Rambo (Blu-ray)

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In a way, the 2008 capstone to the Rambo series has a lot in common with the final entry in the Rocky franchise. With the sequels, both series had gone a little off the deep end into the formulaic world of flashy excess and caricature, pandering to what filmmakers thought the public wanted. But both series came full circle by returning to the spirit of the original. In addition, because Sylvester Stallone co-wrote and directed both "Rocky Balboa" (2006) and "Rambo," you know, in fast-food parlance, that he had it his way.

So how did Stallone choose to end this thing?

IT'S NOT OVER. NOTHING IS OVER!

Okay, okay. Sorry. Put it this way. Stallone opted for a return to a simple plot that gives us nearly as much character as action, along with a more believable storyline that's pulled right from today's headlines. There's a brutal genocide going on in Burma (now Myanmar), and missionary aid workers are wanting the best boatman on the river to take them from Thailand to this strife-filled country so they can minister to the oppressed. But while "Rambo" feels like spiritual kin to the original, it's more of a blood brother to "Rambo III" because of the level of carnage. Only one person was killed in "First Blood," while in "Rambo" the body count is so high I couldn't keep up. As a matter of fact, I couldn't even keep up with the count of arms, legs, and heads that were disconnected from their respective bodies. So the fourth installment in the Rambo series is a strange animal, part realistic return to the original and part ratchet-up-the-action-and-brutality that vaults it past the high body count of the third film.

Frankly, I could have done without what often seems like a gratuitous display of violence. They detract, rather than add to the overall experience, and I'm no fan of the camera tricks used to smooth over action scenes like this--you know, the stop-motion, skip-motion, slow-down and speed-up jerkiness that resembles a flickering strobe. When we get sequences where a head is blown clear off the body, it's so jarring that it draws attention to itself as a conscious filmmaking choice. I can't speak for the rest of the world, but it yanks me right out of the narrative. That's my biggest criticism. Apart from that, there are moments in the film that feel inauthentic. My head snapped again when the pastor (Ken Howard) who sent the missionaries shows up in Thailand in what seems like moments after they're reported missing, seeking to hire mercenaries to go after them. Any pastor I know would have been dialing up the U.S. Embassy and Amnesty International instead. And where would he get the money for mercenaries? It usually takes months just to raise the cash to send the missionaries over in the first place.

There's also a little cheese here, as when Rambo has a black-and-white flashback montage that feels a lot like a Spider-Man moment, after which he says to himself, "War's in your blood. Don't fight it." But fans accustomed to getting at least one or two good lines for their bulletin boards or office cubicles get a few bumper-sticker quotes here as well, like "Live for nothing, or die for something" and "When you're pushed, killing's as easy as breathing."

One main difference between this "Rambo" and the first three is that Stallone stays away from that thin wrestling leotard top. Though he's still plenty ripped for a guy his age, he keeps his shirt on for much of the picture, and while the hair may still be long, it's stringy and ratty as befits a guy who's eking out an existence--and thankfully not that Eighties' Hair Band look.

The supporting cast also seems less rigid than in previous films. Julie Benz ("Dexter") seems to fit right in as Sarah, the only female missionary who, of course, will face the threat of rape later in the film, while Paul Schulze seems earnest enough to be one of those misguided souls who's so full of idealism that reality always seems surreal. Though the closest we come to cartoon characters comes with the band of mercenaries, even they're far less cardboard and clichéd than the minor characters we met along the way in the second and third Rambo films.

There's an attempted artfulness here, too, that I can respect . . . at least in the early going. "Rambo" opens with a newsreel update on the genocide in Burma, and then we're introduced to a bad guy (Tim Kang) who wears sunglasses that become as much a focal point as those the guard wore in "Cool Hand Luke." After we see the games this guy and his soldiers play--like cats toying with their food before they kill it--the next sequence shows a fuller-faced John Rambo (Stallone) with a Thai buddy out trying to capture cobras, then using bow and arrow to shoot a fish that he passes on to a boatload of monks. So in three brief juxtaposed scenes you quickly get a reality base established, the snake of a bad guy established, and a symbolic scene that shows Rambo is perfectly capable of handling snakes . . . and caring for religious folk. It makes what follows seem as inevitable as the killing you know is coming. So when Rambo is approached about using his boat to take missionaries into a war zone, you know he's going to resist, and you know that when Sarah approaches him he's eventually going to give in and do it for her. And when they're captured, and the pastor hires him to take the mercenaries to the drop point, you know he's going to find a way to assert himself and accompany those guys to the camp where the missionaries are being held.