Public Servant Lifestyle

Twenty years after the last instalment in the film series that bears his surname, John Rambo – played, as ever by Sylvester Stallone (veteran of five Rocky films and four previous Rambo movie outings, as well as the likes of Stop, or My Mom Will Shoot, Judge Dredd, Copland and Cobra) returns in what the star says is his final appearance.

Click here to watch the new trailer for the latest - and last - Rambo feature film.

As the film begins the war-weary Rambo has retreated to remote northern Thailand, where he works a longboat on the Salween River. On the nearby Thailand-Burma (Myanmar) border, the Burmese-Karen conflict, the world's longest-running civil war, rages into its 60th year. But the fugitive one-time special forces operative Rambo now lives a quiet solitary life in the jungle-covered mountains, fishing and catching poisonous snakes to sell. He is a man who has long given up fighting - even as he watches medics, rebels and refugees pass by on their way through the war-torn region.

War-Torn

Click here to watch a clip as Rambo returns in explosive style!

That all changes when a group of missionaries search out the ‘American river guide'. When Sarah – played by Julie Benz (of TV’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer and spin-off Angel) and Michael Bennett – played by Paul Schulze - approach Rambo, they explain that since last year's trek to the refugee camps, the Burmese military has laid landmines along the trails, making it too dangerous for overland travel. They ask him to guide them up the Salween River and drop them off, so they can deliver medical supplies, food and bibles to the persecuted Karen hill tribe people. After initially refusing to cross into Burma, Rambo agrees to take them, dropping off Sarah, Michael and the other aid workers at a predetermined site.

Click here to watch the original trailer for Rambo.

Less than two weeks later, pastor Arthur Marsh - played by Ken Howard - finds Rambo and tells him the missionaries did not return. He's mortgaged his home and raised money from his church’s congregation to hire a group of mercenaries - played by Graham Mctavish, Matthew Marsden, Tim Kang, Rey Gallegos, Jake La Botz - to bring them back. Rambo asks if the missionaries are alive, and Marsh replies they were seen being held captive in a Burmese army camp. While Rambo's reluctance for violence and conflict are palpable, he knows he has to help and agrees to take the mercenaries up river into the ravaged war zone. What follows is a descent into hell on earth...

Click here to watch another clip of a 'Mexican' stand-off, John Rambo style...

Here's what some of the critics have had to say about the new Rambo feature film:

"Damned if Stallone doesn't get us rooting for Rambo to kick bad-guy butt one more time, the same way we cheered on Rocky's improbable return." - Ethan Alter (Film Journal International).

"No moulds were broken during the making of this unabashadley old-school action movie, which sees cinema's favourite bandana-wearing He Man back where he belongs: skulking in the jungle like a moody blob of plasticine...spending his retirement like your average OAP does, wrestling poisonous snakes and forging his own weapons..." - Larushka Ivan-Zadeh (Metro newspaper).

"Rambo hits his stride in the film's second half, meting out justice in an unjust world and ultimately the movie works best when warbling its out-of-tune greatest hits." - Kevin Crust (Los Angeles Times).

"None of this is beyond what you'd expect - or fear - from a Rambo movie. What is inexcusable is the moral self-congratulation the movie trades on, attaching itself to the plight of the Burmese people." - (Boston Globe).

"Talk about mixed movie messages - I fear the more important part of the movie gets buried in the bloodshed..." - Russ Breimeier (Christianity Today).

DVD extras for Rambo look like this:

More information available in DVD / Home Video