The killing never stops

It was one of the most anticpated cinema releases of the year so far, and now Rambo, starring Sylvester Stallone, is out for you to own on DVD.

Here, former Green Beret John Rambo (Stallone) lives on the Salween River, close to the Thailand-Myanmar  border, supplying cobras and pythons to a popular tourist attraction.

Christian missionaries Michael (Paul Schulze) and Sarah (Julie Benz) approach him to take them and some fellow do-gooders up river to Burma, where they hope to nurse the sick back to health.

He eventually ferries them to a remote village. But unfortunately, the community comes under attack from the Burmese military. Hill tribe people are attached and killed, and Michael, Sarah and co are taken hostage.

Consequently, Rambo joins forces with a band of tough-as-nails mercenaries – Lewis (Graham McTavish), School Boy (Matthew Marsden), En-Joo (Tom Kang), Diaz (Ray Gallegos), and Reese (Jake La Botz) – to extract the captives from their tropical prison.

Stallone’s iconic warrior stumbles out of retirement to wreak havoc on the oppressive Burmese military in this gratuitously and relentlessly violent action-thriller, which opens with real-life newsreel footage of the genocide. It is packed full of senseless carnage, asserting that revenge is a dish best served with a cold, hard stare and an assault rifle.

Character development is left downstream while Stallone and his co-stars gallop around the jungle, losing limbs and/or their faith in a hail of bullets and hatred.

Action sequences are breathlessly orchestrated but wanton destruction on such a massive scale is exhausting, especially when we don’t care about any of the characters. Trite one-liners, meanwhile, such as: “Live for something or die for nothing – it’s your call” break up the cacophony of screams and explosions. A DVD box set comprising all four Rambo films is also available.

 

-- Rambo, starring Sylvester Stallone. Rated 18. From Dh85