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Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated Rambo: Last Blood (2019) in Movies
Jul 7, 2020
Rambo's Last Hurrah, Decent Action Flick
Rambo: Last Blood is a 2019 action movie directed by Adrian Grunberg, with screenplay written by both Sylvester Stallone and Matthew Cirulnick and story by Stallone and Dan Gordon. It was produced by Millennium Media, Balboa Productions and Templeton Media and distributed by Lionsgate with producers Avi Lerner, Kevin King Templeton, Yariv Lerner and Les Weldon. The film stars Sylvester Stallone, Paz Vega, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, and Adriana Barraza.
In Bowie, Arizona on his father's horse ranch John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) lives with his old friend Maria (Adriana Barraza) and her granddaughter Gabriela (Yvette Monreal), eleven years after the events in Burma. Against Rambo and Maria's wishes, Gabriela ventures to Mexico to find her estranged father when her friend Gizelle finds his location. In Mexico she is drugged and kidnapped by a Mexican Cartel and now Rambo must do everything he can to save her.
I have to say that before I saw this movie I was hearing bad things from reviewers and critics. That made me lower expectations before I saw it but what I took away from it was that it was going to be lacking story wise but definitely shouldn't be lacking in action. Then I was very surprised to learn that the creator of Rambo said that the movie wasn't good. Now I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy the movie. After watching it, I have to say that this movie was good. I have to be honest and say that usually I'm a sucker for revenge movies but this movie was better than what I thought it would be. The plot, of course was very simple but for the story it was trying to tell, it didn't need to be complicated. The acting was alright, some actors could have done a better job. Stallone did a decent job reprising John Rambo. The setting when they travel to Mexico was pretty realistic and I really liked his ranch in Arizona that was the backdrop for the third act of the movie. The action was really brutal and gory which was expected as the last installment in the franchise Rambo was also equally brutal. All in all I thought this movie was pretty good, I give it a 7/10.
In Bowie, Arizona on his father's horse ranch John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) lives with his old friend Maria (Adriana Barraza) and her granddaughter Gabriela (Yvette Monreal), eleven years after the events in Burma. Against Rambo and Maria's wishes, Gabriela ventures to Mexico to find her estranged father when her friend Gizelle finds his location. In Mexico she is drugged and kidnapped by a Mexican Cartel and now Rambo must do everything he can to save her.
I have to say that before I saw this movie I was hearing bad things from reviewers and critics. That made me lower expectations before I saw it but what I took away from it was that it was going to be lacking story wise but definitely shouldn't be lacking in action. Then I was very surprised to learn that the creator of Rambo said that the movie wasn't good. Now I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy the movie. After watching it, I have to say that this movie was good. I have to be honest and say that usually I'm a sucker for revenge movies but this movie was better than what I thought it would be. The plot, of course was very simple but for the story it was trying to tell, it didn't need to be complicated. The acting was alright, some actors could have done a better job. Stallone did a decent job reprising John Rambo. The setting when they travel to Mexico was pretty realistic and I really liked his ranch in Arizona that was the backdrop for the third act of the movie. The action was really brutal and gory which was expected as the last installment in the franchise Rambo was also equally brutal. All in all I thought this movie was pretty good, I give it a 7/10.
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Rambo: Last Blood (2019) in Movies
Sep 24, 2019
Not really a "Rambo" flick...but kind of is (if you squint)...
The "final" installment in the Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo series of films (the 5th!) RAMBO: LAST BLOOD is one of those hybrid type of films that is really two 45-50 minute films put together to give you one 1 hour, 45 minute adventure. These two film-ettes are clear throwbacks to 2 other films.
"Oh...you say...they are paying homage to previous RAMBO films, like the first one FIRST BLOOD and the best one RAMBO..." and...that would make sense and give a reason for this character to re-emerge, but this is NOT what is happening here.
The first half of this film has been done better as the Liam Neeson film TAKEN while the 2nd half of this film is a clear homage to HOME ALONE - or as I call it BLOODY HOME ALONE. So, instead of the crooks being comically hurt, they are dismembered, disemboweled, be-headed and run through the middle with pointy stuff.
All with lots and lots of blood spurting everywhere.
Inexplicably, Sylvester Stallone agreed to revise his John Rambo personae after 11 years away from it and he is showing every moment of his 73 years of age in this role. To say that Stallone is a little "long in the tooth" for this type of action/beat 'em up role would be doing a disservice to the term "long in the tooth".
As is fairly typical in these types of films, the plot is fairly straightforward - John Rambo is living a peaceful existence until someone close to him is kidnapped by bad guys south of the border, so Rambo goes in search of her (that's the first half of the film - the TAKEN portion). And...this part of the film is...okay (just...okay). The "good guys" around Rambo are nice (enough) and he is joined by a crusading journalist who also has had someone kidnapped so you think he might be joined by a ragtag group of "frenemies" to fight a common enemy...but...Rambo goes in "mano a mano" (this is a Stallone/Rambo film after all) and this part of the film, ultimately, fails to deliver the goods and falls flat.
