Rambo (2008 film)

Rambo
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sylvester Stallone
Produced by	Avi Lerner Kevin King Templeton John Thompson
Written by	Art Monterastelli Sylvester Stallone
Based on	Characters by David Morrell
Starring	Sylvester Stallone Julie Benz Paul Schulze Matthew Marsden Graham McTavish Rey Gallegos Tim Kang Jake La Botz Maung Maung Khin Ken Howard
Music by	Brian Tyler
Cinematography	Glen MacPherson
Edited by	Sean Albertson
Production company	Millennium Films Nu Image Films Emmett/Furla Films for Equity Pictures Medienfonds GmbH[1]
Distributed by	Lionsgate The Weinstein Company
Release dates	January 25, 2008 (2008-01-25)
Running time	92 minutes (Theatrical) 99 minutes (Extended)
Country	United States Germany
Language	English
Budget	$50 million[2]
Box office	$113.2 million

Rambo is a 2008 action film directed, co-written by and starring Sylvester Stallone^[3] reprising his iconic role as Vietnam veteran John Rambo. It is the fourth and final installment in the Rambo franchise, set twenty years after the events of the previous film, Rambo III. This film is dedicated to the memory of Richard Crenna, who played the character Colonel Sam Trautman in the previous three films, and who died of heart failure in 2003.

The film is about John Rambo (Stallone), a hardened former Green Beret, who is hired by a church pastor to help rescue a group of missionaries who were kidnapped by men from a brutal Burmese military regime.

The film grossed $113,244,290 during its run at the international box office. After its home video release, it grossed $41,500,683 in DVD sales.^[4] The film had its cable television premiere on Spike TV on July 11, 2010. However, it was the extended cut that was broadcast, not the theatrical version. The extended cut was released on Blu-ray two weeks later.

Plot

Twenty years after the events in Afghanistan, amid the political protests of the Saffron Revolution in Burma (Myanmar), ruthless SPDC officer Major Pa Tee Tint leads an army to pillage small villages in a campaign of fear. He sadistically slaughters innocent villagers and orders teenage boys to be drafted into his army.

Meanwhile, ex-Special Forces operative John Rambo now lives in Thailand, where he makes a living capturing and selling snakes as well as taxiing people along the Salween River on his boat. A missionary named Michael Burnett approaches Rambo and hires him to ferry his group into Burma on a humanitarian mission to provide aid to Karen tribespeople. Rambo initially refuses, but another missionary named Sarah Miller persuades him to help them. During their trip, the boat is stopped by Burmese pirates who demand Sarah in exchange for passage. After negotiations fail, Rambo shoots the pirates. Michael is greatly disturbed by Rambo's actions. Upon arriving in Burma, Michael sends him back, claiming they will go on without his help, and that he intends to report Rambo's actions to the authorities. The missionaries are helping a village when the army attack, killing most of the villagers and two missionaries and kidnap the rest, including Michael and Sarah.

When the missionaries fail to return, their pastor asks Rambo to guide a team of five mercenaries to the village where the missionaries were last seen. Rambo agrees and accompanies the mercenaries to the drop-off, where the team's leader Lewis demands he stay at the boat. As the mercenary team arrives at the village, they find it completely destroyed, filled with mutilated corpses. Shortly after, a squad of soldiers show up with a group of hostages and force them to run through a rice paddy with landmines, and betting on the outcome. Outnumbered, the mercenaries take cover, reluctantly planning to wait for them to leave. To their shock, Rambo shows up and singlehandedly wipes out the soldiers with his bow and arrow, allowing the hostages to escape unscathed. Rambo convinces the mercenaries to avenge the villagers and save the hostages at the P.O.W. camp. They infiltrate the camp and rescue the prisoners, including Sarah. They flee, pursued by Tint's soldiers. Rambo manages to get rid of a pursuit team with an unexploded Tallboy bomb from World War II. However, the army manage to capture everyone except for Rambo, Sarah, and the mercenary sniper nicknamed School Boy. As the army prepares to execute the mercenaries and hostages, Rambo hijacks a jeep-mounted heavy machine gun and begins shooting at the soldiers. A firefight ensues and the army suffer heavy casualties. The Karen rebels show up and join the fight, quickly overwhelming the army. Tint, realizing his defeat, attempts to escape the area, but Rambo intercepts and disembowels him.

In the final scene, Rambo, encouraged by Sarah's words, returns to the United States. He walks along an Arizona highway until he sees a horse farm and a rusted mailbox. Reading the name "R. Rambo," Rambo smiles and walks down the gravel driveway as the credits roll.

