Parents' Guide to Rambo: Last Blood

Though it (vainly) tries for some of the human soul that drove the 1982 original, this fifth entry in the Rambo series is ultimately little more than a cheap, gory revenge fantasy. Coming 11 years after Rambo (2008), Rambo: Last Blood -- will this really be the last one? -- is basically a series of simple setups with predictable payoffs. We meet the pure, sheltered Gabrielle, who's so innocent and full of promise that she's not much more than a kidnap victim waiting to happen. We're also introduced to a series of military-grade tunnels -- with nooks and crannies stocked with guns, knives, and bows and arrows -- dug under Rambo's ranch, which seems like the perfect place for a climactic showdown.

Even though the movie isn't very long, it still feels like a bit of a wait before any of this inevitable stuff actually happens, not to mention that a long "trap setting" montage gives away most of the carnage to come. Stallone slips back into the character easily, carrying a lifetime's worth of hurt and rage and "trying to keep a lid on it." But the film's attempts to infuse the movie with heart, such as audio flashbacks to previous "touching" conversations, fall flat. The rest of the characters mean nothing; they're only there to react to him. The direction by Adrian Grunberg is mostly serviceable, though sometimes clunky, and Rambo: Last Blood eventually achieves the kind of mindless, primal kick it tries for. But it's easily forgotten.