After fighting his demons for decades, John Rambo now lives in peace on his family ranch in Arizona, but his rest is interrupted when Gabriela, the granddaughter of his housekeeper María, disappea...
An adrenaline rush of blood and guts splattering all over the screen, “Rambo: Last Blood”, directed by Adrian Grunberg, is a lackluster revenge story that doesn’t pack any sort of emotional weight for the title character’s last rodeo, but still delivers on the brutality of the gruesome subject matter to make up for the thin narrative.
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The plot finds “John Rambo”, now relaxing at a horse ranch with his old friend and her granddaughter. However, when the granddaughter is kidnapped by enforcers of a Mexican cartel, “Rambo” crosses the border to bring her home but finds himself up against the full might of one of Mexico’s most ruthless cartels.
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A character who was originally meant to stand as a symbol for the damage that war can do to a solider, the plot vaguely remembers that key detail and in turn, creates a rather lifeless, gore fest of epic proportions. The film narrative’s tries to pull on the heart strings at certain points of the film, especially with young actress, Yvette Monreal’s character, but it doesn’t really feel earned. Along with the lackluster plot, are a group of baddies who only serve the purpose of being the film’s “body count”. While Sylvester Stallone provides a potent performance with a physically dominating on-screen presence, the film ultimately feels like it doesn’t know where to take its lead protagonist, and in the process it loses sight of who “Rambo” really is and what his character is meant to be.
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That being said, the action in this film is absurdly intense. Enough to make up for the weak plot. The gore is eyeball-melting and genuinely entertaining, as you see brutal decapitations, severed feet, exploding heads, and at least one makeshift vivisection. If the idea of “Rambo” laying waste to several tons of human sounds exhilarating, then step right up!
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“Rambo: Last Blood” unfortunately doesn’t hit the target in their final outing. While the ultra-violence does provide satisfying entertainment as it comes at you faster than you finishing your $8 soda from concessions and bloodier than an average horror flick, the film doesn’t successfully tell the emotional “old cowboy’s last ride” story it was aiming for due to its shallow, directionless plot and lackluster characterization.
