Ramming It Home

Sly Stallone is remembered for two iconic roles; Rocky and Rambo.

Nostalgia hit hard with Rocky Balboa and now Rambo is hoping to be similarly cathartic. So, the question remains whether Rambo can live up to the surprising success of 2006's Rocky.

Twenty years after the last film, John Rambo has retreated to northern Thailand, where he lives alone, catching snakes and fishing. On the nearby Thai-Burma border, the world's longest-running civil war, the Burmese-Karen conflict, rages into its 60th year.

When a group of missionaries ask for help from John Rambo, the 'Nam veteran is reluctant to enter into conflict but eventually agrees to take them. Soon after, the group disappears and it is up to Rambo to save the day.

Documentary footage of the situation in Burma, including shots of bodies, gives Rambo the sort of authenticity that you wouldn't expect from this kind of film. However this realism is rather opposed to the bullet flying 1980s action hero flick the new film returns to. Similarly the juxtaposition of considerate Rambo and decapitating Rambo, is a little hard to swallow at times.

Nevertheless, with Stallone directing himself in this bloody drama it could have all gone horribly wrong but, like Balboa, Sly manages to revitalize the legend by adding a bit of humanity to the classic role while at the same time being the bad-ass we all know and love.