John Rambo, macho action hero and post-Vietnam icon, is alive and well in Thailand, having renounced his country of origin. He lumbers through the jungles, catching snakes and working iron for a living, until a group of Christian missionaries show up and ask him to take them up river into Burmese territory. At first, Rambo, who knows the heart of darkness, refuses; he tells them, “go home”. However, the pretty blonde (Julie Benz) convinces him that there may be goodness in the world still, and up the river they go. Of course, things go wrong for the missionaries, and Rambo needs to clean up the mess. We learn that Rambo can still use his bow and arrow, and that death is imminent for many.
As in the first film, Rambo is a conflicted man, uncertain still about his place in the world. He is as complex as a Rambo can be, which doesn’t say much. At least he’s more developed than the men of the Burmese military, who are without exception murderous, sadistic bastards. The worst of them is the shades-wearing, smoking (so he must be evil) general/commander/chief (I don’t know) with a penchant for young boys. I have a problem with movies using actual war crimes as springboards for spectacle-driven, mindless slaughter. Put this film next to Joffe’s “The Killing Fields” for some perspective. In a DVD extra feature, Stallone explains that the film raised awareness about the real situation in Myanmar (maybe it did, maybe it didn’t; would the fans care?); that doesn’t excuse the film from using that gruesome conflict for a cash-in on a two decade old franchise. Socio-political qualms aside, the film has lots of action and gore, but when all is said and done, barely 80 minutes have passed (in fact, I think it’s closer to 75 minutes) and, like one of Rambo’s numerous victims, you can’t help feeling that you’ve been done in.
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