I just watched Rambo. Dammit...

[Superman]

...it just wasn't fun.

Honestly, the joy I've received from the previous Rambo flicks came from the carnage. Oh sure, "First Blood" was a pretty compelling drama and has a message that'll stay with you, but Rambo II and III were just action flicks with great violence.

Rambo, though? Ugh. I had a hard time enjoying the Hollywood violence after watching the real scenes of violence going on in the world today with the genocide in Burma.

That kind of sickened me on the rest of the flick. I guess that's the point, but also, Stallone et al billed this as an action flick meant to entertain.

I'm not sure the topic of genocide and imponderable human cruelty towards other humans can be a component of any real "entertainment."

Is it just me? I just taught Weisel's "Night" to my English classes a few weeks ago, and it's still fresh in my mind.

\S/

 

[Kryton]

<--Has never, ever seen a Rambo film.

Feels fine about that until the deathbed...and probably beyond.

 

[Superman]

I'm curious: how old are you?

I was born in seventy-six, so the Rambo films were part of the 80s landscape I grew up in. Like comics, Star Wars and Trek, and other scif-fi and horror, I watched Rambo because my big brother did, and remain a fan of all to this day.

\S/

 

[Kryton]

I was born in late 1962...and in the mid'80s I was more into the fantastic (Star Trek, Star Wars, Back to the Future, et.al.) than the nihilistic nastiness of the Rambos which, frankly, since I thought (and still do think) Stallone was incapable of delivering a performance I cared even a teeny-tiny-bit about, I was fine with missing the Rambos.

Besides...I DID see "Apocalypse Now!" more than once...the whole Rambo thing just sounded cartoony (and, by extension, a waste of serious time and attention by comparison).

Though I DID find Weird Al's take in the movie "UHF" highly amusing for some reason.

 

[Kelso]

Watching the villagers being slaughtered wasn't entertaining... but watching the bastards responsible get what was coming to them certainly was.

I had a blast watching that flick.

 

[Superman]

Well, we can certainly agree on the awesomeness of Apocalypse Now! A fantastic film that only grows better with age.

\S/

 

[Kryton]

I only watch the Apocalypse Now! REDUX because, primarily, of the restored French family scene (okay, the Playboy Girl scenes are additionally "interesting" if not entirely necessary to the story...but it DOES remind of things from when I was "of those years").

Seriously, as a young teen you heard a lot of different crap in the '70s from a lot of different people!

 

[biotech]

<--Has never, ever seen a Rambo film.

Feels fine about that until the deathbed...and probably beyond.

You don't know what you are missing.

 

[Kryton]

You misunderstand...I don't care what I am "missing".

 

[firehawk12]

What's sad is that the last sequence is basically a video game sequence. It's an extended turret scene mixed with a sniping scene.
I swear I've played that part in like 20 different games.

 

[payndz201]

You misunderstand...I don't care what I am "missing".

But should you want to see what you don't care about purely for curiosity's sake, this will tell you everything you need to know without the need to watch three entire movies (and probably reinforce your original feelings... )

The violence in Rambo is actually done very differently from the first three films (well, the second and third specifically). They were Hollywood-style and a bit cartoony, lots of squibs and blood packs and vaguely comical "wow, cool!" kills. The fourth film, on the other hand, goes for a Private Ryan approach and makes everything as brutal and gory as possible. I'm not sure what someone being hit by .50-cal machine gun fire at point-blank range would look like in real life (and I certainly never want to see it), but I doubt it would be very far off what we see in the film.

 

[Roshi]

I don't think Stallone said he wanted to make a popcorn flick with John Rambo. In his chat at AICN he said he wanted to show realistic wounds in a time of war. And I'm not sure the shit that takes place in Burma is that far from reality, btw.

 

[Pingfah]

I had never seen a Rambo movie until a few weeks ago when I watched all 4.

The first and 4th ones were really good, the other 2 were rubbish. I'm glad he didn't give the 4th one the same Hollywood treatment as the 2nd and 3rd because it would have seriously downplayed the gravity of what is going on over there.

