Posted by
Emmett of the Unblinking Eye on Friday, January 25, 2008 10:38:50 PM
Not the greatest start for a review, I know. But after all, what can one legitimately expect from the fourth film in the
Rambo Series? You're not going to get
Hitchcock,
Renoir or even
Emmerich; what you've got is Stallone,and a lot of him. But if you're looking for 93 minutes of fast-moving, generally entertaining and ultra-violent cinema, it's hard to beat.
The plot line, such as it is, finds Rambo as a snake catcher, river guide and generally misogynistic outcast living in deepest Thailand. And then in come the Christians -- a group of six or so medical missionaries from Colorado bent on going up river into war-torn Myanmar (née Burma) to help the Christian Karan people against their government oppressors. Although he initially refuses their offer, he's sweet-talked into it by the sole female missionary (Julie Benz). After an eventful and (from the missionaries standpoint) horrendous trip up river, Rambo is sent back home -- only to be recruited by the missionaries's pastor (Ken Howard) to take a troop of mercenaries back up river to find out what the heck happened to his flock. From that point, of course, all heck breaks loose.
It's not Shakespeare by any means, but given the low expectations I had for it, I was not disappointed. And as I've often said, if this is the kind of movie you'd like, you'd like this kind of movie.