Post by Rob W. Case on Feb 19, 2020 18:16:40 GMT -6
The Story:
Vietnam veteran John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is living a quiet life with his old friend and confidant Maria Beltran (Adriana Barraza) and her daughter Gabriela (Yvette Monreal), raising horses on a ranch in Arizona. Gabriela’s curiosities about her real father prompts her to want to seek him out in Mexico. Yet when she brings the idea to Rambo, her idealistic notions about the world, and his real-world experiences in it clash. Gabriela says to him, “my world is a lot different from yours” to where Rambo responds, “No its not, it’s worse.” Gabriela then says, “No it’s not. People don’t just act bad for no reason.” Rambo then stresses that “you don’t know how bad it is. I know how black a man’s heart could be. There’s nothing good out there Gabrielle.” Thinking that her father could have changed, Rambo does his best to assure her that he hasn’t, and when she brings up the notion that he (meaning Rambo himself) has, he assures her that he hasn’t, and that he keeps a lid on it every day.
Despite Rambo’s advice, Gabriela pursues meeting her father anyway with the help of her friend Gizelle (Finessa Pineda). Upon arriving at her father’s house, she is deeply disheartened by the reality that Rambo was trying to warn her about. To relax and take her mind off of the blow, Gizelle takes Gabriela clubbing. It is in there that Gabriela is drugged and kidnapped by a violent cartel and sold into a human trafficking ring. Meanwhile back at home, curiosity is looming over the whereabouts of Gabriela. Gezel calls Maria and tells her that Gabriela has disappeared. And so, Rambo heads out to Mexico to try and find her. In his quest, the danger thickens to immeasurable degrees as he sees Gezel wearing the bracelet Gabriela’s mother gave to Gabriela, and it is not before long that he pursues the cartel, who roughs him up pretty badly. Trying to rescue Gabriela with the last ounce of strength he has, he tries hard to at least get her out and run.
Things take on a heavy twist and turn from there, as Rambo ends up booby trapping the tunnels (Vietnam style) under his ranch, and tapping into the “blackness of their hearts” to use as bait to lure them there. It is there, the “lid” in him, so to speak, "comes off', and the “beast” from within takes over in an effort to execute ultimate vengeance.
My Take:
From the surface, this particular Rambo film sounds like a pure carnage fest. And while in some cases it is, there is a bit more to it than that. The idea kind of reminded me somewhat of the 2014 film “The Equalizer” where the main character tries to live a life of peace and quiet, but then things happen, and it ultimately unleashes the “beast” from within. In Rambo’s case, the blackness of his heart is released to the extent that it results in numerous fatalities and total destruction beginning from within and extending outward. And seeing “blackness of heart” match wits against “blackness of heart” makes the action in this movie very potent. From that standpoint, this is where I believe the film gets more interesting.
Out of 4 stars, I give Rambo: Last Blood 2 and a half.
Rambo: Last Blood is rated R and runs 1 hour and 40 minutes.
To view a trailer for the film, please click on the link below.
Rambo: Last Blood is now available on 4K-UHD, Blu-Ray, DVD, and is also streaming on multiple streaming services. It is also currently available to rent at Redbox kiosk machines everywhere.
Vietnam veteran John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is living a quiet life with his old friend and confidant Maria Beltran (Adriana Barraza) and her daughter Gabriela (Yvette Monreal), raising horses on a ranch in Arizona. Gabriela’s curiosities about her real father prompts her to want to seek him out in Mexico. Yet when she brings the idea to Rambo, her idealistic notions about the world, and his real-world experiences in it clash. Gabriela says to him, “my world is a lot different from yours” to where Rambo responds, “No its not, it’s worse.” Gabriela then says, “No it’s not. People don’t just act bad for no reason.” Rambo then stresses that “you don’t know how bad it is. I know how black a man’s heart could be. There’s nothing good out there Gabrielle.” Thinking that her father could have changed, Rambo does his best to assure her that he hasn’t, and when she brings up the notion that he (meaning Rambo himself) has, he assures her that he hasn’t, and that he keeps a lid on it every day.
Despite Rambo’s advice, Gabriela pursues meeting her father anyway with the help of her friend Gizelle (Finessa Pineda). Upon arriving at her father’s house, she is deeply disheartened by the reality that Rambo was trying to warn her about. To relax and take her mind off of the blow, Gizelle takes Gabriela clubbing. It is in there that Gabriela is drugged and kidnapped by a violent cartel and sold into a human trafficking ring. Meanwhile back at home, curiosity is looming over the whereabouts of Gabriela. Gezel calls Maria and tells her that Gabriela has disappeared. And so, Rambo heads out to Mexico to try and find her. In his quest, the danger thickens to immeasurable degrees as he sees Gezel wearing the bracelet Gabriela’s mother gave to Gabriela, and it is not before long that he pursues the cartel, who roughs him up pretty badly. Trying to rescue Gabriela with the last ounce of strength he has, he tries hard to at least get her out and run.
Things take on a heavy twist and turn from there, as Rambo ends up booby trapping the tunnels (Vietnam style) under his ranch, and tapping into the “blackness of their hearts” to use as bait to lure them there. It is there, the “lid” in him, so to speak, "comes off', and the “beast” from within takes over in an effort to execute ultimate vengeance.
My Take:
From the surface, this particular Rambo film sounds like a pure carnage fest. And while in some cases it is, there is a bit more to it than that. The idea kind of reminded me somewhat of the 2014 film “The Equalizer” where the main character tries to live a life of peace and quiet, but then things happen, and it ultimately unleashes the “beast” from within. In Rambo’s case, the blackness of his heart is released to the extent that it results in numerous fatalities and total destruction beginning from within and extending outward. And seeing “blackness of heart” match wits against “blackness of heart” makes the action in this movie very potent. From that standpoint, this is where I believe the film gets more interesting.
Out of 4 stars, I give Rambo: Last Blood 2 and a half.
Rambo: Last Blood is rated R and runs 1 hour and 40 minutes.
To view a trailer for the film, please click on the link below.
Rambo: Last Blood is now available on 4K-UHD, Blu-Ray, DVD, and is also streaming on multiple streaming services. It is also currently available to rent at Redbox kiosk machines everywhere.