ReWatch-Rambo: Last Blood

• Directed by Adrian Grünberg
• September 20, 2019
• Based on John Rambo created by David Morrell

After failing to save his adopted niece, Rambo faces off against a Mexican cartel.

After watching/discussing here all the previous Rambo films I gave Rambo: Last Blood another look just because. I own it so why not watch it all? Maybe after watching the series from start to finish my view of this might be better. I cannot say my estimation of this movie has improved with time. It is certainly the TLJ of the Rambo series.

This doesn’t quite feel like a Rambo movie. It just doesn’t ever get there. Maybe it’s the clear attempt at being a modern Western. Or maybe that this is the plot from Taken to a certain extent. Or maybe they took Rambo out of the woods/jungle and placed him a version of the American West that looks far more desolate that Afghanistan did in Rambo III.

Or maybe the problem is that the character of Gabriela (Yvette Monreal) never got built up enough that we care about her or that we can really see she has any kind of believable relationship with Rambo (Stallone). We were told they had a bond, but it never was really shown. We didn’t even get a scene where he intimidates a jerky boy to show his protective love. The only moment that could’ve happened in the entire movie and he stays away. And since this relationship is the motivation that starts it all, the whole this is very weak.

Stallone is a good actor who also happens to be good in the action genre. If he wasn’t a good actor he couldn’t have sold us all on Rocky. That movie would’ve tanked with anyone else in it. However Yvette Monreal is not that good. Stallone easily outshines her. He is performing in a drama. She is performing in a teen soap.

Honestly the plot is a bit like Taken but with Rambo. He’s going to track down his niece who is drugged and sold into local sex slavery. I’m not against a movie necessarily ripping off a plot of another series if they do it interestingly but Last Blood doesn’t quite get there. It does it as safely and blandly as possible.

Gabriela as a character is a poor reason to kick off the story. She is barely in the film so Rambo going off on a revenge spree is kinda weak. He sheds a great deal of blood over a girl he only has one or two brief scenes with. If the goal was to get grandpa to start fighting some Mexican criminals that could’ve been accomplished a lot easier than a female character who ultimately disappears from the narrative as a motivation or character. She was just the bit to get his story going. He could’ve been running that ranch and come across sex traffickers or drug traffickers or traffickers of any type trekking across his property and made it a little bit more timely. 

Rarely is the action impactful. It’s not big or bold. It doesn’t feel tense or dangerous or exciting. It’s rather tepid with Rambo setting multiple booby traps that the characters seem to walk blindly into and pause long enough to get caught in. Gone is the stealthy predator at home in war. Present is MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson version) with a more coarse voice. And Rambo moves like he has some arthritis. At least the baddies are good enough to be cooperative.

This was supposed to be a big sendoff to Rambo. It doesn’t act as a cap to the series or connect much with earlier films. Nothing alludes back to before other than this taking place on the Rambo family farm that we watched every step of in the closing moments of Rambo. The fourth Rambo film was a much better sendoff than this one was. It was more of a return to form and gave Rambo maybe not a completely happy ending, but the rest deserved by a hero and a soldier who has fought for far too long.

Tepid action. Rambo no longer the superior fighter he once was. Not even close. And a villain that doesn’t rise to be an equal at the minimum of our hero. This is a downturn. This made the mistake of bringing down several notches the main character. He didn’t feel like he was aging and having trouble handling it. It just didn’t feel like Rambo. And then that trap shit he engaged in. Really? 

Rambo: Last Blood is definitely a sad sendoff to the character of John Rambo. It has none of the excesses of Rambo II and III nor does it have the relative intelligence of First Blood or Rambo. In short, if you like the character Rambo consider the fourth film the finale. Don’t watch this one.