RAMBO: LAST BLOOD

US, 2019, 90 minutes, Colour.
Sylvester Stallone, Paz Vega, Yvette Monreal, Oscar Jaenada, Sergio Peris-Mencheta?, Adriana Barraza.
Directed by Adrian Grunburg.
Too much.

It is almost 30 years since John Rambo appeared on screen in a striking, violent, film about war, a Green Beret, committed to his cause – First Blood. By this stage in his career, Sylvester Stallone had made an impact in 1976 with his portrait of aspiring boxer, Rocky Balboa. The Rocky films were to become something of a franchise, extending more recently into Rocky’s coaching of the son of Apollo Creed. There were also several Rambo films – and, as the title indicates, this is the last.

The first part of the film is somewhat gentle, the ageing Rambo living quietly on a farm in Arizona, in a basement with tunnels that he dug out himself, looked after by a sympathetic housekeeper, Adriana Barazza, and caring for his niece, Gabrielle, Yvette Monreal. He trains horses, does metalwork, volunteers, shown in quite a powerful opening sequence of a huge storm and flood, to help the local authorities during disasters. So far, so quiet.

But, his niece wants to meet her father who abandoned the family long since, discovered to be living in Mexico. Despite warnings from Rambo and from the housekeeper, she wilfully goes to find her father – and, of course, this leads him into danger.

The film becomes a focused then on human trafficking exploitation of women, unscrupulous Mexicans and their thugs abducting the women from clubs, forcing them into brothels, keeping them under check with the drugs, complete humiliation and degradation. Actually, the plot does not quite go in the direction that might have been anticipated except that, of course, Rambo will then be confronting the exploiters. (But not without a gruesome sequence where he stabs and breaks bones of one of the thugs – leading to his being completely bashed, cheeks carved, abandoned.)

When Rambo recovers, it is clear that this is going to be revenge and vengeance. Stallone has let his imagination loose in creating the means for vengeance, the weaponry, the explosives, the exploitation of his caves, guns and metal arrows – and, this is what we see in fiery and bloody close-up.

Rambo devotees may want this. Most audiences will find it – too much.