 

[Aragorn]

What's sad is that the last sequence is basically a video game sequence. It's an extended turret scene mixed with a sniping scene.
I swear I've played that part in like 20 different games.

Well if you play the Rambo Blu-Ray on the PS3, you can pay to download some extra level maps from the Sony Marketplace where Rambo gets to kill more people.

 

[firehawk12]

With SIXAXIS controls?

 

[Daedalus12]

With SIXAXIS controls?

If Rambo had the SIXAXIS control he would've shot everyone including the poor villagers with stray bullets.

 

[Thrall]

I don't think Stallone said he wanted to make a popcorn flick with John Rambo. In his chat at AICN he said he wanted to show realistic wounds in a time of war. And I'm not sure the shit that takes place in Burma is that far from reality, btw.

He said that if anything he downplayed the violence because if he showed everything that was going on in Burma in the film would get an NC-17 or X.

Rambo 4 is a brilliant action movie. The last 15 minutes is one of the best action scenes I've ever seen. It's action porn. The rape and pillage of the Karen village is one of the most horrifying things Ive ever seen on film. Stalone felt he had a duty to show what was going on in Burma, and man did he wake some people up. This is a movie about standing up to horror and evil. The message of the film is that pacifism only gets you so far. If really want to stop tyranny you have to be willing to fight and die for it. This a movie for guys who like seeing other guys kick ass and chew bubble gum.

It's like he made a check list off all the types of evil people:
-Rapists: Check
-Murderers: Check
-Child molesters: Check
-Communists: Check
-Torturers: Check

So that when he kills them in the most GLORIOUS of fashion it becomes all the more satisfying.

Watching the behind the scenes stuff was very telling. The guy who played the main bad guy was actually a former Karen rebel and felt that this film needed to be made to get the message out. Even if it meant the government killing his relatives back in Burma. Also the film is a huge hit with the Karens(big surprise) and they have used it to bring many to their cause.

And to the post who thought the last scene was like a video game: You need to see Hard Boiled, Shoot Em Up, and Commando. Trust me, Rambo is not nearly as over the top as they are.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

The new film is a downer and I'm sure that was the point showing the futility of war and all that, I guess most of the time you really can't go back home as they say.

I was born in late 1962...and in the mid'80s I was more into the fantastic (Star Trek, Star Wars, Back to the Future, et.al.) than the nihilistic nastiness of the Rambos which, frankly, since I thought (and still do think) Stallone was incapable of delivering a performance I cared even a teeny-tiny-bit about, I was fine with missing the Rambos.

I know you're proud of not seeing them but you might be surprised by First Blood (the first Rambo movie), it probably isn't what you're thinking and I thought Stallone is really good in it.

 

[firehawk12]

And to the post who thought the last scene was like a video game: You need to see Hard Boiled, Shoot Em Up, and Commando. Trust me, Rambo is not nearly as over the top as they are.

The problem is all he does is just stand there with the 50 cal or whatever that gun was. Pretty much every shooter has a sequence where all you do is get behind a machine gun and unload on waves of bad guys.
I mean, at least the sequence was more visually interesting than those long overwrought sequences in Matrix 2 and 3, which also could be video game sequences, but it just really stood out.
The only thing they needed to add was exploding barrels next to the Burmese bad guys.

 

[Thrall]

And to the post who thought the last scene was like a video game: You need to see Hard Boiled, Shoot Em Up, and Commando. Trust me, Rambo is not nearly as over the top as they are.

The problem is all he does is just stand there with the 50 cal or whatever that gun was. Pretty much every shooter has a sequence where all you do is get behind a machine gun and unload on waves of bad guys.
I mean, at least the sequence was more visually interesting than those long overwrought sequences in Matrix 2 and 3, which also could be video game sequences, but it just really stood out.
The only thing they needed to add was exploding barrels next to the Burmese bad guys.

Yeah but it's not like they weren't trying to hit him. He had that big shield in front deflecting all the fire. And even then he got hit a few times.

And besides, its fuckin' Rambo. Nobody kills fuckin' Rambo.