Directed by:
Adrian GrunbergCinematography:
Brendan GalvinComposer:
Brian TylerCast:
Sylvester Stallone, Paz Vega, Joaquín Cosio, Yvette Monreal, Óscar Jaenada, Sheila Shah, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Adriana Barraza, Jessica Madsen, Owen Davis (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Almost four decades after he drew first blood, John Rambo is back. Now, Rambo must confront his past and unearth his ruthless combat skills to exact revenge in a final mission. (Lionsgate US)
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Reviews (12)
This B-movie works thanks to nostalgia for John Rambo and Sly. And also thanks to the sufficient work with emotions (however basic they may be). Last Blood takes its time and gives plenty of space to all of its few characters in the simple story. Because of that, the climax is surprising and seems unpleasantly rushed, while lacking the energy accumulated in the build-up and coming up short with the catharsis that the film was aiming for and which should have been substantially more powerful.
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Eighty minutes of tired old-man melancholy without a drop of action and fifteen minutes of a sped-up Home Alone ripoff. This is, in short, Rambo: Last Blood. Did anyone actually want that? After a high-quality, action-packed and especially ballbusting fourth movie, which should have ended the series with all its dignity intact, came this practically unjustifiable lullaby, built on a banal script and forced emotions for one-dimensional supporting character shoehorned into an established series, who the audience is expected to feel for. A forgettable sequel with ugly CGI effects and a picture undeserving of the character John Rambo.
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The trailers didn't promise a fundamentally accomplished film, but I still believed I would get one in the cinema. Well, I didn't. The Fifth Rambo is not very good , but not because of the craftsmanship, lack of action or cheapness. Rather, it's because it's not really Rambo. It's more like Emo-Rambo. Sylvester Stallone spends an hour and a quarter trying to look like a man struggling with his inner demons and a past of violence, but appreciating that something good has finally come into his life. And it takes him a hell of a long time to turn into the Rambo we know and love (or at least I do). We don't really see any action until the last half hour and it's extremely brutal and for a while I felt like I was watching a crossover of Saw and Friday the 13th rather than Rambo, but I didn't mind. What bothered me was the hour and a quarter before that, in which they completely nonsensically devote space to new characters and try to explore the inner workings of a cinematic warrior. Regardless of the fact that there's not really much there, and we already saw the little there is in the fourth outing. If it weren't called Rambo, I'd probably be more forgiving of this whiny B movie and the wait for the finale. But as a conclusion to a classic action franchise, it's unnecessary at best. And quite sad at times.
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The story is simple as a Justin Bieber fan, but surprisingly it does makes sense. Like the previous episodes, this is a prime Republican flick, where even the Bulgarian production background doesn't matter. And Stallone, even though he's over seventy, is still badass, he doesn't come across as over-the-top in his iconic position, and it never occurred to me while watching that he should call it a day. And many thanks for the lack of political correctness, Sly never gave a toss about that.
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Rambo could actually choose between two genres. Either following in the footsteps of the first installment, it could have been a drama about war trauma or the godless action carnage of an unbreakable machine along the lines of all the other installments. Except it doesn't have a second option because of the protagonist's limitations, and it's too stupid for the first one. Because of the protagonist's limitations. Sylvester Stallone is one of Hollywood's most annoying stars. His incessant need for self-presentation, dabbling in scripting and production, grandiose declarations and the gloriola of his own supposed wise old man's modesty twisted the entirety of Rambo: Last Blood into a very agonizingly twisted corpse that is incapable of meeting even the simplest expectations of an action movie. The first twenty minutes are a celebration of honest work, in which we watch a sweaty Stallone exercise a horse, a sweaty Stallone hammer a nail, a sweaty Stallone spin some wheels, or a sweaty Stallone forge an iron bar. There are no action scenes in the film, just a bunch of shots of the protagonist hitting someone with a hammer or a knife. The final confusion, where we watch fifty people casually walking down identical corridors and randomly falling into some traps, is the most disturbing film finale of the year. Most importantly, please make this 'old-school and honest' spectacle all animated next time. Who's supposed to watch those digital flames and funny pools of blood?
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