I am going to write this review as clear and delicately as I can so as not to be automatically panned by those that claim "this is the best action movie" they have ever seen.
Now, I loved this movie. It has a hero you can root for that's saving the weak and killing the tyrants. He's a manly man, and someone we wish would arrive in every war movie to save the day. HOWEVER, I wish to go through several aspects if the film in order to illustrate my feelings on this movie.
THE PLOT: The plot of this film is virtually identical to the plot of it's two predecessors "Rambo: First Blood Part II" and "Rambo III" which is this:
"Rambo goes into enemy territory to save the captured lesser from the evil bad guys".
Now, this is not a bad plot, it's enjoyable and doesn't make it the movie hard or confusing to bear through, and it makes it very easy to know who's good and bad. I just want to illustrate that this plot is nothing new to the Rambo franchise.
THE ACTION: One of my favorite things in the world (literally) is to watch a movie with an engaged and responsive audience. This is why I was elated last year when the film "Grindhouse" came out, as I knew that anyone that would see it would be cheering, booing and yelling throughout the picture... and they did. The experience I had with "Rambo" was surprisingly similar, with everyone cheering and gawking more and more with every villain that was slain.
The action in this movie is VERY graphic, more-so then "Grindhouse", who's sole goal was to be the most disgusting movie of the year. Add the gore to a righteous hero killing in the name of everything true and right and you've got yourself a movie that will chain you to your seat.
I was loving this movie as much as everyone else was, but once all is said and done, the action does not offer much besides bloody visuals we never had the pleasure of viewing before. It reminded me of when I was a kid. If you're a guy, you're favorite movie as a kid is most likely the first R rated movie you see. Why? Because it shows violence unparallel to that you had seen before, and guys like that. "Rambo" is much the same. The action isn't very clever. In fact, the entire climax of the film is simply the lead character sitting behind a 50 cal. turret wasting any scumbag that dares to show his face. When you compare this to action to something like "The Bourne Ultimatum" in which Jason Bourne defeats an enemy with a phonebook I think it's a no-contest in which is better. (note: I hated "The Bourne Ultimatum").
This is not the best action movie I’ve seen, although it's easily the goriest. However, it is definitely one of the most enjoyable theater experience I’ve had.
2 comments:
You make your points very well and I agree with them. I my review of Rambo I do say it’s the best action movie I've ever seen. This, however (as I say in the first comment I left on my own post), is contingent upon the fact that is has very little plot (the plot is not only not new to Rambo movies, it is not new to any movie, we've seen the same countless times before). If the movie had striven to have a greater and more detailed plot it would have left the category I placed it in (that of "raw action") and come into the category of plot-driven but action-fueled movies ("Gladiator," etc.). With a minimalist plot it left us free to enjoy the action. It was mindless and probably appealed to the most basic desires of men (to see bad guys owned) in much the same way "300" did (although I would hesitate to put them in the same category). That's why I loved it, but I only loved it for what it was, it does not compare to more plot centered action movies.
Good post.
well thank ye kindly!
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