Cast

• Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo
• Julie Benz as Sarah Miller
• Paul Schulze as Michael Burnett
• Matthew Marsden as School Boy
• Graham McTavish as Lewis
• Reynaldo Gallegos as Diaz
• Tim Kang as En-Joo
• Jake La Botz as Reese
• Ken Howard as Father Marsh
• Maung Maung Khin as Tint
• Supakorn Kitsuwon as Myint
• Richard Crenna as Colonel Sam Trautman (Flashbacks and stock footage)

Production

In between the making of the third and fourth films in the Rambo franchise, the films' original producer, Carolco Pictures, went out of business. In 1997, Miramax Films purchased the Rambo franchise.^[5] The following year, Miramax subsidiary Dimension Films intended to make another film, and a writer was hired to pen the script, but any attempts to make it were deterred by Stallone, who had stated that he no longer wanted to make action movies.^[6] In 2005, the studio sold those rights to Nu Image/Millennium Films.^[7]

Filming started on January 22, 2007 and ended on May 4, 2007. The movie was shot at Chiang Mai, Thailand as well as in Mexico and the United States in Arizona and California.

While filming near Burma, Stallone and the rest of the crew narrowly avoided being shot by the Burmese military. Stallone described Burma as a "hellhole". He said "we had shots fired above our heads" and that he "witnessed survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land-mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off."^[8]

Alternative titles

John Rambo was the original working title for the film but was changed because Stallone thought that audiences might think that this is the final film in the Rambo series (due to the then recently released Rocky Balboa), which was not his original intent. In many other countries, the title John Rambo is kept because the first Rambo movie, First Blood, was released as Rambo in many foreign territories. The film premiered on television as Rambo, but the title sequence referred to it as John Rambo.

On October 12, 2007, Lionsgate announced that the film title was being changed to Rambo: To Hell and Back. After some negative feedback from the online community, Stallone spoke with AICN's Harry Knowles^[9] and said:

"Lionsgate jumped the gun on this. I just was thinking that the title John Rambo was derivative of Rocky Balboa and might give people the idea that this is the last Rambo film, and I don't necessarily feel that it will be. He's definitely a superb athlete, there's no reason he can't continue onto another adventure. Like John Wayne with The Searchers."

Music

Brian Tyler composed the original score for the film. Stallone wanted Tyler to incorporate Jerry Goldsmith's original themes into the movie. He did not rely on Goldsmith's actual theme, though he used it enough to tie this film to the others, musically, and also based his own theme and orchestrations on the style of the original to maintain the musical series. The soundtrack includes 20 tracks.^[13][14] Tyler also coincidentally composed the soundtrack to The Hunted, a film noted with striking similarities to the first Rambo film, First Blood.^[15][16]

Track listing

All music composed by Brian Tyler.

Release

Box office

Rambo opened in 2,751 North American theaters on January 25, 2008 and grossed $6,490,000 on its opening day,^[17] and $18,200,000 over its opening weekend. It was the second highest-grossing movie for the weekend in the U.S. and Canada behind Meet the Spartans.^[18] The film has a box office gross of $113,344,290, of which $42,754,105 was from Canada and the United States.^[19]

In an unprecedented move, Europe's biggest cinema chain (and the third biggest in the world), Odeon, controversially refused to show the film on any of its screens in the United Kingdom, blaming "commercial differences".^[20] UCI followed suit in its cinemas in Ireland which were managed by Odeon.^[21] The film was, however, shown in Ireland and the United Kingdom by other theater chains such as Empire Cinemas, Vue, Cineworld and Ward Anderson. The film was not shown in the French-speaking part of Switzerland due to legal and commercial problems with the distributor, even if it was available on screens of France and the Swiss German-speaking part.^[22]

Critical reception

Rambo received mixed reviews, with critics praising the film's action sequences and Stallone's performance, but criticizing the film's excessive violence. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 37% "Rotten" rating, based on 142 reviews, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Sylvester Stallone knows how to stage action sequences, but the movie's uneven pacing and excessive violence (even for the franchise) is more nauseating than entertaining".^[23] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 46 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[24]

In his review for The New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote, "Mr. Stallone is smart enough—or maybe dumb enough, though I tend to think not—to present the mythic dimensions of the character without apology or irony. His face looks like a misshapen chunk of granite, and his acting is only slightly more expressive, but the man gets the job done. Welcome back."^[25] Michael H. Price of Fort Worth Business Press wrote, "Stallone invests the role with a realistic acceptance of the aging process, and with traces reminiscent of Humphrey Bogart in 1951’s The African Queen and Clint Eastwood in 1992’s Unforgiven — to say nothing of the influences that the original First Blood had absorbed from Marlon Brando in 1953’s The Wild One and Tom Laughlin in 1971’s Billy Jack."^[26] Jonathan Garret (a former writer for the Atlanta Journal Constitution) said in an interview: "Rambo is the most violent movie I have ever seen. The last 11 minutes of the film are so violent, it makes We Were Soldiers look like Sesame Street".

