Reaction & Review | Rambo: Last Blood

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we're finally gonna be closing out the Rambo series, as I take a look at the last entry that came out in 2019. That movie is "Rambo: Last Blood".

Now, for those of you who are new here and you've clicked on this review as a new viewer, I'll quickly bring you up to speed. Way back in August, I had started my journey in watching all 5 of the Rambo movies. And so far, I have greatly enjoyed the first 4 movies. Even though the 4th movie was a little bit weak for me, considering the characters were a bit shallow and the special effects involving blood sometimes looked liked shit. But even with those minor quibbles, I still really enjoyed that movie, along with the other 3 films.

We're now at the final entry, and this one I'm very curious about. Mostly because of the fact that we're dealing with an older Rambo here. Which makes sense, considering Stallone's age and all. So I'm curious to see what Stallone can pull off here, despite the man being in his 70's. As for the plot itself, I vaguely remember some girl, who may be a relative to Rambo's, getting kidnapped. At least, that's what I remembered from the trailers I saw back in 2019. Anyway, this causes John Rambo to go on one last mission in order to save her. That's pretty much all I know about the plot to this thing.

The other thing I know about this movie is the supposed "controversy" surrounding the film. I put the quotations there, because most of the "controversy" mainly involved SJW's claiming that the film promotes "toxic masculinity", how it's a supposed "right-wing" movie in the current era of politics, and some reviewers even claiming that the film is too gory and violent, along with being very offensive. And just based off those examples I listed, that tells me that these people have never watched any of the previous Rambo films. Considering that they're action movies, of course they're suppose to be violent. As for the politics, the Rambo films started off as campy 80's action flicks, and any supposed political messages that they may have had were mostly subtle, with the exception of "Rambo III"'s ending. And as for being "too gory" and "offensive", well, I guess they didn't bat an eye when blood was being splattered in the 4th film, along with children being slaughtered on screen. But then again, I suppose it didn't fit in line with their politics, so you can take that for what you will.

Anyway, most of those comments I have heard about the film were pretty fucking stupid. I'm here to see whether or not it's entertaining. And given this series track record so far, I have a very good feeling that this movie will definitely live up to being entertaining. Now I don't know whether or not it's gonna be as good as the previous Rambo films were, but this film could potentially reach those standards, or even surpass them in some way. The only way I'm gonna find out if this movie is any good at all, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Rambo: Last Blood".

7 minutes later

Well, guys, now that I've gotten more of a chance to see how these tunnels are laid out, I will say that it actually looks really cool. I'm kinda curious as to how long it took Rambo to build these sorts of tunnels. But then again, considering that he's in retirement, I'm gonna wager a guess here and say that he's had a lot of time on his hands. Still though, these tunnels look really cool.

14 minutes later

Well, I wasn't expecting an answer from Gabrielle's Dad about why he left her and her mother so quickly, but it's pretty much self-explanatory. He didn't care about his wife, even after she died, and he never wanted anything to do with Gabrielle herself. So yeah, that's kind of a douche move from him, but at least it's an explanation.

12 minutes later

You know, guys, somehow, I didn't think it was possible to outdo the ripping of the flesh from the previous film, but Rambo somehow topped that by literally almost pulling out the bone from this guy's neck. Jesus Christ, that is brutal!

15 minutes later

You know, guys, out of all the things I've seen Rambo use as a weapon throughout these films, I think the hammer is probably one of the least threatening weapons so far. Granted, the way he's using it is effective as hell. I'm just kinda surprised that the metal part of the hammer hasn't fallen off yet with how much he's used it in the short amount of time that he's had it in his hand. But hey, whatever gets the job done in Rambo's way, I'm perfectly OK with it.

7 minutes later

Wow. Guys, just when I thought this film couldn't get darker, that moment may have topped it. Granted, I kinda saw it coming, but still...this scene is almost emotionally upsetting.

10 minutes later

OK, THAT is probably one of the most satisfying deaths I've seen in any Rambo film ever! That was fucking awesome, guys.

