Rambo DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: DVD Features Sly Stallone Reviving Signature Role as Rambo

Sylvester Stallone may be in his sixties, but he proves he hasn’t lost a step in this revival of John Rambo, a misunderstood Vietnam veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. As the latest installment opens, we find him living alone along the Salween River in northern Thailand.
He seems finally to have made peace with his tortured past, content to live out his days fishing, despite the fact that civil war is raging just across the border in Burma. Everything changes the day Christian missionaries arrive from Colorado, announcing their plan to bring Bibles and much needed medical supplies to the victims of the ongoing ethnic cleansing.
Having heard that Rambo is the best river guide around, these naïve volunteers ask for a ride to Burma aboard his rickety longboat. After repeatedly warning them in no uncertain terms to “Go home!” he succumbs to the womanly wiles of Sarah (Julie Benz), a Bible-thumping beauty gets him to ferry them into the war zone against his better judgment.
A couple of weeks later, her panicky Pastor (Ken Howard) shows up saying that they’ve all been taken hostage by the Burmese army and that the U.S. embassy has refused to get involved. Fueled by a fear that some harm might come to Sarah, Rambo reluctantly picks up a gun again and leads a rag-tag team of mercenaries on a bloody rescue mission.
At this juncture, the movie morphs into a testosterone-sodden, high body-count affair, replete with hand-to-hand combat, automatic weaponry, and visually-captivating pyrotechnics. Critical to appreciating this revenge-fueled flick is a willingness to buy into the dehumanization of the Asian bad guys presented as disposable sadists and godless rapists lusting over the only hot blonde to be found for miles around.
Not to worry, geriatric Rambo is guaranteed to save the day!

Very Good (3 stars)
Rated R profanity, sexual assaults, grisly images and graphic violence.
Running time: 91 minutes
Studio: Lions Gate Home Entertainment
2-Disc DVD Extras: Deleted scenes, audio commentary by Sylvester Stallone, bonus digital copy of the film, plus a half-dozen featurettes.