Rambo: Last Blood

THE GIST: Rambo, still suffering from PTSD, now lives on a secluded ranch with an old friend and her granddaughter, whom he views as a niece. When the girl is lured to Mexico under false pretenses and then abducted, Rambo has no choice but to go save her.

I still remember the raw ferociousness unleashed by Rambo in his first feature film, when he was unjustly attacked just for walking on a street without bothering anyone. It really felt like a new breed of hero; a new type of movie; it felt original and exciting and refreshing.

That movie's title, First Blood, is clearly, and cleverly, referenced in the latest chapter of the  Rambo saga, Rambo: Last Blood, but the similarities, alas, end there.

Sure, Rambo still has to utilize the skills he learned in the war to deliver some well deserved justice, but here he seems to just be going through the motions for the sake of making one last movie about this character before Sylvester Stallone is physically unable to do so anymore.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Ultimately, it's the wafer thin screenplay that does it in, full of holes and platitudes, custom built to fit Stallone and his alter ego, all in the service of raking up some cash. Sure, it's pretty energetic, but when the end titles rolled I found myself go, "Meh."

Grade: 4