2 minutes later

Well, I guess it wouldn't be a Rambo movie if we didn't get to see one cool explosion. Granted, that one wasn't as cool as some of the previous explosions from the other films, but still, it definitely was a pretty cool explosion.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Rambo: Last Blood". And we're getting stock footage of "First Blood" playing as the credits start rolling. Interesting. I'll watch this later. Right now, I'm gonna go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Holy shit, that was one of the most satisfying endings to a movie I've seen in a long time. So...I guess that kinda gives away what I thought about the film, overall. I really enjoyed the hell out of this thing. Now do I think it's better than any of the previous movies? Well, I'll get into that later on.

I suppose, now, would be a good time to get into the movie proper by diving right into this review. Let's start with the writing. Now, as per usual with most of the other Rambo films, this movie's story is very straight-forward and to the point. Which is what you mostly need for an action movie such as this. Not only that, but's it's also one of the better revenge films I've seen in a long time. Which isn't saying a whole lot, mind you, considering that a lot of the revenge films I've seen for this series haven't been that good for one reason or another. But for a series like Rambo, it definitely makes this film worth watching even more because of the lengths that John Rambo will go to in order to get revenge against the people who hurt the ones that are close to him. And by the time that it is over, you are going to be satisfied by the film's conclusion, because it definitely does feel like a proper ending to the John Rambo character. Now unless this movie's title ends up becoming bullshit later on, where we end up getting another sequel, I have a feeling that this will most likely be the last Rambo film starring Sylvester Stallone. The only way I would be OK with another Rambo sequel is if Stallone was writing the script, as he has done for all 5 movies. But that's just me theorizing about stuff that may or may not end up happening at all.

Anyway, let's get back to talking about the movie itself. As I just said, this film has a very simple plot that is easy to follow. The story centers around John Rambo, as he's busy enjoying his retirement at his home in Arizona, tending to his work at his farm. And it's where we end up meeting another character named Gabrielle, who's seen as Rambo's adoptive daughter, where she's living with her grandmother. So one night at Rambo's farm, she tells Rambo that her real father was seen in Mexico, because she hasn't seen him ever since she was a child. And she wants to go to Mexico in order to find answers about why he left her and her mother. Her grandmother protests to this, because the way that Gabrielle found out about her father was through a friend of hers that, according to her grandmother, is no good. Even Rambo himself is against Gabrielle going out to Mexico, because it is a very dangerous place around the border area in which the film takes place in. Gabrielle actually fakes it at first, by giving in to her grandmother's demands, and not going to Mexico. And shortly after she leaves Rambo's farm, she turns around and heads to Mexico. And when she gets there, it leads into a series of events where she meets with her friend, in which she leads him to where her father is living at, and Gabrielle eventually learns the truth from her own father, to which I already discussed about earlier. And then it eventually leads to Gabrielle's capture, after her friend takes her to a club, in which it gets John Rambo's attention from his grandmother that she went to Mexico. And from there, Rambo goes on a rescue mission to Mexico in order to find and save her.

Now I could obviously spoil the rest of what happens after that. But honestly, I don't want to go into too much detail about it than I already have, mostly because it would lead into heavy spoilers. Granted, I understand it's still an action film, but this movie really does take the time to develop it's story the best way it can. I will say that, out of all the Rambo films I've seen, this one might be one of the more bleaker films of the series. Granted, the fourth film was also sorta bleak, what with the child slaughtering and all, but this one I feel touches more upon it's bleakness, and I think that it totally works here. Our characters here are, admittedly, not all that developed well. Which, to be fair, most of the other Rambo films didn't have much character depth, anyways, outside of our titled character. I do want to touch upon the Martinez Brothers for just a moment, because there is something that I wanted to comment on about them. Earlier, I mentioned about how this movie was seen by critics as it being supposedly "offensive". And they would mostly point towards the Martinez Brothers, along with their gang, as being portrayed as Mexican stereotypes. Where they kidnap women, sell them into slavery, and mostly use them as their "things" for sex. However, what those critics don't seem to understand is that this is a thing that still happens, in regards to the Mexican Cartels that goes on the Mexico border. And for anyone who keeps up with the news at what goes on down there, they could tell you that horrible stuff like that still happens today. So I can overlook the fact that these characters are really shallow, because characters of that nature don't really need much of any character depth.

