BLU-RAY
REVIEW: RAMBO
05/25/08
Twenty years ago, Rambo
made his last appearance in Rambo III. The movie didn’t give
Rambo the departure he deserved.
Many believed, even Sylvester Stallone, that another Rambo
would never be made. However, Sylvester Stallone took it
upon himself to produce, direct and write Rambo IV and give
Rambo a film he could be proud of.
In Rambo, Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) in still living in
Thailand as a longboat operator and as a snake hunter. The
first thing you’ll notice is that Rambo is angry. He has a
grudge against everything. When a group of Christian
missionaries ask Rambo for a boat river into war-torn Burma,
Rambo refuses. He tells them if they aren’t going in there
with weapons, they aren’t solving anything. Rambo finally
gives in and decides to take the missionaries to the local
village of Karen in Burma. When a group of mercenaries ask
Rambo to take them to where he dropped off the missionaries,
he becomes aware that the missionaries have been kidnapped.
Rambo joins the mercenaries as he knows he is the only hope
against Major Pa Tee Tint (Maung Maung Khin) and his
sadistic soldiers.
Rambo lives up to its expectations and ups the ante in both
action and violent. At first it was shocking to see how each
bullet and explosion showed the damage it caused the human
body. Add to this that I watched it in Blu-ray high
definition and I felt that was I in the middle of the war
zone. I never new Stallone was such a good director. He did
an excellent job handling the action sequence that movie
required.
Stallone’s script gave Rambo the right amount of motivation
and Rambo motives never seem forced. The mercenaries,
however, are not used to their full effect. It would have
been better if there was more personality to them. Our bad
guy Major Pa Tee Tint (Maung Maung Khin) is menacing, but
him and Rambo don’t get enough screen time together. He is
more of a proxy to the problem than the problem Rambo is
fighting for: the rescue of the Christian missionaries
Rambo look flawless in Blu-ray and I‘m giving the video a
five star rating. The audio is dazzling and by far the best
part comes towards the movie’s climax when all hell breaks
loose and you hear the swarming of bullets in full surround
sound. This 2-disk Blu-ray special edition also includes six
featurettes, four deleted scenes, and a digital copy of the
movie.
Overall this Rambo does just about everything right. For
those of you that missed it in the theater, you won’t regret
taking a look at Rambo on standard DVD or Blu-ray.
Review By Milton Brayson
milton@smartcine.com
MORE MOVIE REVIEWS
>>>
VIDEO:
1080P 16x9 Widescreen Version
(2.40:1)
AUDIO:
English 7.1 DTS
HD Master Audio
French 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Subtitles: English and Spanish
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Audio Commentary with Sylvester Stallone
BonusView Commentary - a picture-in-picture
exploration into the film’s casting, locations and other
filmmaking secrets
It’s a long road: Resurrection of an icon -
Sylvester Stallone and others discuss how they came about
the idea for Rambo. Interestingly, the first ideas revolved
around Rambo in Mexico. (19:44).
A score to settle: The Music of Rambo - Brian Tyler
discusses how he tried to keep with the original sound of
Rambo created by Jerry Goldsmith who scored the first three
Rambo movies. (6:31)
The Art of War: Part 1 Editing - Sean Albertson
discusses how he edited Rambo. Sean explains that this is
the most amount of footage he has ever dealt with since
Stallone was filming with eight cameras. (6:47)
The Art of War: Part 2 Sound - Perry Robertson and
Scott Sanders, supervising sound editors, discuss the sound
of Rambo. (3:15)
The Weaponry of Rambo - Kent Johnson, property master
discusses how the weapons were selected for each character.
(14.23)
A Hero’s Welcome: Release and Reaction - The cast
and crew discuss the premier and reaction to the movie.
(9:31)
Legacy of Despair: The Real Struggle in Burma -
Sylvester Stallone discusses how he was looking for the
worst offender to human rights, to set the story of Rambo,
and found that place to be Burma. (10:42)
Deleted Scenes - Four deleted scenes are showing
with the best of the lot being Boat Ride where Rambo
discuses his private life and lets us into his mind set.
1. Do you believe in anything (2:29)
2. Who are you helping (4:42)
3. Boat Ride - (4:12)
4. Let’s Keep Going (2:21)
Disc - 2
Standard Definition Digital Copy of Rambo Feature
film.
RATING BREAK DOWN:
| FILM REVIEW |
 |
|
VIDEO |
 |
|
AUDIO |
|
| BONUS
FEATURES |
|
Submit Your Movie Review
