Oh John Rambo, how I will miss you...
I had high hopes for this film, never expecting anything superior but at least in line with the previous films. But the film is rushed, too short, and just plain oddly done in ways that totally contradict the previous movies and the Rambo character himself. The end result is a mixed bag, at best.
The film starts out with zero explanation as to why Rambo is on a farm, where it's at, and why he's living there, though anyone halfway paying attention would realize he's in the southwest USA. Seriously, a simple title card or even some minor montage could have explained all of that in a few seconds and better moved the plot along. I don't know why he cares about these characters that he's known for some time now, but we don't have time for that apparently because the plot is going to move along in the next few minutes thanks to crap editing techniques.
The only hint that Rambo was a Vietnam vet and suffers from PTSD are some super quick scenes of old photos that he apparently was hiding in his backpack all these years (frames and all?), his collection of guns, knives, medications, occasional war flashbacks, and whatever else is stored in a series of tunnels on the farm (and yes he sleeps down there). Did the farm owner have a problem with him digging all that up? Did he use a backhoe or just a standard issue army shovel because, you know, Rambo can do that all by his lonesome. Again, no explanation whatsoever is given, but he does brush the horses and train them so you know, it's all good. For now, at least.
His "niece" has a small party in the tunnel with her friends, which seems oddly non-Rambo like from a tactical/defensive standpoint, but it's all a setup for her to discuss wanting to go back to Mexico to meet her a-hole father and try to establish a connection with him. The friends are never seen nor heard from again. There are further minor attempts at doing character development, but they are cut down to the bare bones so much that what is left just feels like a "best of" compilation of scenes from another film than anything else. So just accept it and know that it's important because bad things will happen very soon.
Naturally, his "niece" defies logic/reasoning from Rambo and the lady of the house (her aunt?), and goes on to meet her a-hole father in Mexico only to wind up in a sex trafficking ring that no one saw coming a mile away. Rambo is asked to go rescue her, but by doing so makes some really stupid decisions that are totally against his character.
Are his Green Beret skills needing a tune up? I would have thought he could do all this in his sleep. He starts off with some promise (and where I expected things to take off from an action standpoint), but then gets beaten to a pulp and rescued by some stranger who really serves no other purpose but to save him. Rambo gets a concussion, but just sleeps it off and is ready for action again. Just like in real life.
Rambo goes back to save the girl again (his badass-ness magically returns, concussion a non-factor apparently) and then saves her, only for her to die on the way home. Rambo buries her on the farm and goes back YET AGAIN, killing much of the sex traffickers, but only after prepping the farm for what will be "the big showdown" with said traffickers later, by laying a series of traps that all Green Berets probably do in their spare time.
When they finally do catch up to him on the farm, all the traps that Rambo set get put to use - he kills everyone, gets injured in the process, and really kills the last bad guy in a horrible, gory, and oddly satisfying sort of way. The he sits on the porch of the house in a chair and, after a montage of Rambo's actions from previous films (huh what?) gets on a horse and rides away (injuries shminjuries, he'll be fine)...
Wow....not what I was expecting at all, though seeing Rambo be a super angry badass was definitely the highlight of this film. It's all a setup for the few action scenes and the big showdown at the end, where obviously all the time was spent making this movie. It all would have worked much better if it allowed the characters to live and breath, and also explain things a bit better. Reviewers slammed Rambo 4 back when it came out, but it has more character depth and explanation of the motivations for why Rambo does what he does than this film by a country mile.
Maybe we'll get lucky and a director's cut will come out with a better edit.
Until then, it's definitely over Johnny...
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