{"id":20496,"date":"2019-09-21T01:35:57","date_gmt":"2019-09-21T01:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/?p=20496"},"modified":"2024-02-23T07:36:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T13:36:25","slug":"amb-rambo-last-blood-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/amb-rambo-last-blood-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"AMB: Rambo – Last Blood (2019)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h2>\n

[THE CHALK-OUTLINE]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rambo – Last Blood (2019): Breakdown by Kain424<\/span><\/h3>\n

After Mexican sex traffickers kidnap, rape, and kill his adopted niece, former killing machine and absolute action legend John Rambo gets revenge.<\/p>\n

[THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THEIR BADASSITUDE]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

THE GOOD GUY:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sylvester Stallone as \u201cUncle\u201d John Rambo<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

Rambo is old.\u00a0 He literally sits in a rocking chair in a couple of instances.\u00a0 But that doesn’t mean he’s not still incredibly dangerous.\u00a0 Stallone portrays Rambo as a bit meaner and more word-weary than we’ve seen him previously.\u00a0 But perhaps more importantly, we get to see him do something that the character has never done before: be afraid for someone else.\u00a0 He holds onto the hope his “niece” character represents, and after she’s gone he turns jet black and frightening.\u00a0 He goes from friendly cowboy grandpa at the start to a snarling, blood-soaked murder machine by the end.<\/p>\n

THE BAD GUYS:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sergio Peris-Mencheta<\/span> as Hugo Martinez<\/span> and \u00d3scar Jaenada<\/span> as Victor Martinez<\/span><\/h3>\n

Yes, Stallone wrote villains named Victor and Hugo.\u00a0 But that’s about as deep as this gets.\u00a0 Victor is more of the hothead of the two, with a penchant for carving a big letter “V” into the faces of those who cross him.\u00a0 Hugo is more of the guy in charge, but both are written to be about as evil and one-dimensional as a cartoon baddie.\u00a0 Just so you know they deserve everything coming to them.<\/p>\n

[THE SEX AND VIOLENCE]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

EXPLOITATION AND MISOGYNY:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The sex is rape and the violence is… horrific.\u00a0 Look, the Rambo films have always had a focus on violence inflicted upon the flesh.\u00a0 But I think the fifth film will test the mettle of most action fans and their ability to witness such deeds visited on other humans.\u00a0 We see people shot, chopped, burned, blown into bits, and impaled in an absolutely awe-inspiring number of ways.\u00a0 It’s as if Stallone only learned one lesson from the fourth installment: shock ’em with gore.<\/p>\n

And honestly, if it were just a gory film, I think we’d all give this movie an easy pass.\u00a0 I think this movie will be criticized for its treatment of its female characters, and probably rightfully so.\u00a0 Women have never had much of a place in Rambo’s ultraviolent world, and Last Blood<\/strong> is the opposite of an exception.\u00a0 The women (and due to its setting, mostly women of color) cower in the face of violence and oppression, waiting with bruised and battered bodies, tears in their eyes, for an old white man to save them.<\/p>\n

MURDER BY NUMBERS: [~50]<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is probably the lowest bodycount in a Rambo film since First Blood<\/strong><\/a>, but don’t let that fool you.\u00a0 Last Blood<\/strong> goes for quality over quantity.\u00a0 As mentioned above, this is one violent movie.\u00a0 When people’s heads start being blasted apart from close range shotguns and some of the most lethal traps this side of Home Alone<\/strong>, you cannot help but wince.\u00a0 If you like your film violence bloody, this may be the year’s best!<\/p>\n

[THE BEST OF THE REST]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

BEST GUNFIGHT:<\/span><\/h3>\n

Rambo vs Sex Trafficking Cartel in the tunnels<\/span><\/h3>\n

Rambo has a series of tunnels built around his ranch.\u00a0 He also has a decent number of traps set up for his would-be killers.\u00a0 Think of Skyfall<\/strong>.\u00a0 Think of medieval torture devices.\u00a0 Mix those with the horrifying death and gore of the Saw<\/strong> films, and you get the idea.\u00a0 It’s totally brutal and amazing.<\/p>\n

BEST LINE:<\/span><\/h3>\n

Rambo has lost everything that means anything to him.\u00a0 And he hopes to visit that pain upon his foes in a more literal sense:<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m going to cut him open and tear out his heart, so he knows how it feels!\u201d<\/h4>\n

[THE EXECUTION]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
Mother Figure of deceased girl: “I’m going to be sad until the day I die.”<\/em><\/h5>\n
John Rambo: “Yeah.”<\/em><\/h5>\n

There was always a question of whether or not the Rambo films could make it in the modern world.\u00a0 Popular politics change.\u00a0 Audience tastes change.\u00a0 But Rambo?\u00a0 What even is Rambo anymore, but the poster-child of a long-forgotten film genre?\u00a0 In today’s comic book-focused world, where CGI is king and political correctness is the law of the land, how can a 70 year old white man be a hero?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Well, Last Blood<\/strong> firmly wears its old style on its sleeve.\u00a0 There are many callbacks to “the old way” seen throughout.\u00a0 Rambo wears the stylings of a cowboy through much of the early parts of the film, signalling his Western origins.\u00a0 But he’s also seen constantly working.\u00a0 A busybody of few words.\u00a0 He’s an old-fashioned man with an old woman on one side of him and a young girl on the other.\u00a0 He doesn’t seem to fit anywhere, but he’s made a place for himself here.\u00a0 And he wants us to believe it’s home.\u00a0 But we all know better.<\/p>\n

