its tale of Mexican cartels and
borders. However there's much more action than preaching luckily.
In the long period since the
last film veteran hero John Rambo(Sylvester Stallone) has taken over
his father's horse ranch of which it is fine for anyone but Rambo
purists to have forgotten. Between cheesy ranching scenes he lives
with old family friend Maria(Adriana Barraza) and her grandniece
Gabriela(Yvette Monreal). Very little of the context of all this is
actually explained in the film but what matters is the present.
Gabriela's desire to meet her
father Miguel(Rick Zingale) makes her leave home, against paranoid
Rambo's wishes of course(as he tends to his homemade traps in
on-the-nose foreshadowing), to go to Mexico to visit her friend
Gizelle(Fennessa Pineda). Big shock but things do not go well as she
finds herself sold into the sex trade of a dangerous cartel run by
the Martinez brothers Victor(Oscar Jaenada) and Hugo(Sergio
Peris-Menchata). Rambo gets on the case with the help of local
journalist Carmen(Paz Vega).
Suffice to say that this is not
a very smart movie. The franchise has never really been smart since
First Blood but at least Rambo 4 brought back a bit of dark nuance.
Most of that nuance is lost in this film. Its interestingly funny how
each film reflects its era in not just antagonists but style as well
with the antihero piece of the 70s contrasting the shlock
shoot-em-ups of the 80s being combined in 4 to now being a generic
vigilante justice thriller. Of course that's what one may seek out
of Rambo.
Rambo is definitely what one
gets from the man himself. Stallone is of course much older than his
past self but still manages to kick a ton of bad guy booty. His age
brings a bit of emotional nuance in a manner slightly like his past
few Rockies but again there's not the emotional nostalgia from the
audience. He's fierce (if at times hard-to-understandably gruff) and
determined. One will likely actually smile at HOW tough he is as he
creates charisma through ludicrously violent slaughters and bone
snaps.
Of course the rest of the cast
is at an even lesser bar than he is with several relatively no-name
actors. Monreal's Gabriela is alright mixing teenage cool-kidism
with her dark past that leads to some slightly humorous and or
important banter with Rambo but due to the narrative it disappears
into generic melodrama on her journies with others. The other women
of the film such as Vega's Carmen or Barraza's Maria offer little
more than exposition. The villains are fearsome to be sure but other
than Victor being the “crazy one” and Hugo being the “cool
fancy one” they're about as generic as any antagonist in this
franchise has been since the 80s.
Luckily the melodrama eventually
gives way to pure action and slaughter in a brisk runtime. The last
20 to 25 minutes or so of the film is a pulse pounding showdown
between Rambo and the Cartel that truly feels like it could be the
end of the road for our muscle-headed hero. Seldom director Adrian
Grunberg even pulls off a nice sweeping and or close-knit shot or two
after all the mundane ones.
This is an incredibly gory film.
There's the literal bone snaps as mentioned along with much blood,
explosions, and gore. People are sliced, diced, stabbed, eviscerated,
shot and so on. This at times is shocking but that just adds to the
entertainment. It's to a little lesser extent than one may want from
the series but the down-and-gritty chases and home defense mixes old
and new.
World context and movie cheese
aside, this movie entertains. One will either be on the edge of the
seat for its excitement laughing at some of its attempted quips or
maybe its for how cheesily “meh” it is. There's some attempt to
bring this to a close with dramatic feels at times. Maybe that should
mark this chapter as a close but if it doesn't there's definitely
some more reading, and watching of its past self, to be done. One
thing is for sure Stallone always Stallone as he intends to. 6.4 out
of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment