In 1982’s First Blood, John Rambo, played by Sylvester Stallone, was a drifter Vietnam veteran mistreated by the law in his hometown. The sheriff’s cruelty toward Rambo triggered flashbacks to when he was a prisoner of war, which sent him on a bloody tirade.
Now 37 years later, he’s just an old dude sitting on his porch in Arizona waiting to kill some people. Unfortunately, this is the only arch Last Blood gives Rambo.
Rambo’s niece goes to Mexico to meet her father, but she’s abducted by traffickers. Surely enough, the action hero we’ve come to tolerate crosses the border to track down her abductors by any means necessary.
This fifth installment in the Rambo series is completely unnecessary with a stale plot, little action, and too short of a run time (but maybe that’s a good thing).
Just as the body count Rambo piles, the amount of revenge flicks like this are staggering and Last Blood is another forgetful edition. There’s really no difference to having Rambo in this movie; it could be anyone. The only link to Rambo is just a couple medals in the hallway (but who knows, they could’ve been for Stallone’s Razzie awards).
Despite the plot’s bare bones, there’s barely any action. Up until the last 15 minutes, it’s mostly just Rambo mumbling about something or tracking down people. I’m sure he was talking about something important like family or his nap time.
And even when there’s action, it’s a joke. There’s so much gore and traps that it feels more like a Saw flick. With spikes piercing through bodies and blades slicing off heads, Rambo’s missing the red swirls on his cheeks.
Above all, its ending is laughable. I think most of the theater was shocked of how gruesome it got, which wasn’t good for when I laughed aloud.
They were also shocked at how fast the movie went. At an hour and a half, it felt way too compressed. If the director wanted to torture people for longer, he could’ve added some more time to develop Rambo better.
But thank God he spared us because I was up to my last nerve with Last Blood. Please make it like Rambo and sit on your porch for this one.
IMAGE TAKEN from Variety.com
