Rambo

It seems like any discussion about a belated sequel to a series of 80s action flicks that were basically an excuse for Sylvester Stallone to run around exotic locales with his shirt off and singlehandedly annihilate whole foreign armies...should begin with a laugh.

But there's nothing very funny about this latest Rambo. It takes itself quite seriously, and it actually allows us to do the same (unlike its predecessors). It begins with actual footage of atrocities being committed in Burma, in what we are told is the longest ongoing civil war in history. Civilians are being harassed and slaughtered by the Burmese army, and from the outset the film strikes a very gritty, sober tone.

We discover right away that our old friend John Rambo - the Vietnam vet with nobody and nothing save an incredibly violent disgust for injustice - has been hiding out in the jungles outside of the Burmese war zone. He's rounding up cobras for the local snake fights and drifting around in an aging boat. He has quietly accepted the cold truth that the world stinks.

A group of missionaries show up, informed by the local embassy that Rambo is an American with a boat, and ask Rambo if he will take them into Burma where they will hand out Bible materials and do medical work. Rambo flat out refuses, and tells them quite tersely that it's too dangerous and there's nothing they can do that will make any difference. The sole woman in the group, a very sympathetic character, shows persistence, and eventually convinces Rambo that, at the very least, it's not wasting his life to try and save others.

He cautiously takes them upriver into the war zone. Along the journey, a boat full of Burmese pirates approaches Rambo's boat and demands that they fork over everything they are carrying. Rambo remains calm, telling the pirates that he has respect for them - until the pirates insist that they have the woman missionary too...and this is when Rambo finally loses it. He grabs the yelling pirate's gun and deftly mows down everyone standing on that boat. The John Rambo we all know and love is back.

The missionaries, though extremely shaken, convince Rambo that they must keep going - that they made a commitment to help the people of Burma. Rambo drops them off and they soon begin their work with the people of a local village. Almost immediately, the Burmese army shows up and absolutely decimates the entire village. (This involves some of the most grisly carnage I have ever seen in a movie.) The missionaries, or at least most of them, are carted off and imprisoned at the army's camp.

When the missionaries don't show up back at home, the pastor of their church hires some battle-hardened mercenaries to go in and bring them back out. They are taken up river by - you guessed it - Rambo, and the familiar rescue operation begins. Much blood is spilt, and plenty of revenge is had.

Warnings
There's quite a bit of language. Rambo isn't afraid to say what's on his callused mind, and the mercenaries that enter about halfway through the picture aren't exactly sweet and cuddly characters.

There is some very brief nudity, in the context of violence being done to the villagers. So, while it is not ideal, it is not glamorized or erotic in any way. If anything, it just adds to the unsettling tone of the tragedy unfolding before us.

The primary warning for seeing this film is the violence. Stallone himself said he intended to make it the most violent movie ever made. I don't know if it achieves that distinction, but it is extremely violent. Blood, limbs, guts, bodies on fire, beheadings, knivings, mine explosions, rapes...it doesn't get much more ghastly than this. But that is the whole point - to show, without any downplaying or merciful cutaways, the appalling travesty being committed against the people of Burma. This is only Stallone's justification, not necessarily mine; but it serves to tell that the violence in Rambo is not gratuitous for entertainment's sake, but rather to make a point. We are supposed to feel uncomfortable with things that really happen.

Redeeming value?
I have to admit, I really enjoyed this film. It was well-crafted, well-told, and engaging. I do feel that its message is a bit muddy. It says that there is a right and a wrong, that it's worth risking your lives to help others, and that injustice ought to be righted; but the righting of violent injustice in Rambo is fighting fire with fire. Rambo lashes back at the soldiers here with the same relentless, merciless fury that they show to the villagers. Revenge is easily a trait we can attribute to Rambo, though his scope is bigger than personal injury. In many ways he's just like Superman, only he's not afraid to lay absolute waste to the bad guys.

It scares me a little that I found the violence unleashed by Rambo cathartic. Now, I'm not inspired to go de-bowel all the evil in the world; I don't think I have any dormant desire to kill or hurt other human beings. But this movie was so effective in creating a genuine uncomfortable tension concerning the welfare of the victims, that when Rambo lashes back it feels good. I know that the answer to violence is not more violence, that we are to turn the other cheek, and that a human life - any human life - is of the highest value. Perhaps this film is best accepted as an allegory. Horrible, unspeakable evil happens; but never fear, for the good is around to serve justice to the evil, and good is stronger and smarter than evil.

Maybe that's too much of a stretch. Maybe I do have an innate bloodlust that was stimulated by this bloody movie. But in the end, this film ignited both a love for justice and a passionate hatred for evil within me. And if you take that at face value, I would have to consider it redeeming.