.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

For all the Letterman jokes, the use of the character in political cartoons and the referencing of his name when speaking about brute force tactics, Rambo has always had a special place in film going history. I remember seeing the first film, First Blood advertised in the Entertainment section of the paper and then running to the video store to wear out my VHS copy that I purchased for the same price you can buy a low end DVD player today. When Rambo: First Blood Part II was released in 1985, I walked miles to a multiplex with screens not much larger than today's home theatre systems and did a threesome of Rambo, Fright Night then Rambo again.

The third film which pitted our violent hero against the Russians in Afghanistan got me to the mall theatre's before the mall even opened and I waited outside the front doors, pacing back and forth waiting for the security persons to open the doors and let me get in line at the box office.

Rambo III was almost 20 years ago now and even as I have specific fond memories of specific scenes in each film (the shooting of the gun in the air inside the building in First Blood, the eyes opening behind the Vietnam enemy in the mud in Part II and the igniting of gunpowder in the through and through hole in his side in Part III), I too did lose a bit of the appreciation for what the character stood for and laughed off the Part IV rumors that started appearing in the Trades just over a year ago.

Just how far as Rambo fallen off the radar? Well, before getting all gussied up for my theatre experience, I called upon those that accompanied me to the theatre 20 years ago to see if they wanted to bask in the Rambo familiarity. Nope. Not a one wanted to go. Nor did my girlfriend. Not my best friend. Nope. No one. Even went to family and started to offer strangers a free ticket and maybe even popcorn. Nary a sole. Rambo created about as much excitement in my circles as our yearly colonoscopy's.

But that didn't deter me, and when it was all over and I was heading back home to report on the whole experience, I had a grin hurting my dimples and was damn glad I went to the theatre to book-end the future box set.

Rambo (2008) has our reluctant hero working as a snake catcher in Thailand. Rambo looks tired and every bit his age. But a group of missionaries and doctors convince him to take them upriver to village in war torn Burma in what I felt was an interesting exchange. Seems that living in a country for years where no one speaks the language has helped Rambo grasp the English linguistic tongue. He says more to Sarah and fellow doctor Michael Bennett (Paul Schulze) in the first few scenes than he had lines in the first three films combined. He questions their efforts - "Are you bringing in any weapons?", he asks. "Of course not", replies Bennett. "You ain't changing anything…". But we all know that Rambo has a soft spot through all that muscle and damned if he doesn't get sucked into Sarah's wishes and is soon transporting them all in his oversized canoe.

Rambo takes out a few river pirates along the way and then returns to go about his unhappy existence. But we all know that won't last and it doesn't more than 10 minutes when another American turns up at his shelter and informs him that the missionaries were taken by the Burmese army. He politely asks for Rambo's help in escorting a bunch of mercenaries to the same area where the Sarah and her troupe were last seen. This time Rambo doesn't put up much resistance. "When do we leave?" is his quick response as if he is a shark that can smell the blood and wants to quench its appetite.

What happens over the rescue attempt is a ridiculous blood bath of gratuitous violence that had me reaching into my memory banks to see if I could come up with an equivalent American film that could match the violence and blood spewing that Rambo 2008 thrusts over my barrel of popcorn.

This doesn't make Rambo a great film. But it is a good one. Thanks largely in part to Stallone that also had a hand in the writing and directed the fourth effort. Stallone understands the character and didn't try and reinvent him for the new millennium. Rambo, John J., is about a killing machine that seems almost unstoppable once he gets going. And in Rambo 2008, he does just that. I can argue that you won't find a film where more bodies are chopped by gunfire, more heads are blown to smithereens, where arrows puncture heads like oranges and claymore mines are as easy to deploy as the turning on of a kitchen faucet.

Stallone also did right by the enemies in Rambo 2008. The Cold War is long over and Stallone went across the world to bring us our new enemy. With the Burmese baddies, he gives us deplorable individuals that kill for fun by having villagers run through mine fields or being shot indiscriminately. They use pigs in their torture and have about as much moral value as my bathroom wallpaper. In short, its not enough just to have the enemy lose, we want to see them get mowed down and annihilated. Cue Rambo.

When Rambo is finally done with all the killing and his truck mounted gun has chopped just about everyone in a uniform in half, you will have the adrenaline flowing through your veins and goosebumps popping on your arms.

Not perfect, the dialogue is sometimes laughable; "Where you going?", Sarah is asked on the small boat as if there is actually anywhere to go other than one step back or into the water and some others groanable' "When you're pushed, killing is as easy as breathing". But it sure is fun between the down parts.

Rambo might not be as good as the first or second affairs, but it sure was nice to see a familiar face again.