Rambo (2008 film)

Rambo
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Sylvester Stallone
Written by	Sylvester Stallone, Art Monterastelli
Produced by	Avi Lerner, Kevin King Templeton John Thompson Sylvester Stallone
Starring	Sylvester Stallone Julie Benz Matthew Marsden
Cinematography	Glen Macpherson
Edited by	Sean Albertson
Music by	Brian Tyler
Distributed by	Lions Gate Entertainment (USA) Columbia Pictures (UK, Australia) Warner Bros. (Germany)
Release date	January 25 2008 February 22 2008
Running time	95 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$50,000,000

Rambo is a 2008 action film starring Sylvester Stallone as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. Stallone also wrote and directed the film. It is the fourth installment of the Rambo franchise.

Rambo holds the record with the most kills out of the entire Rambo series, with 236 kills and an average of 2.59 kills per minute. Sylvester Stallone has described the film as "sort of like Beyond Rangoon, but with rocket launchers."

Cast

• Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo
• Julie Benz as Sarah Miller
• Paul Schulze as Michael Burnett
• Matthew Marsden as Schoolboy
• Graham McTavish as Lewis
• Jake La Botz as Reese
• Ken Howard as Rev. Arthur Marsh
• James With as Preacher Missionary

Plot

The film picks up where Rambo III left off; Rambo still resides in a village in Thailand near the Burmese border. He captures snakes and transports roamers in his boat. A missionary approaches him and asks Rambo to take him and a group of his fellow missionaries up the river to Burma on a humanitarian mission. Rambo refuses, but is convinced by another member, Sarah Miller, to take them up there.

During the ride, they are stopped by pirates who demand Sarah in exchange for passage. After negotiations fail, Rambo kills the men. Another missionary, Michael, says that they will be going out by road and will not need Rambo's help for the return trip. The mission goes well until the village is attacked by the Burmese army, who kill one missionary and most of the villagers. The rest of the group is kidnapped. When the missionaries fail to come back after 10 days, their pastor comes to Rambo, tells him what has happened and asks for his assistance in guiding hired mercenaries to the village where the missing missionaries were last seen.

Rambo decides to accompany the mercenaries and pushes them to continue after they see the destroyed village. Hijacking one of the army's trucks they create a plan to save any remaining hostages at the P.O.W. camp. The rescue is to be conducted within fifteen minutes before any alarm can be raised. Bloody but quiet fighting ensues as the rescue work is done. As Rambo, Sarah, and the others escape, the Burmese army discovers that their hostages are missing and sets up a massive man-hunt. Rambo, using his knowledge of guerrilla combat, helps to dwindle the numbers of military personnel giving chase. Although Sarah and one mercenary remain undetected, the Burmese army manages to capture the remainder of the mercenaries and missionaries as they approach the river. Just as the group is to be executed, Rambo hijacks a truck mounted machine-gun and engages the army personnel. Soon after a group of Karen rebels join the fight and help Rambo and the mercenaries. The Burmese army is defeated, but not before killing several mercenaries, and leaving Sarah and Michael the only living missionaries. Rambo (encouraged by Sarah's words earlier in the film) decides to return to the United States. The last scene shows Rambo walking along a rural highway (much like in the first film). We see him walk past a horse farm and a mailbox with the name R. Rambo on it (presumably his father). Slowly John Rambo makes his way down the dirt driveway of the farm, returning home for the first time since the Vietnam War.

Alternate titles

The most recent installment of the Rambo franchise has undergone many name changes during pre-release, and has been known as the following:

• Rambo IV
  • Rambo IV: In the Serpent's Eye
  • Rambo IV: Pearl of the Cobra
  • Rambo IV: Live for Nothing or Die for Something
• Rambo: To Hell and Back
• John Rambo - Mirroring the final installment of the Rocky franchise, Rocky Balboa. This is still the title being used in Germany, France, Spain, Israel and Italy, because First Blood's original title in these countries is Rambo (except in Spain that First Blood was translated by Acorralado that means surrounded). Even in North America, Rambo: First Blood Part II was referred to by most filmgoers simply as "Rambo."

On October 12, Lionsgate announced that the film title was being changed to Rambo: To Hell and Back. After some negative feedback from the online community, Stallone spoke with AICN's Harry Knowles and said:

"Lionsgate jumped the gun on this. I just was thinking that the title John Rambo was derivative of Rocky Balboa and might give people the idea that this is the last Rambo film, and I don't necessarily feel that it will be. He's not an athlete, there's no reason he can't continue onto another adventure. Like John Wayne with The Searchers."

Box office performance

Rambo opened in 2,751 theaters on January 25, 2008 and grossed $6,490,000 on its opening day. Over the opening weekend Rambo grossed an estimated $18,150,000. It was second highest grossing movie for the week behind Meet the Spartans.

Critical reception

Critics gave the film mixed reviews. As of January 28, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 37% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 81 reviews. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 46 out of 100, based on 19 reviews.

Some critics have expressed their displeasure with the amount of violence and lack of a good plot. Variety called it "a notably cheerless exercise", while Newsday pointed out that "the battle sequences are so muddled in execution that we can't tell who's killing whom." The Philadelphia Inquirer was equally unimpressed, labelling Rambo a "slab of action porn" in which the director-star resembles a "mothballed Conan The Barbarian." The Hollywood Reporter critic simply signed off with, "Sorry Sly, not this time."

In his review for the New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote, "Mr. Stallone is smart enough — or maybe dumb enough, though I tend to think not — to present the mythic dimensions of the character without apology or irony. His face looks like a misshapen chunk of granite, and his acting is only slightly more expressive, but the man gets the job done. Welcome back." Michael H. Price of Fort Worth Business Press wrote, "Stallone invests the role with a realistic acceptance of the aging process, and with traces reminiscent of Humphrey Bogart in 1951’s The African Queen and Clint Eastwood in 1992’s Unforgiven — to say nothing of the influences that the original First Blood had absorbed from Marlon Brando in 1953’s The Wild One and Tom Laughlin in 1971’s Billy Jack."

Rambo currently has a user-rating of 8.4/10 on imdb.com, making it the #188th best-rated film on the site.

External links

• Official site
• Rambo at IMDb
• Rambo at Rotten Tomatoes
• Rambo at Metacritic
• Rambo at Box Office Mojo
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