Before there was John Wick and Beatrix Kiddo. Before Chuck Norris jokes and Jason Bourne, and Schwarzenegger’s Commando, there was a John J. Rambo. American-Made killing machine and all around sad dude. And now he’s back.
Aside ~ This site was built on two things – a need to inflict my own opinion onto the world in, and my love of movies. To say that love of movies owes something to Stallone is an understatement. As a kid there were few movies I watched more often than the Rambo films, as they epitomized the 1980s era of action films in which they lived. While the original film – First Blood – carried over the somber tone and realism of the 1970s action genre, the sequels helped to form the 1980s into arguably the greatest decade for action films ever. Rambo: First Blood Part II took us back to the jungle and revisited the horrors of Viet Nam. It also is a movie that used explosive arrows to great effect. And Rambo III saw our hero on a mission to Afghanistan to rescue his mentor and friend, all the while his muscles and hair each growing larger and larger. And while his team up with Al-Qaeda maybe hasn’t aged that well, Rambo sealing his wound with gun powder is still one of the more badass movie moments of my childhood.
And now, eleven years after the release of Rambo V, the fourth movie in the franchise, our sullen hero returns for yet another rescue opp. This time headed to Mexico to recover the daughter of his friend, who has been kidnapped by the cartel.
The trailer is a little more 2000-era Action-style than I was hoping for, but just to see our favorite Green Beret back onscreen is enough to get me excited for it.
The film, which co-stars Paz Vega and is expected to be the last installment in the franchise and is directed by Adrian Grunberg. Acting as first assistant director on such films as Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Edge of Darkness, and Apocalypto, Grunberg helmed his first film in the last few years with the Mel Gibson crime thriller Get the Gringo. The latest Rambo movie is written by Stallone and co-writer Matt Cirulnick.
Besides promoting the film at the Cannes Film Festival just a couple weeks ago, Stallone has also been sharing many behind-the-scenes photos and videos via his social media accounts. Check out a sample of them below, including the film’s first official poster.
Lionsgate will release Rambo: First Blood in theaters nationwide September 20.
Images: Lionsgate
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