'Rambo: Last Blood' A Review

Rambo: Last Blood is an action thriller, the fifth in the Rambo franchise, co-written and starring the ever-more-kragy Sylvester Stallone as the titular John Rambo. Following the events of the previous movie Rambo has settled on his deceased father's ranch and runs it with a childhood friend Maria(Adriana Barraza) and her granddaughter Gabriela(Yvette Monreal). Gabriela goes to Mexico to meet her biological father and is kidnapped by a sex trafficking ring. Rambo goes to track her down.

Stallone has been a movie star for 45 years and there is no small pleasure seeing him onscreen regardless of the circumstances or quality of the story however this return to the series is half-baked and perfunctory, the character less defined than it is just Stallone himself. Perhaps this installment was only or partially made to maintain the rights but whatever the cause the performances are fine but the characters or so thinly drawn it doesn't particularly matter. It's not even clear at the beginning where Rambo is, why he is there, who Maria is or what their relationship is to each other. It's lazy screenwriting.

Aside from the climactic battle sequence the movie is visually uninspired, the telegraphing music swells lazy and insecure. The plot and the script itself are the biggest issues, there is certainly space for the investigation of the life of an aging veteran and PTSD as well as the current very real threat of sex trafficking, however the result is a tone deaf fluff piece that doesn't pack the punch of an overt action movie nor the depth of a drama attempting real commentary.

Shallow, rote, disappointing.

Don't See It.