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Rambo

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Rambo (2008)

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Reviews Counted:12

Fresh:3

Rotten:9

Average Rating:3.9/10

Consensus: Sylvester Stallone knows how to stage action sequences, but the movie's uneven pacing and excessive violence (even for the franchise) is more nauseating than entertaining.

Rated: 18 [See Full Rating] for strong graphic bloody violence, sexual assaults, grisly images and language.

Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Theatrical Release:22-02-2008

Synopsis: Twenty years after the last film in the series, John Rambo (SYLVESTER STALLONE) has retreated to northern Thailand, where he's running a longboat on the Salween River. On the nearby Thai-Burma... Twenty years after the last film in the series, John Rambo (SYLVESTER STALLONE) has retreated to northern Thailand, where he's running a longboat on the Salween River. On the nearby Thai-Burma (Myanmar) border, the world's longest-running civil war, the Burmese-Karen conflict, rages into its 60th year. But Rambo, who lives a solitary, simple life in the mountains and jungles fishing and catching poisonous snakes to sell, has long given up fighting, even as medics, mercenaries, rebels and peace workers pass by on their way to the war-torn region.

That all changes when a group of human rights missionaries search out the "American river guide" John Rambo. When Sarah (JULIE BENZ) and Michael Bennett (PAUL SCHULZE) approach him, they explain that since last year's trek to the refugee camps, the Burmese military has laid landmines along the road, making it too dangerous for overland travel. They ask Rambo to guide them up the Salween and drop them off, so they can deliver medical supplies and food to the Karen tribe. After initially refusing to cross into Burma, Rambo takes them, dropping off Sarah, Michael and the aid workers...

Less than two weeks later, pastor Arthur Marsh (KEN HOWARD) finds Rambo and tells him the aid workers did not return and the embassies have not helped locate them. He tells Rambo he's mortgaged his home and raised money from his congregation to hire mercenaries to get the missionaries, who are being held captive by the Burmese army. Although the United States military trained him to be a lethal super soldier in Vietnam, decades later Rambo's reluctance for violence and conflict are palpable, his scars faded, yet visible. However, the lone warrior knows what he must do...

Sylvester Stallone writes, directs and stars as RAMBO, filmed on location in and around Chiang Mai, Thailand. Also starring are Julie Benz (Dexter), Paul Schulze (The Sopranos), Matthew Marsden (Resident Evil: Extinction, Black Hawk Down), Graham McTavish (HBO's Rome), Rey Gallegos (American Wedding), Tim Kang ("Third Watch"), Jake La Botz (Ghost World), Maung Maung Khin and Ken Howard. RAMBO is produced by Avi Lerner, Kevin King Templeton and John Thompson. Executive producers Randall Emmett, George Furla. Executive Producers Jon Feltheimer, Peter Block, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein. Executive Producers Andreas Thiesmeyer, Josef Lautenschlager. Executive Producers Danny Dimbort, Boaz Davidson, Trevor Short. --© Lionsgate
[More]

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden, Graham McTavish

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden, Graham McTavish, Rey Gallegos, Jake LaBotz, Tim Kang, Ken Howard

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Director: Sylvester Stallone
Screenwriter: Sylvester Stallone, Art Monterastelli
Producer: Sylvester Stallone, Avi Lerner, John Thompson, Kevin King
Composer: Brian Tyler
Studio: Lions Gate Films

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Reviews for Rambo

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1 - 12 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Little more than a cartoon, Rambo caters only for those still smitten by the rat-a-tat of continuous gunfire.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
02/22/08
David Gritten
David Gritten
Guardian [UK]
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At times there is something weirdly comforting about the film's no-frills, fundamentalist zeal.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
02/22/08
Xan Brooks
Xan Brooks
Guardian [UK]
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Stallone may believe that he can turn back the clock to the golden era of his career, but I'm not convinced that this kind of brutal, bellicose naivety sits so well with audiences any more.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment 2 Comments
02/22/08
Wendy Ide
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]
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Rocky Balboa eventually aged gracefully but Rambo remains mired in gratuitous violence, dubious ideology and cheap sentiment. If anyone sees Stallone contemplating further adventures, don't push him.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
02/22/08
Leigh Singer
Leigh Singer
Channel 4 Film
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Less a war movie than a turkey shoot in a ketchup factory.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
02/22/08
Jamie Russell
Jamie Russell
BBC
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90 minutes of violence. No more, no less.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/22/08
David Jenkins
David Jenkins
Time Out
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Rambo could have been a satisfying romp - wherein bad dialogue and cardboard characters can be forgiven - but for the sin of making the main man step to the sidelines in favour of charisma-free fillers. Bad move, Sly...

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment 1 Comment
02/22/08
Roberto Sadovski
Roberto Sadovski
Empire Magazine
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Well-shot and well-edited violence porn.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/25/08
Mike Thomas
Mike Thomas
Chicago Sun-Times
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Rambo hits his stride in the film's second half, meting out justice in an unjust world and ultimately the movie works best when warbling its out-of-tune greatest hits.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
01/25/08
Kevin Crust
Kevin Crust
Los Angeles Times
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Stallone is smart enough -- or maybe dumb enough, though I tend to think not -- to present the mythic dimensions of the character without apology or irony. Welcome back.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
01/25/08
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
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Sorry Sly, not this time.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
01/24/08
Michael Rechtshaffen
Michael Rechtshaffen
Hollywood Reporter
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Stallone (who looks fit but mostly keeps his shirt on) has no intention of bogging the action down, but it's still a notably cheerless exercise, without knowing winks or stabs (pardon the expression) at humor.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
01/24/08
Brian Lowry
Brian Lowry
Variety
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1 - 12 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Rambo

September 08, 2009: Stallone Releases Synopsis, First Poster for Rambo 5 Opens in new window
You heard that the fifth "Rambo" was going to pit the titular hero against a drug-dealing slave ring, but as it turns out, Sylvester Stallone's plans for the next sequel are a... More...

August 31, 2009: Fifth Rambo Gets a Green Light Opens in new window
Sylvester Stallone will "fight his way through human traffickers and drug lords to rescue a young girl abducted near the U.S.-Mexico border" in the fifth "Rambo" installment,... More...

January 29, 2009: Stallone Mulling Over Another Rambo Opens in new window
Are you ready for more Rambo? Sylvester Stallone is -- and he's just told Extra that the only thing he needs to do is decide "whether to do it in America or a foreign country." More...

July 28, 2008: RT on DVD: Harold & Kumar, Doomsday and Dark City Director's Cut
Since we're all still recovering from Comic-Con 2008, and tons of new home video details dropped at the Largest Nerd Gathering in the World, it's time for RT on DVD: Geek... More...

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