MOVIE REVIEW

I saw the movie teh day before it premiered. I went there on time, and waited in anticipation for Rambo to come into the picture. And there he was. Now living a quiet life in the heart of nature, Rambo seems more quiet and withdrawn than before, although his body was still buff. But this time around, he doesn't seem tot want to talk much. One of the questions audiences have in mind is whether Rambo would be convinving playing the role at his age of 60. To me what made the movie realistic was the fact that he played the reluctant hero. When the group of missionaries approached him, he was very clear in his reply, that he was not interested to take them up river. And in that way you cannot say that he was looking for trouble,
and when trouble finally came his way, he treid to negotiate his way out of it, but to no avail. Alos the film showed him looking glum all the time, and when the younger mercenaries tried to taunt him, he just looked away. I guess a younger Rambo would have wrestled him to the ground, and bury him there. But behind the glum expressiona and distant look was a heart that was very much alive. In one of the crucial scnes when he stepped in, he was able to put down all bad guys with his bow and arrow just like a red indian warrior would, earning the awe and respect of the others. Then just as quickly he took command of the team, with his sheer presence. The rescus mission was surprisingly smooth. I expected more trouble, but when they managed to escaped, and was not discovered in the morning, I thought that was a huge success. I thought they would not be able to surviev through the night. There were a lot of explosive killing scenes involving the sniper rifles. A couple of times the enemy soldiers got their head blown off, which was "spectacular". I also thought the rescue mission was ratehr complex. Becaue Rambo now doe not work alone but with a team of others. So how do you manuevere, and keep everybody intact. That seem like a challenge. So the morning after, the Burmese soldiers rode their truck off in search of the offenders and looking for the kill. I thought they would have escaped to the shore by nightfall, but they were still trapped in the forest. This is when the bad guys catch up and cornered the mercenies. In one of the explosive scenes, Rambo planted a mine, by setting up a trap, which led to a massive explosion which flattend the forest. That was quiet a fantastic specail effects scene. By now the other mercenaries were trapped and incapacitated by the Burmese soldiers, and only Rmabo was still on the loose to save the day. So he suddently emerged out of nowhere and blew the bad guys away with this armoured machine gun. Rambo lived up to his age, he is not so agile and he doesn't run everywhere anymore. When he grabs the opportunity, he wlll remain in a strategic location and blast the enemeies off with single minded purpose and determination. He had that Rambo look when he grabbed hold of the gun. There was a scene when the Burmese soldiers swarmed a field like ants, and Rambo took them off one by one. He also went head on with a patrol boat, which had massive fire power, shooting back at him. In the end eevryone dies, and Rambo got to live anotehr day. However the light of life seems to have faded from his eyes. Whenever the camera showed his face, he looked glum with a distant expression, which to me is great acting. less is more to make Rambo convincing for his age and situation. But the scene that caught me by surprise was when he was walking back in the end. Like the highway scene in First Blood, which showed him as a loner wearing a green jacket and jeans, this time he was wearing similar clothers. The only difference is taht he looks haggard older and depressed, a sharp contrast to the young and fresh Rambo, wo had a sparkle in his eyes. I felt it the comparison was unnecessary, because it did not support the character in a positive way.