Rambo

Rambo is a 2008 film and the fourth film in the Rambo Series staring Sylvester Stallone.

The film is set primarily in Burma (or what the military junta calls Union of Myanmar), with the plight of the Karen people up front and center. It's interesting as an aside that I was unfamiliar with the Karen people until just a few months ago.

The film stars Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, Julie Benz as Sarah, Paul Schulze as Michael Burnett, Graham McTavish as the Mercenary Lewis, and Tim Kang (the "Shell Gas" guy) as Mercenary En-Joo.

John Rambo is convinced to help a humanitarian group across the border into Berma to give supplies to the sick and wounded. When the group fails to return, Rambo is asked to lead a group of mercenaries into the area and rescue the humanitarians.

This film is brutal. Absolutely brutal. Body parts fly every which way, the action is outrageous, insane, and grisly. I remember right around the time this film came out there was an interview on a local radio station with Stallone where he talked about how they had made sure that they researched all the weapons, and how the weapons actually "worked." And by worked, I mean how exactly they blew things up. That is, with meticulous detail and precision, to the point where they were sure that a weapon would do this or that to a body.

I have no idea if that story is true, but this film takes current action movies to a different level, where at least they were trying to be a bit more "heartfelt" like the first film was.

*** out of *****