As for our other characters, barring the Martinez Brothers, mostly range on being pretty shallow. There's a character named Carmen, who is basically an investigative journalist that is keeping tabs on what the Martinez Brothers do. Mostly because her sister died by their hands, so that's why she's getting as much info as she can about them. Unfortunately, her character is pretty damn shallow, because she only appears in two lengthy scenes where she has dialogue that involves both her and Rambo. But beyond that, she really doesn't play much of a factor into anything else. And as for titled character, I think this might be one of the few Rambo movies where he has the most dialogue for his character. I could be wrong on that, but I think is the one movie where his character gets the most dialogue. And much like the previous movies, you care about what happens to him and you want to see him getting revenge against the bastards who have hurt his loved ones. And without going too much into spoilers here, the final act of the movie is basically "Home Alone" starring Rambo. And unless you've never seen "Home Alone", you know EXACTLY where this is going to end up. How it all leads up to it is something that I won't spoil for you guys here.

So overall, the writing here is really solid. At least, really solid when it comes to the Rambo series. It's not really an original plot, but it totally works for a series like Rambo. And, like I said earlier, it's also a really solid revenge film, too. So yes, guys, the writing here is really good. And to make it even better, the acting is also really solid. Everybody here, whether it's Sylvester Stallone, the actress playing Gabrielle, or even our supposed Mexican stereotypes, all of them turn in great showings. I can't think of a single actor that may have phoned it in. Which is great, because everybody here felt comfortable in their given roles. So yes, guys, without beating a dead horse here, the acting is really solid from the entire cast.

Now let's get into the special effects. Now in the previous film, I talked about how the blood effects kinda took a turn in which they went for more CG blood. And the result for that was a mixed bag at best. Some of the kills involving CG blood looked all right, while other times it looked like shit. And a lot of the kills had it where blood was gushing out like fireworks. In this movie, while there are instances where CG blood was used, it's mostly very few moments where we actually get to see that. Everything else, they went back to using practical blood. And it looks really good here. And being that this is a film that literally has the word 'blood' in it's title, it would make sense where we get to see a ton of blood here. So I'm happy to say that the film certainly lives up to it's title in that regard.

Camerawork here is mostly really good, with a couple of exceptions of some odd camera angles in one scene where it was sort of hard to make out what was going on. But it's mostly minor stuff, really, in terms of camerawork. Lighting here is lit pretty well. The sound-mix here is also mixed well. The score is, unfortunately, the weakest part of the entire series. Mostly because, the previous 4 films had scores that had that Jerry Goldsmith feel to it. Which made sense for the first 3 movies, since Goldsmith was in charge of the music for those first 3 movies. And while the fourth film didn't have Goldsmith attached to it for obvious reasons, the composers were still able to try and match was in the previous 3 movies, in terms of it's score. "Last Blood", unfortunately, does not do that. Aside from MAYBE the final scene of the movie, most of the rest of the music here isn't really that memorable, which is a bit disappointing to say, considering how good the music was for the previous 4 movies.

So, with all that said, guys, am I able to recommend "Rambo: Last Blood"? Oh, absolutely yes! Especially if you were a fan of the previous 4 movies, because this movie will feel right at home for anyone who has kept up with this series up to this point. It is a great finale to an awesome franchise. And as for how I would rank this movie, well, I would say it's definitely better than the fourth "Rambo" film. Again, not to say that the fourth movie is bad. It's just that I feel this movie was slightly written better, in my opinion. Now when I eventually re-watch these movies again on my own time, I think I will have a better clearing as to how exactly I would rank all 5 of these movies. But regardless of where I would rank them, I can definitely say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I can recommend the ENTIRE Rambo series. All 5 of these movies are awesome in their own ways. And I am SO happy that I was able to cover all of them for this series, because I've been wanting to watch all of them for quite a long time. And after watching all of them, I can definitely say that this is a series that is worth picking up. Be it on DVD, Blu-ray, or even 4K. Which I normally don't ever recommend 4K films, but I'll make an exception here. Wherever you can find this series, pick it up. It is most definitely worth your time, especially if you are an action movie fanatic. This series is fucking amazing. And on an off note, I do know that there are a couple of prequel comics that are tie-ins to "First Blood" that are being made. One of them is being written by Sylvester Stallone himself, so I'm gonna look into that and see if I can somehow get my hands on a copy of those comics. But anyway, guys, I'm definitely gonna be keeping all 5 of these movies for my DVD collection, in case I'm ever in the mood for some really awesome action movies.

And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.