When asked what his take on the film was, First Blood writer David Morrell said:

I'm happy to report that overall I’m pleased. The level of violence might not be for everyone, but it has a serious intent. This is the first time that the tone of my novel First Blood has been used in any of the movies. It's spot-on in terms of how I imagined the character — angry, burned-out, and filled with self-disgust because Rambo hates what he is and yet knows it's the only thing he does well. ... I think some elements could have been done better, [but] I think this film deserves a solid three stars.^[27][28]

Reception in Burma

The film is currently banned by the Burmese government. The military ruling party has ordered DVD vendors in Burma not to distribute the film due to the movie's content.^[29] Despite having never been released there theatrically or on DVD, Rambo is, however, available there in bootleg versions. Despite the film being unpopular among some of the population due to the negative portrayal of the Tatmadaw, the opposition youth group Generation Wave copied and distributed the film as anti-Tatmadaw propaganda.^[30]

According to Karen Freedom Fighters, the movie gave them a great boost of morale. Burmese freedom fighters have even adopted dialogue from the movie (most notably "Live for nothing, or die for something") as rallying points and battle cries. "That, to me," said Sylvester Stallone, "is one of the proudest moments I've ever had in film."^[29] Also, overseas Burmese have praised the movie for its vivid portrayal of the military's oppression of the Karen people.^[31]

Home media

The DVD and Blu-ray Disc editions were released in the U.S. on May 27, 2008. The DVD is in 1 and 2 disc editions. The Special edition has a 2.40 anamorphic widescreen presentation and a Dolby Digital 5.1 EX track. The single editions have a standard 5.1 Dolby Digital track. The Blu-ray Disc has Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and DTS HD 7.1 Tracks. The DVD and Blu-ray Disc on disc one have the film, deleted scenes, 6 featurettes, and commentary by Sylvester Stallone. The Blu-ray Disc also has 2 extra special features, that includes a trailer gallery.

The 2-disc DVD and Blu-ray Disc editions have a digital copy of the film. There is also a 6 disc DVD set of all four Rambo films, packaged in a limited edition tin case with over 20 bonus features. A Blu-ray Disc set with Rambo 1-3 was also released.^[32][33][34]

The DVD was released in the UK on June 23, 2008.

The film was the 19th best selling DVD of 2008 with 1.7m units sold and an overall gross of $39,206,346.^[4]

Extended cut

When asked about the moral of the film in a Daily Yomiuri Online interview, Sylvester Stallone mentioned that he will be doing an Extended Cut of the film, which will go by the original title of John Rambo.^[35] Nevertheless, the news became most well known after a May 2008 interview with Jay Leno when he announced the work of a director's cut, and that the proceeds would go to Burma. On top of this, an online petition appeared shortly after the announcement in order to "motivate" Stallone in completing this new cut. At the 2008 Comic-Con, it was vaguely announced that the director's cut (or as they labeled it, "extended cut") would be released in 2009, though no other specifics were given.^[36] Additionally, the director's cut premiered at the 2008 Zurich Film Festival.^[37] DVD Active announced it would premiere only on Blu-ray Disc in Canada and the United States on July 27, 2010.

The extended cut's Blu-ray was released under the original title, "Rambo", however, the film replaces the original title with "John Rambo".^[38] The extended cut reinstates most of the deleted/extended scenes featured in the theatrical version's 2-disc special edition release, as well as some unreleased footage and some significant alternations. The extended cut premiered on cable television (VIA Spike TV) on July 11, 2010, two weeks before its Blu-ray release. It then had its encore presentation on August 8 and August 9, 2010, promoting Stallone's then latest film The Expendables. The extended cut runs 99 minutes long, whereas the theatrical version runs 91 minutes. Of those run times the end credits roll for 11 minutes.

Sequel

In February 2012, Sean Hood offered an update on his Twitter account stating that Rambo 5 is on hold as Stallone finishes The Expendables 2. Hood said that he hasn't decided if Rambo 5 will be an 'Unforgiven' or a 'passing of the torch.' Meanwhile, Stallone confirmed a fifth installment, saying this one would be the last one, currently under the title Rambo: Last Stand (some sources, including IMDB, state that the title will be Rambo: Last Blood). The film would bring Rambo to Arizona's Mexican border and to Mexico as well. Rumor also states that Rambo would be fighting ISIS.^[39] On January 5, 2016, Sylvester Stallone officially retired from the role of Rambo, and stated a fifth film is no longer in production. However, in May 2016 Stallone teased about another concept for Rambo 5.^[40]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Rambo (2008 film)

• Official website
• Rambo at the Internet Movie Database
• Rambo at Rotten Tomatoes
• Rambo at Metacritic
• Rambo at Box Office Mojo
• Rambo at AllMovie