Like Paul Kersey, John Rambo can never know true peace.\u00a0 Conflict of outrageous proportion will always find him.\u00a0 And this time, when it does, Rambo gets to get dirty.\u00a0 Few movies in the mainstream get to reach the vile depths of this one, which is both a strength and a weakness for the fifth entry of this series.\u00a0 It’s a strength because, as a legacy genre character, Rambo is uniquely qualified to dish out the level of violence on display here.\u00a0 But it’s a weakness in that it feels like over-tread territory.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Back when Taken<\/strong><\/a> came out, I commented on how the film was springboarding off the success of Sylvester Stallone’s then-recent successes with Rocky Balboa<\/strong> and Rambo<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 And similar to how I felt watching the ant scene in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull<\/strong> rip off the scarab bits from The Mummy<\/strong>, it’s just an odd thing to see Last Blood<\/strong> take the broader plot points of Taken<\/strong> and fuse them together with bits from Skyfall<\/strong> and more.\u00a0 I feel like the Rambo films should be above that sort of genre cannibalism.<\/p>\n

If Rambo is to get in the middle of a sex trafficking story, it almost feels like they should have taken notes from Dolph Lundgren’s B-movie action extravaganza, Skin Trade<\/strong>.\u00a0 There could at least be some fun had in that sort of thing.\u00a0 But instead, the movie is bogged down in some truly despicable and depressing scenarios.\u00a0 Mind you, this is entirely subjective.\u00a0 And I can see how this is something of a natural progression from the gritty fourth film.<\/p>\n

When Rambo III<\/strong><\/a> came out, Guinness Book of World Records<\/em> called it the most violent movie ever made.\u00a0 Stallone, perhaps burned by the critical non-success of that entry, clearly took note.\u00a0 Which brings us to Last Blood<\/strong>.\u00a0 How does this series continue in the modern world?\u00a0 By making it pack a wet, meaty punch of sadistic violence.\u00a0 I remember watching the fourth film in the theaters and having to look away when a small child was tossed into a raging fire.\u00a0 I love my movies violent, and even I couldn’t deal with that.\u00a0 This movie takes that level of barbarity and uses it almost exclusively against its one-dimensional villains.\u00a0 And honestly, the movie is probably better for it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So I’m not saying the movie is awful.\u00a0 It has some old-fashioned problems, what with its easily hijackable social leanings and dim view of life outside the rural American homestead.\u00a0 But it’s still fairly gripping, and Sly has spent enough time thinking of cinematic ways to kill people to make the entire climax play like gangbusters.\u00a0 But this is kind of a bittersweet viewing for me.\u00a0 Rambo was not my favorite of the cheeseburger death machine action flicks of the 80s, but he was the face of them.\u00a0 I just feel he could have ended on a more poignant note than blood-soaked bad-assery.\u00a0 I’m reminded of a quote from Col. Trautman in the first film<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“However he may have ended up, there was a time when he was very special.”<\/em><\/h5>\n

Indeed.<\/p>\n

[THE MORAL OF THE STORY]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t be a sex trafficker.<\/p>\n

[THE AOBG ACTION CHECKLIST]<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n

[X] Athlete(s) Turned \u201cActor\u201d
\n[ ] Clinging To The Outside Of A Moving Vehicle
\n[X] Crotch Attack
\n[ ] Dialogue Telling Us How Bad-Ass The Main Character(s) Is\/Are
\n[\u00a0 ] Ending Featuring An Ambulance, A Blanket or A Towel
\n[ ] Factory\/Warehouse\/Castle
\n[X] Giant Explosion(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Heavy Artillery
\n[X] Improvised Weapon(s)
\n[X] Macho Mode(s) Of Transportation
\n[X] Main Character Sports Facial Accessory(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Manly Embrace(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Notorious Stunt-Man Sighting
\n[X] Passage(s) Of Time Via Montage
\n[X] Politically Fueled Plot Point(s)
\n[X] Senseless Destruction Of Property
\n[X] Shoot Out(s) and\/or Sword Fight(s)
\n[X] Slow-Motion Finishing Move(s)\/Death(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Stupid Authoritative Figure(s)
\n[X] Substance Usage and\/or Abuse
\n[\u00a0 ] Tis The Season
\n[X] Torture Sequence(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Unnecessary Sequel
\n[\u00a0 ] Vehicle Chase(s)
\n[X] Vigilante Justice<\/strong><\/h3>\n

[TOTAL: 14 outta 25]<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

“I’m you’re last nightmare.”<\/h2>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[THE CHALK-OUTLINE] Rambo – Last Blood (2019): Breakdown by Kain424 After Mexican sex traffickers kidnap, rape, and kill his adopted niece, former killing machine and absolute action legend John Rambo gets revenge. [THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THEIR BADASSITUDE] THE GOOD GUY: Sylvester Stallone as \u201cUncle\u201d John Rambo Rambo is old.\u00a0 He literally sits in … Read moreAMB: Rambo – Last Blood (2019)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[77,2184,2183,1601],"class_list":["post-20496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-reviews","tag-amb","tag-last-blood","tag-rambo","tag-sylvester-stallone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20496"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34342,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20496\/revisions\/34342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}