Director Adrian Grunberg (the immortal GET THE GRINGO...yeah, I've never heard of it, either) sets up at the beginning of this movie some interesting side characters (the journalist, the one time bad guy who is now out of the bad guy business and might have a redemption-type arc, the plucky teenager) and some interesting character traits (PTSD, Concussion symptoms) that our hero is suffering from. All of these elements should have/could have been utilized to bring some interesting twists to the action scenes - but they are all quickly...and promptly...dropped to show Stallone being macho and killing bad guys on his way to fulfilling the goal of the first half of the film.
And then comes the 2nd half.
The bad guys come to Rambo's Ranch to exact some revenge (I can see a bobby-trapped Halloween-type walk through haunted house coming to a corn field near you this fall). Any pretense of plot, character development, etc. is gone in a hot minute as this part of the film is all about the bloody Home Alone-type booby-traps at the ranch. Wanna see someone get a pitchfork to the face? Check! Wanna see someone get their arm chopped off with a machete? Check! How about falling through a trap door onto some spikes? You got it! And it just gets bigger, bloodier and more comedicly-"awesome-gruesome" as we go. If you enjoy this type of thing (and...I gotta admit...I do) then this is pretty entertaining.
Ridiculous? Yes. Is Stallone too old for this type of film? Yes. Over-the-top? Of course. A good film with strong characters? Heck no.
But that's not what we came to see. If you can get through the fairly slow (and poorly written) first half of this film, the 2nd half is bloody good fun.
Letter Grade: B-
6 stars (out of 10 - just know what kind of film you are watching) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis).
"Oh...you say...they are paying homage to previous RAMBO films, like the first one FIRST BLOOD and the best one RAMBO..." and...that would make sense and give a reason for this character to re-emerge, but this is NOT what is happening here.
The first half of this film has been done better as the Liam Neeson film TAKEN while the 2nd half of this film is a clear homage to HOME ALONE - or as I call it BLOODY HOME ALONE. So, instead of the crooks being comically hurt, they are dismembered, disemboweled, be-headed and run through the middle with pointy stuff.
All with lots and lots of blood spurting everywhere.
Inexplicably, Sylvester Stallone agreed to revise his John Rambo personae after 11 years away from it and he is showing every moment of his 73 years of age in this role. To say that Stallone is a little "long in the tooth" for this type of action/beat 'em up role would be doing a disservice to the term "long in the tooth".
As is fairly typical in these types of films, the plot is fairly straightforward - John Rambo is living a peaceful existence until someone close to him is kidnapped by bad guys south of the border, so Rambo goes in search of her (that's the first half of the film - the TAKEN portion). And...this part of the film is...okay (just...okay). The "good guys" around Rambo are nice (enough) and he is joined by a crusading journalist who also has had someone kidnapped so you think he might be joined by a ragtag group of "frenemies" to fight a common enemy...but...Rambo goes in "mano a mano" (this is a Stallone/Rambo film after all) and this part of the film, ultimately, fails to deliver the goods and falls flat.
Director Adrian Grunberg (the immortal GET THE GRINGO...yeah, I've never heard of it, either) sets up at the beginning of this movie some interesting side characters (the journalist, the one time bad guy who is now out of the bad guy business and might have a redemption-type arc, the plucky teenager) and some interesting character traits (PTSD, Concussion symptoms) that our hero is suffering from. All of these elements should have/could have been utilized to bring some interesting twists to the action scenes - but they are all quickly...and promptly...dropped to show Stallone being macho and killing bad guys on his way to fulfilling the goal of the first half of the film.
And then comes the 2nd half.
The bad guys come to Rambo's Ranch to exact some revenge (I can see a bobby-trapped Halloween-type walk through haunted house coming to a corn field near you this fall). Any pretense of plot, character development, etc. is gone in a hot minute as this part of the film is all about the bloody Home Alone-type booby-traps at the ranch. Wanna see someone get a pitchfork to the face? Check! Wanna see someone get their arm chopped off with a machete? Check! How about falling through a trap door onto some spikes? You got it! And it just gets bigger, bloodier and more comedicly-"awesome-gruesome" as we go. If you enjoy this type of thing (and...I gotta admit...I do) then this is pretty entertaining.
Ridiculous? Yes. Is Stallone too old for this type of film? Yes. Over-the-top? Of course. A good film with strong characters? Heck no.
But that's not what we came to see. If you can get through the fairly slow (and poorly written) first half of this film, the 2nd half is bloody good fun.
Letter Grade: B-
6 stars (out of 10 - just know what kind of film you are watching) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis).