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Rambo: First Blood Part II

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

By IMP Awards, Fair use, Link

This article is about the 1985 film.

Rambo: First Blood Part II
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	George P. Cosmatos
Screenplay by	Sylvester Stallone James Cameron
Story by	Kevin Jarre
Based on	John Rambo by David Morrell
Produced by	Buzz Feitshans
Starring	Sylvester Stallone Richard Crenna Charles Napier Steven Berkoff
Cinematography	Jack Cardiff
Edited by	Mark GoldblattMark Helfrich
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Production companies	Carolco PicturesAnabasis Investments, N.V.Estudios Churubusco[1]
Distributed by	Tri-Star Pictures[2]
Release date	May 22, 1985 (United States)
Running time	96 minutes[3]
Country	United States[4]
Language	English
Budget	$25.5 million[5]
Box office	$300.4 million[6]

Rambo: First Blood Part II is a 1985 American action film directed by George P. Cosmatos and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, who also reprises his role as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. A sequel to First Blood (1982), it is the second installment in the Rambo franchise, followed by Rambo III. It co-stars Richard Crenna, who reprises his role as Colonel Sam Trautman, with Charles Napier, Julia Nickson, and Steven Berkoff.

The film’s plot is inspired by the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue. In the film, Rambo gets released from prison in a deal with the U.S. government to document the possible existence of missing POWs in Vietnam, but with strict orders not to rescue them. When Rambo defies his orders, he is abandoned and forced to rely once more on his own brutal combat skills to save the POWs.

Despite mixed reviews, Rambo: First Blood Part II was a major worldwide box office blockbuster, with an estimated 42 million tickets sold in the US. It has become one of the most recognized and memorable installments in the series, having inspired countless rip-offs, parodies, video games, and imitations. Entertainment Weekly ranked the movie number 23 on its list of “The Best Rock-’em, Sock-’em Movies of the Past 25 Years”.

Plot

Three years after the incident in Hope, Washington, former US Army Green Beret John Rambo receives a visit from his former mission commander and old friend, Col. Sam Trautman, at a rural labor work prison. With the Vietnam War now officially over, the public has become increasingly concerned over news that a small group of US POWs have been left in enemy custody in Vietnam.

To placate their demands for action, the US government has authorized a solo infiltration mission to confirm the reports. Rambo agrees to undertake the operation in exchange for a pardon. In Thailand, he is taken to meet Marshall Murdock, the bureaucrat overseeing the operation. Rambo is temporarily reinstated into the US Army and instructed only to take pictures of the suspected POW camp and not to rescue any prisoners or engage enemy personnel, as they will be retrieved by a better equipped extraction team upon his return.

During his insertion, Rambo’s parachute becomes tangled and breaks, causing him to lose his guns and most of his equipment, leaving him with only his knife, his bow, and his arrows. He meets his assigned contact, a young female Vietnamese intelligence agent named Co Bao, who arranges for a local band of river pirates to take them upriver. Reaching the camp, Rambo spots one of the prisoners tied to a cross-shaped post, left to suffer from exposure, and rescues him against orders.

During their escape, they are discovered by Vietnamese troops and attacked by an armored gunboat; causing the pirates to betray them, revealing they swapped allegiance to the Vietnamese and intend to hand them over for a reward. Rambo kills the pirates and destroys the gunboat with an RPG while the POW and Co Bao swim to safety. Rambo asks Co to stay behind shortly before they reach the extraction point. The rescue helicopter is ordered by Murdock to abort the rescue, saying Rambo has violated his orders.

Co Bao watches as Rambo and the POW are recaptured and returned to the camp. When Trautman confronts him, Murdock reveals that he never intended to save the POWs, explaining that Congress expected Rambo to find nothing, and that even if he did, Murdock would simply leave him to die to avoid having to deal with the issue any further. Trautman is then told he will be removed from the mission to keep him from trying to help Rambo on his own.

Rambo learns that Soviet troops are working with the Vietnamese army. He is interrogated by the local liaison, Lieutenant Col. Podovsky, and his right-hand man, Sgt. Yushin. Upon learning of Rambo’s mission from intercepted missives, Podovsky demands that Rambo should broadcast a message to Murdock warning against any further rescue missions for the POWs. Meanwhile, Co infiltrates the camp disguised as a prostitute and hides under the hut where Rambo is being brutally tortured with electric shocks.

Rambo refuses to cooperate, but relents when the prisoner he tried to save is threatened. As he begins to read the scripted comments, Rambo directly threatens Murdock, overpowers the Soviets, and escapes the camp with Co’s help. Rambo agrees to take Co to the United States, and they kiss. As they start moving again, a small Vietnamese force attacks the pair and Co is killed during the assault. An enraged Rambo guns down the soldiers and buries Co in the mud.

Rambo snaps and, with the use of his knife and bow, he systematically dispatches the numerous Soviet and Vietnamese soldiers sent after him one after the other – even blowing up the Vietnamese officer who killed Co with an explosive arrow. After surviving a barrel bomb dropped by Yushin’s helicopter, Rambo climbs on board and throws Yushin out of the cabin to his death. The pilot is forced out at knifepoint, and Rambo takes control. He lays waste to the prison camp and wipes out the rest of the enemy forces before extracting the POWs and heading towards friendly territory in Thailand.

Podovsky, pursuing them in a helicopter gunship, seemingly shoots the chopper down and moves in for the kill. Having faked the crash, Rambo uses a rocket launcher to destroy the aircraft; killing Podovsky. As he returns to base with the POWs, Rambo (after using the helicopter’s machine gun to destroy Murdock’s office) confronts the terrified Marshall with his knife; demanding that Murdock rescue the remaining POWs.

Trautman tries to convince Rambo to return home now that he has been pardoned. When Rambo refuses, Trautman asks what he wants. An irate Rambo responds that he only wants his country to love its soldiers as much as its soldiers love it. Trautman asks Rambo how he will live now, to which Rambo tersely says, “Day by day”. With that, the film credits roll as Rambo walks off into the distance.

Cast[edit]

Main article: List of Rambo characters

• Sylvester Stallone as John J. Rambo
• Richard Crenna as Colonel Sam Trautman
• Charles Napier as Major Marshall Roger T. Murdock
• Steven Berkoff as Lieutenant Colonel Sergei T. Podovsky
• Julia Nickson as Agent Co Phuong Bao
• Martin Kove as Michael Reed Ericson
• George Cheung as Lieutenant Tay
• Andy Wood as Banks
• William Ghent as Captain Vinh
• Voyo Goric as Sergeant Yushin
• Dana Lee as Captain Trong Kinh
• Steve Williams as Lifer

Production

Development and writing

Development of a sequel to First Blood began when Carolco Pictures sold foreign distribution rights to distributors in Europe and Japan in 1983, initially scheduling the film for a December 1984 release. It was later rescheduled for August 1, 1985.^[8] Producers considered that Rambo would have a partner in the rescue mission of POWs. The producers allegedly wanted John Travolta to play Rambo’s sidekick, but Stallone vetoed the idea. Lee Marvin (who was considered to play Colonel Trautman in the first film) was offered the role of Marshall Murdock, but declined, leading to the role being played by Charles Napier.

Then up-and-coming screenwriter Kevin Jarre had written a story treatment that was liked by both the producers and Stallone, as Jarre later recalled in an interview in the documentary Tinsel – The Lost Movie About Hollywood:

“I wrote the first draft of “Rambo”. And I just did it, I was living on dog food at the time and I, you know, I needed a gig and I wanted to finish a spec script I was writing. And you know, they called, Stallone called me in and they had this idea about what they should do in the sequel to “First Blood” and I said, “Well, how about if maybe he searches for POWs in Southeast Asia and back in Vietnam? He said “Great, let’s do it”

James Cameron was then hired to pen a first draft of the screenplay (Cameron had been recommended by David Giler who did some uncredited script work on the first film) which he was concurrently writing along with The Terminator and Aliens, both of which he would go on to direct. Cameron’s first draft was titled First Blood II: The Mission.^[10] According to Cameron, his script had the same basic structure of the first film, but was more violent than its predecessor. Cameron was quoted in a October 1986 issue of Monsterland magazine:

“It was quite a different film from FIRST BLOOD, apart from the continuation of the Rambo character. The first one was set in a small town, it had a different social consciousness from the second one, which was a very broad, stylized adventure. It was a little more violent in its execution than I had in mind in the writing”

Following Cameron’s initial draft, Stallone would take over scriptwriting duties, creating a final draft which differed from previous versions. Jarre would receive sole story credit, while Stallone and Cameron would get credited for the screenplay in the final film.

Stallone later recalled:

I think that James Cameron is a brilliant talent, but I thought the politics were important, such as a right-wing stance coming from Trautman and his nemesis, Murdock, contrasted by Rambo’s obvious neutrality, which I believe is explained in Rambo’s final speech. I realize his speech at the end may have caused millions of viewers to burst veins in their eyeballs by rolling them excessively, but the sentiment stated was conveyed to me by many veterans. … [Also] in his original draft it took nearly 30-40 pages to have any action initiated and Rambo was partnered with a tech-y sidekick. So it was more than just politics that were put into the script. There was also a simpler story line. If James Cameron says anything more than that, then he realizes he’s now doing the backstroke badly in a pool of lies.^[11]

Before filming started, Stallone went through torturous trainings to build the perfect musculature. Writer David J. Moore said in the 2019 documentary film In Search of the Last Action Heroes: “Here’s a guy who went against the grain in everything that he ever did. Here’s a guy who transformed himself, literally he chiseled his own body into this statuesque, muscular specimen.”^{[12]: 42:00}

Filming

The film was shot between June and August 1984, and was shot on location in the State of Guerrero, Mexico, and Thailand. During filming, special effects man Clifford P Wenger, Jr. was accidentally killed by one of the film’s explosions.

Music

Rambo: First Blood Part II (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Film score by Jerry Goldsmith
Released	1985
Producer	Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith chronology
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1985)Rambo: First Blood Part II (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1985)Explorers: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1985)

The musical score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra, although, Goldsmith uses heavily on electronic synthesized elements in the film score. The main song is sung by Stallone’s brother, singer/songwriter Frank Stallone. Varèse Sarabande issued the original soundtrack album.

1. Main Title (2:12)
2. Preparations (1:16)
3. The Jump (3:18)
4. The Snake (1:48)
5. Stories (3:26)
6. The Cage (3:55)
7. Betrayed (4:22)
8. Escape from Torture (3:39)
9. Ambush (2:45)
10. Revenge (6:14)
11. Bowed Down (1:04)
12. Pilot Over (1:52)
13. Home Flight (3:01)
14. Day by Day (2:06)
15. Peace in Our Life – music by Frank Stallone, Peter Schless, and Jerry Goldsmith; lyrics by Frank Stallone; performed by Frank Stallone (3:18)

Note: As released in the United Kingdom by That’s Entertainment Records (the British licensee for Varèse Sarabande at the time), the UK version placed “Peace in Our Life” between “Betrayed” and “Escape from Torture”, thus making “Day by Day” the final track.

In 1999, Silva America released an expanded edition with the cues in film order. Previously unreleased music is in bold.

1. Main Title (2:14)
2. The Map (1:09)
3. Preparations (1:18)
4. The Jump (3:19)
5. The Snake (1:49)
6. The Pirates (1:29)
7. Stories (3:27)
8. The Camp/Forced Entry (2:24)
9. The Cage (3:57)
10. River Crash/The Gunboat (3:37)
11. Betrayed (4:24)
12. Bring Him Up/The Eyes (2:06)
13. Escape from Torture (3:41)
14. Ambush (2:47)
15. Revenge (6:16)
16. Bowed Down (1:06)
17. Pilot Over (1:54)
18. Village Raid/Helicopter Flight (4:55)
19. Home Flight (3:02)
20. Day By Day (2:08)
21. Peace in Our Life (3:19) – Frank Stallone

Release

Marketing

Unusually for the time, a teaser trailer for the film—then titled First Blood Part II: The Mission—was released in 3,000 theaters in the summer of 1984, over a year before its scheduled release date of August 1, 1985, and several months before any footage for the film was completed. Mario Kassar arranged this in order to capitalize off the popularity of the first film.^[13][8] The film was also marketed through merchandising, with posters of Rambo selling rapidly. Although the film was rated R and directed at adults, tie-in toys were created for it.

Home media

The video sold 425,000 units, a record for a tape with a retail price of $79.95.

Rambo: First Blood Part II was released on DVD on November 23, 2004, and a Blu-Ray release followed on May 23, 2008.^[16] Rambo: First Blood Part II was released on 4K UHD Blu-Ray on November 13, 2018.^[17]

Reception

Box office

Rambo: First Blood Part II opened in the US on May 22, 1985, in a then-record 2,074 theaters, becoming the first film to be released to over 2,000 theaters in the United States, and was the number one film that weekend, grossing $20,176,217 . Overall, the film grossed $150,415,432 in the US and Canada and $149,985,000 internationally, for a worldwide total of $300,400,432.^[6] The movie broke various international box office records.^[18] It set an opening weekend record in the UK with a gross of £1,085,513 from 322 screens surpassing the record set by E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.^[19] In France the film had a record opening day with 269,564 admissions.^[20]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 33% based on 45 reviews. The site’s consensus is “First Blood Part II offers enough mayhem to satisfy genre fans, but remains a regressive sequel that turns its once-compelling protagonist into just another muscled action berserker.”^[21] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating “mixed or average reviews.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the film “almost as opportunistic as the Congressman it pretends to abhor. In spite of everything it says, it’s much less interested in the M.I.A. question than it is in finding a topical frame for the kind of action-adventure film in which Mr. Stallone — his torso and his vacant stare — can do what his fans like best. That is, fight, outwit and kill, usually all by himself, dozens of far better armed but lesser mortals.”^[23] Variety wrote, “The charade on the screen, which is not pulled off, is to accept that the underdog Rambo character, albeit with the machine-gun wielding help of an attractive Vietnamese girl, can waste hordes of Viet Cong and Red Army contingents enroute to hauling POWs to a Thai air base in a smoking Russian chopper with only a facial scar (from a branding iron-knifepoint) marring his tough figure. You never even see him eating in this fantasy, as if his body feeds on itself.”^[24] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three stars out of four and called it “very good at what it does, but what it does isn’t always that good”, referring to the depiction of the enemy as going “back to the image of the Yellow Peril, to the notion that white is right and other colors are wrong.”^[25] Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times wrote, “If a character can seemingly do anything, it’s hard to feel tension or concern about his fate. (At least, Superman had kryptonite.) We are left with nothing but detached aesthetic appreciation: watching Rambo race through several million dollars worth of explosions and aerial attacks, coruscant fireballs billowing everywhere and bodies flying hither and yon. Except for anyone irretrievably into violent power fantasies, this will probably soon pall.”^[26] Pauline Kael commented in The New Yorker, “The director, George P. Costmatos, gives this near-psychotic material—a mixture of Catholic iconography and Soldier of Fortune pulp—a veneer of professionalism, but the looniness is always there.”^[27] Paul Attanasio of The Washington Post wrote, “At best, Rambo: First Blood Part II is a crudely effective right-wing rabble-rouser, the artistic equivalent of carpet bombing—you don’t know whether to cheer or run for cover. At worst, it’s a tribute to Sylvester Stallone, by Sylvester Stallone, starring Sylvester Stallone.”^[28]

The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson‘s book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.^[29]

Accolades

Award	Category	Subject	Result
Academy Award	Best Sound Editing	Frederick Brown	Nominated
Razzie Award	Worst Picture	Buzz Feitshans	Won
Worst Actor	Sylvester Stallone	Won
Worst Screenplay	Won
James Cameron	Won
Worst Original Song	Frank Stallone (“Peace in Our Life”)	Won
Worst Supporting Actress	Julia Nickson	Nominated
Worst New Star	Nominated
Worst Director	George Cosmatos	Nominated

Legacy[edit]

The film was referenced in the 1985 episode of The Golden Girls, titled “On Golden Girls“. Female characters seem to be aroused by John Rambo’s muscular physique, and Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty) says: “I sat through it twice. You’ll love it! He sweats like a pig and he doesn’t put his shirt on!”^[30][31]

Other media

Sequel

Main article: Rambo III

A sequel titled Rambo III, was released in 1988.

Novelization[edit]

David Morrell, author of First Blood, the novel the first Rambo film is based on, wrote a novelization called Rambo: First Blood Part II.

Video games[edit]

A tie-in video game was produced for ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 called Rambo. There was also Rambo for NES as well as a Rambo: First Blood Part II, for Sega. MSX and DOS games based on the film. Sega later adapted some of the battle scenes in the film for the 2008 arcade game Rambo. In 2014 was released Rambo: The Video Game, based on the first three Rambo films.

The 1986 run-and-gun shooter arcade hit Ikari Warriors was originally intended by its developer SNK to be an official licensed adaptation of Rambo. However, they were initially unable to acquire the rights to the film. This resulted in the game’s title being changed to Ikari, referencing part of the film’s Japanese title, Rambo: Ikari no Dasshutsu (“Rambo: The Furious Escape”). After the game made its North American debut at an arcade game expo, they managed to get in touch with Sylvester Stallone about acquiring the rights to the film. However, it was too late by that point, as the game had already become popularly known by its Japanese title Ikari among arcade players in Japan and North America, leading to the game being officially released as Ikari Warriors in North America. Stallone was friends with SNK’s president at the time, and owned an Ikari Warriors arcade cabinet.

In popular culture

• Missing in Action, an American film inspired by Rambo: First Blood Part II^[33]
• Strike Commando, an Italian film described as an imitator of Rambo: First Blood Part II^[34]
• Hot Shots! Part Deux, an American parody film of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rambo III with colonel role reprised by Richard Crenna^[35]
• Second Blood, a Kuwaiti action film inspired by Rambo: First Blood Part II^[36][37][38]
• UHF is a 1989 comedy-parody film starring “Weird Al” Yankovic as a low-budget television station manager. Late in the film, Yankovic’s character, George Newman, has a fantasy in which he envisions himself as a Rambo-type soldier on mission to rescue Stanley Spadowski (Michael Richards) from a rival station owner’s goons, during which Yankovic wears a muscular body suit to imitate Stallone’s physique. The fantasy sequence is a parody exaggeration of the action sequences in about the last third of Rambo: First Blood Part II. Stallone himself had initially agreed to make a cameo appearance in the sequence, but ultimately declined to do so.

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Rambo III

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

By The poster art can or could be obtained from TriStar Pictures., Fair use, Link

This article is about the 1988 film. For the video game, see Rambo III (video game).

Rambo III
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter MacDonald
Written by	Sylvester StalloneSheldon Lettich
Based on	John Rambo by David Morrell
Produced by	Buzz Feitshans
Starring	Sylvester StalloneRichard Crenna
Cinematography	John Stanier
Edited by	James SymonsAndrew LondonO. Nicholas Brown
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Production company	Carolco Pictures[1]
Distributed by	Tri-Star Pictures[1]
Release date	May 25, 1988 (United States)
Running time	101 minutes[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$58–63 million[3][4]
Box office	$189 million[5]

Rambo III is a 1988 American action film directed by Peter MacDonald and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, who also reprises his role as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. A sequel to Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), it is the third installment in the Rambo franchise, followed by Rambo.

The film depicts fictional events during the Soviet–Afghan War. In the film, Rambo sets out on a dangerous journey to Afghanistan in order to rescue his former commander and his longtime best friend, Col. Sam Trautman, from the hands of an extremely powerful and ruthless Soviet Army colonel who is bent on killing both Trautman and Rambo, while helping a local band of Afghan rebels fight against Soviet forces threatening to destroy their village.

Rambo III was released worldwide on May 25, 1988, and grossed $189 million at the box office. With a production budget between $58 and $63 million, Rambo III was the most expensive film ever made at the time.

Plot

Three years after the events in Vietnam, John Rambo has settled in a Thai monastery and is helping with construction work on the monastery grounds. He supports the monastery by competing in krabi-krabong matches in nearby Bangkok. Colonel Sam Trautman visits his old friend and ally Rambo, and explains that he is putting together a mercenary team for a CIA-sponsored mission to supply the Mujahideen and other tribes as they try to repel the Soviet Army in Afghanistan. Despite being shown photos of civilians suffering at the hands of the Soviet military, Rambo refuses to join, as he is tired of fighting. Trautman proceeds anyway and is ambushed by enemy forces near the border, resulting in all of his men being killed. Trautman is captured and sent to a large mountain base to be interrogated by Soviet Colonel Zaysen and his henchman Sergeant Kourov.

Embassy official Robert Griggs informs Rambo of Col. Trautman’s capture but refuses to approve a rescue mission for fear of drawing the United States into the war. Aware that Trautman will die otherwise, Rambo gets permission to undertake a solo rescue on the condition that he will be disavowed in the event of capture or death. Rambo immediately flies to Peshawar, Pakistan, where he intends to convince arms dealer Mousa Ghani to bring him to Khost, the town closest to the Soviet base where Trautman is held captive.

The Mujahideen in the village, led by chieftain Masoud, hesitate to help Rambo free Trautman. Meanwhile, a Soviet informant in Ghani’s employ informs the Soviets, who send two attack helicopters to destroy the village. Though Rambo manages to destroy one of them with a DShK heavy machine gun, the rebels refuse to aid him any further. Aided only by Mousa and a young boy named Hamid, Rambo attacks the base and inflicts significant damage before being forced to retreat. Hamid, as well as Rambo, are wounded during the battle and Rambo sends him and Mousa away before resuming his infiltration.

Skillfully evading base security, Rambo reaches and frees Trautman just as he is about to be tortured with a flamethrower. He and Trautman rescue several other prisoners and hijack a Hind gunship helicopter to escape the base. The helicopter is damaged during takeoff and quickly crashes, forcing the escapees to flee across the sand on foot. An attack helicopter pursues Rambo and Trautman to a nearby cave, where Rambo destroys it with an explosive arrow. A furious Zaysen sends Spetsnaz commandos under Kourov to kill them, but they are quickly routed and killed. An injured Kourov attacks Rambo with his bare hands, but is overcome and killed.

As Rambo and Trautman make their way to the Pakistani border, Zaysen and his forces surround them. But before the duo are overwhelmed, Masoud’s Mujahideen forces attack the Soviets in a surprise cavalry charge. Despite being wounded, Rambo takes control of a tank and uses it to attack Zaysen’s Hind gunship in a head-on battle with both vehicles firing high-calibre machine gun rounds, Rambo firing the tank’s main gun and Zaysen unleashing volleys of the Hind’s high explosive rockets and missiles. The final charge sees the two vehicles collide, but Rambo survives after firing the tank’s main gun after colliding with Zaysen’s Hind. At the end of the battle, Rambo and Trautman say goodbye to the Mujahideen and leave Afghanistan.

Cast

Main article: List of Rambo characters

• Sylvester Stallone as John J. Rambo
• Richard Crenna as Colonel Samuel R. “Sam” Trautman
• Kurtwood Smith as Robert Griggs
• Marc de Jonge as Colonel Alexei Zaysen
• Sasson Gabai as Mousa Ghani
• Doudi Shoua as Hamid
• Spiros Fokas as Masoud
• Randy Raney as Sergeant Kourov
• Marcus Gilbert as Tomask
• Alon Abutbul as Nissem
• Masoud Assadollahi as Rahim
• Yosef Shiloach as Khalid
• Shaby Ben-Aroya as Uri

Production

Development and writing

Sylvester Stallone later said his original premise of the film “was more in keeping with the theme of Tears of the Sun, but set in Afghanistan.”

Bullitt and Red Heat scribe Harry Kleiner was hired to write a draft, but his script was rejected by Stallone.

Several weeks into filming, many of the film’s crew were fired including the director of photography and director Russell Mulcahy. Stallone:

The canvas of this movie is so large you have to constantly think 10 scenes ahead. You can’t wing it. They didn’t go into the Battle of Waterloo not knowing what their strategy would be. Well, this movie is kind of like a cinematic warfare. We have a huge cast and crew (more than 250 people) and tough locations to deal with. Everyone and everything has to coordinate.^[8]

Some critics noted that the timing of the movie, with its unabashedly anti-Soviet tone, ran afoul of the opening of Communism to the West under Mikhail Gorbachev, which had already changed the image of the Soviet Union to a substantial degree by the time the movie was finished.

Pre-production

In a 2008 online Q&A, Stallone stated that a disagreement over casting led to him firing Russell Mulcahy as the director:

He went to Israel two weeks before me with the task of casting two dozen vicious looking Russian troops. These men were suppose [sic] to make your blood run cold. When I arrived on the set, what I saw was two dozen blond, blue-eyed pretty boys that resembled rejects from a surfing contest. Needless to say Rambo is not afraid of a little competition but being attacked by third rate male models could be an enemy that could overwhelm him. I explained my disappointment to Russell and he totally disagreed, so I asked him and his chiffon army to move on.^[6]

Mulcahy was replaced by Peter MacDonald, a veteran second unit director. It was MacDonald’s first film as director but he was very experienced and had directed the second unit action sequences in Rambo: First Blood Part II. MacDonald later said, “I tried very hard to change the Rambo character a bit and make him a vulnerable and humorous person, I failed totally.”^[10] “I knew instinctively what was a good and bad shot,” he added. “Stallone knew his character because it was his third outing as Rambo. I wasn’t shooting Shakespeare and at times it was hard to take it seriously.”^[10] MacDonald shot the stick fighting sequence in Bangkok himself using a handheld camera.^[10]

The character Masoud, played by Greek actor Spiros Focás, was named after Mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud who fought the Soviets and later the Taliban.^[11]

Filming

The film was shot in Israel, Thailand, and Arizona. MacDonald:

There were so many restrictions in Israel, where you could and couldn’t shoot. The producers and Stallone decided they would go back to Arizona where they had looked long before I was on the film. There was a group there called the re-enactors. We had around two hundred and fifty of these guys who re-enact the American Civil War. They were called on to do fight sequences, which they loved.^[10]

Equipment

The Mi-24 Hind-D helicopters seen in the film are modified Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma transport helicopters with fabricated bolt-on wings similar to the real Hind-Ds which were mainly used in the former Eastern Bloc.^{[citation needed]} The other helicopter depicted is a slightly reshaped Aerospatiale Gazelle.^{[citation needed]}

Dedication

The film ends with the on-screen caption, “This film is dedicated to the gallant people of Afghanistan.” At some point after the September 11 attacks, an urban legend began that the dedication had actually read “… to the brave Mujahideen fighters” when the film was released in theaters, but then changed to “the gallant people of Afghanistan” after the 2001 attacks, since the Mujahideen were now associated to some extent with the Taliban. This urban legend has been repeated by some scholars.^[12][13] However, this is untrue, and some reviews of the film upon its release even mentioned the “gallant people of Afghanistan” dedication.

Music

Rambo III: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Film score by Jerry Goldsmith
Released	1988
Label	Scotti Bros.
Producer	Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith chronology
Rent-a-Cop: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1987)Rambo III: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1988)Criminal Law: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1988)

An extensive film score was written by Oscar-winning American composer Jerry Goldsmith, conducting the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra; however, much of it was not used. Instead, much of the music Goldsmith penned for the previous installment was recycled. The original album, released by Scotti Bros., contained only a portion of the new music as well as three songs, only one of which was used in the film (Bill Medley‘s version of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”, played over the end credits).

1. It Is Our Destiny – Bill Medley (4:30)
2. Preparations (4:58)
3. Afghanistan (2:35)
4. The Game (2:23)
5. Another Time (3:54)
6. He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother – Bill Medley (4:30)
7. Aftermath (2:42)
8. Questions (3:34)
9. The Bridge – Giorgio Moroder featuring Joe Pizullo (3:59)
10. Final Battle (4:47)

A more complete 75-minute version of the score was later released by Intrada.

1. Another Time (3:58)
2. Preparations (06:21)
3. The Money (0:52)
4. I’m Used To It (1:00)
5. Peshawar (1:12)
6. Afghanistan (2:38)
7. Questions (3:37)
8. Then I’ll Die (3:34)
9. The Game (2:25)
10. Flaming Village (4:07)
11. The Aftermath (2:44)
12. Night Entry (3:58)
13. Under And Over (2:55)
14. Night Fight (6:50)
15. First Aid (2:46)
16. The Long Climb (3:25)
17. Going Down (1:52)
18. The Cave (3:31)
19. The Boot (1:53)
20. You Did It, John (1:08)
21. The Showdown (1:26)
22. Final Battle (4:50)
23. I’ll Stay (9:00)

Release

After Rambo III, Sylvester Stallone was going to star in an adaptation of Don Pendleton‘s The Executioner novels. Between 1988 and 1990, the project was in development at Carolco Pictures, with Joel Silver attached as a producer and William Friedkin as a director. Cynthia Rothrock was also cast as partner of Stallone’s Mack Bolan character, and she would play more of a “calm and cool headed” character, while Stallone would be more of a “unpredictable wildcard”. At least several different scripts were written by screenwriters who wrote some of the more popular action films at the time, like Hilary Henkin, who wrote Road House (1989), Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner, who wrote RoboCop (1987), and even Stallone wrote a version of the script. However, due to his dislike of the scripts and problems he had with Stallone and Silver about it, Friedkin left the project which was cancelled soon after.^{[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]}

Cut version

Potentially owing to the proximity of its release to the Hungerford massacre,^[26] one minute and five seconds of footage was removed from the film before it could be granted an 18 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification; the amount of deletions was then nearly tripled for its initial video release. Almost all of this footage was restored to the film upon video submission in 2000, aside from a compulsory cut for animal cruelty.^[27]

Home media

Rambo III was released on DVD on November 23, 2004, and a Blu-Ray release followed on May 23, 2008. Rambo III was released on 4K UHD Blu-Ray on November 13, 2018.

Reception

Box office

Rambo III opened in the United States on May 25, 1988, at 2,562 theaters in its opening weekend (the four-day Memorial Day weekend), ranking #2 behind Crocodile Dundee II.^[28][29] Overall, the film grossed $53,715,611 domestically and then took $135,300,000 overseas, giving Rambo III a box office total of $189,015,611.^[5] The film underperformed at the box-office.^[30]

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “B+” on an A+ to F scale.^[31]

Critical response

The film scored a 41% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 37 reviews and with an average rating of 4.70/10. The site’s critical consensus states that “Rambo III finds its justice-dispensing hero far from the thoughtful drama that marked the franchise’s beginning — and just as far from quality action thriller entertainment.”^[32] Metacritic gives the film a rating of 36 out of 100 based on 15 critic reviews, indicating “generally unfavorable reviews”.

Prominent critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were split on Rambo III, with Siskel awarding the film “thumbs up”, and Ebert declaring “thumbs down” for those expecting more out of Rambo III. Ebert did give “thumbs up” to fans, saying the film was entertaining and that it “delivers the goods”.^{[citation needed]}

The New York Times took a dim view of the film.

In West Germany, the Deutsche Film- und Medienbewertung (FBW), a government film rating office whose ratings influence financial support to filmmakers, earned criticism after it awarded a “worthwhile” rating (in German: wertvoll) to Rambo III.

Accolades

Award	Category	Subject	Result
Golden Raspberry Award	Worst Actor	Sylvester Stallone	Won
Worst Screenplay	Nominated
Sheldon Lettich	Nominated
Worst Supporting Actor	Richard Crenna	Nominated
Worst Picture	Mario Kassar	Nominated
Buzz Feitshans	Nominated
Andrew Vajna	Nominated
Worst Director	Peter MacDonald	Nominated

Other media

Sequel

Main article: Rambo (2008 film)

A sequel titled Rambo was released in 2008.

Novelization

David Morrell, author of First Blood, the novel the first Rambo film is based on, wrote a novelization called Rambo III.

Comic books

A comic book adaptation of the film was published by Blackthorne Publishing. Blackthorne also published a 3D version of its Rambo III comic.

Video games

Various companies released video games based on the film, including Ocean Software and Taito. In 1990, Sega released its own game based on the film for the Master System and Genesis/Mega Drive. Sega later adapted some of the battle scenes in the film for the 2008 arcade game Rambo. In 2014, the film was incorporated into Rambo: The Video Game, based on the first three Rambo films.

In popular culture

• In the film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, the character of Chop Top jokes that the recording of one chainsaw murder sounds like “the Rambo III soundtrack”, although at that time, there had only been two Rambo films.
• In the film Twins, Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s character is seen looking at the poster of Rambo III featuring Stallone, where he compares his biceps to Stallone’s, but waves it off with a smile while shaking his head and walks away.
• The film Gremlins 2: The New Batch, features parodies of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rambo III
• In the film Hot Shots! Part Deux, the protagonist Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) is a parody of John Rambo and the plot of the film is the same as Rambo III, which involves Harley rescuing his mentor, Col. Denton Walters (Richard Crenna, parodying his character from the Rambo franchise).
• In the film MacGruber, the titular character (Will Forte) is introduced having retired and living as a monk in a small Ecuador village, before his mentor Col. Jim Faith arrives to ask his help for the retrieving a stolen nuclear warhead.

Rambo (2008 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

By Movieposterdb.com, Fair use, Link

Rambo
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sylvester Stallone
Written by	Art Monterastelli Sylvester Stallone
Based on	John Rambo by David Morrell
Produced by	Avi Lerner Kevin King Templeton John Thompson
Starring	Sylvester StalloneJulie BenzPaul SchulzeMatthew MarsdenGraham McTavishRey GallegosTim KangJake La BotzMaung Maung KhinKen Howard
Cinematography	Glen MacPherson
Edited by	Sean Albertson
Music by	Brian Tyler
Production companies	Nu Image Equity Pictures Medienfonds GmbH & Co. KG IV
Distributed by	Lionsgate The Weinstein Company
Release date	January 25, 2008 (United States)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$47.5–50 million
Box office	$113.2 million

Rambo^[a] is a 2008 American action film directed and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, based on the character John Rambo created by author David Morrell for his novel First Blood.^[9] A sequel to Rambo III (1988), it is the fourth installment in the Rambo franchise and co-stars Julie Benz, Paul Schulze, Matthew Marsden, Graham McTavish, Rey Gallegos, Tim Kang, Jake La Botz, Maung Maung Khin, and Ken Howard. The film is dedicated to the memory of Richard Crenna, who died in 2003. Crenna had played Colonel Sam Trautman in the previous films. In the film, Rambo (reprised by Stallone) leads a group of mercenaries into Burma to rescue Christian missionaries, who have been kidnapped by a local infantry unit.

The rights to the Rambo franchise were sold to Miramax Films in 1997 after Carolco Pictures went bankrupt. Miramax intended to produce a fourth film but Stallone was unmotivated to reprise the role. The rights were then sold to Nu Image and Millennium Films in 2005, who green-lit the film before the release of Rocky Balboa. Filming began in Thailand, Mexico, and the United States in January 2007, and ended in May 2007.

Rambo was theatrically released on January 25, 2008, to mixed reviews, with praise and criticism aimed at the film’s violence, direction, plot, characters, and political commentary. It grossed $113.2 million worldwide against a production budget between $47.5–50 million. The film was followed by Rambo: Last Blood, released on September 20, 2019.

Plot

Amid the political protests of the Saffron Revolution in Burma, ruthless SPDC officer Major Pa Tee Tint leads Burmese regime army forces in pillaging small villages in a campaign of fear. His soldiers sadistically slaughter innocents, abduct teenage boys to be drafted into his army and hold women hostage to be raped as sex slaves. Meanwhile, 20 years after the events in Afghanistan, Vietnam War veteran John Rambo is still living in Thailand, making a living as a snake catcher and by providing boat rides. Michael Burnett, a missionary doctor, attempts to hire Rambo to ferry his group up the Salween River into Burma on a humanitarian mission to provide medical aid to a village inhabited by the Karen people. Rambo initially refuses, then agrees when convinced by Michael’s fiancée Sarah Miller.

During the trip, the boat is stopped by pirates demanding Sarah in exchange for passage, forcing Rambo to kill them. The missionaries arrive at the village but are attacked by Tint’s forces. Sarah, Michael, and other survivors are taken prisoners. The pastor of the missionaries’ church comes to Thailand and asks Rambo to guide a team of five mercenaries on a rescue mission. Rambo takes the mercenary to the drop-off point and offers to help, but Lewis, a former SAS soldier and the team’s leader, refuses.

Myint, a Karen rebel familiar with the area, leads the mercenaries to the site of the massacre. As they survey the damage, a squad of Tint’s soldiers arrive in a truck with a group of prisoners, whom they proceed to torment. Rambo arrives in time and kills the soldiers with his bow and arrow, freeing the hostages. Rambo joins the mercenaries and they make their way to Tint’s camp at night, where they stealthily rescue the surviving hostages.

The next morning, Tint and his soldiers pursue them. Rambo lures a section of the army towards a dormant Tallboy bomb, setting it off with a timed claymore. Tint’s forces capture everyone except Rambo, Sarah, and School Boy, the mercenaries’ sniper. Before Tint can execute them, Rambo launches a surprise attack with a jeep mounted machine gun and starts slaughtering Tint’s men, allowing the mercenaries to escape and engage them. The Karen rebels, led by Myint, arrive and join the fight, helping to overwhelm Tint’s soldiers and their arriving naval forces. Defeated, Tint attempts to escape, but Rambo intercepts and disembowels him dead with his machete.

In the aftermath, Rambo, inspired by Sarah’s words, returns to the United States to visit his father at his home in Bowie, Arizona.

Cast

Main article: List of Rambo characters

• Sylvester Stallone as John J. Rambo
• Julie Benz as Sarah Miller
• Paul Schulze as Michael Burnett
• Matthew Marsden as School Boy
• Graham McTavish as Lewis
• Tim Kang as En-Joo
• Rey Gallegos as Diaz
• Jake La Botz as Reese
• Maung Maung Khin as Major Pa Tee Tint
• Ken Howard as Father Arthur Marsh
• Supakorn Kitsuwon as Myint
• Aung Aay Noi as Lieutenant Aye
• Sornram Patchimtasanakarn as Tha

Production

Development and writing

The film was an independent production between Nu Image and Emmett/Furla Films for Equity Pictures Medienfonds GmbH.^[11] It was green-lit and sold before Rocky Balboa was released.^[12] In between the making of the third and fourth films in the Rambo franchise, the films’ original producer, Carolco Pictures, went out of business. In 1997, Miramax purchased the Rambo franchise.^[13] The following year, Miramax subsidiary Dimension Films intended to make another film, and a writer was hired to write the script, but attempts to make it were deterred by Stallone, who had stated that he no longer wanted to make action movies.^[14] In 2005, the studio sold those rights to Millennium Films and Nu Image.

Stallone had stated that part of the reason that it took so long to produce a fourth film was due to a lack of a compelling story that motivated him to return to the role.^[15]

An early idea was to have Rambo travel to Mexico to rescue a kidnapped young girl.^[16] Stallone thought it was “good”, however, he felt the idea lacked the “essence of Rambo”, still wanting the character to be a “lost man wandering the world”.^[17] The premise would later be used for Rambo: Last Blood. Stallone got the idea to set the film in Burma from the United Nations, which he later pitched to producers.^[18]

The producers found the idea compelling after visiting Karen refugee camps.^[19] Maung Maung Khin is a former Karen freedom fighter and stated that if he accepted the role of the film’s villain, there was a chance some of his family would have been incarcerated in Burma, but accepted the role regardless, feeling that bringing awareness of the Saffron Revolution was important.^[20]

Pre-production[edit]

A different director was originally attached to direct the film but left due to creative disagreements.^[21] Stallone was reluctant to direct the film due to not being prepared nor having a vision for the film^[22] but later became excited when he came up with the idea of “what if the film was directed by Rambo? What if the film had his personality?”^[23] Graham McTavish later echoed this idea, stating, “In many ways, Rambo directed the movie.”^[24] Paul Schulze stated that there were rewrites by Stallone nearly every morning.^[25] The film had a production crew of 560 people, including 450 Thai crew members, and over 80 foreign members from Australia, America, Canada, Myanmar and the United Kingdom.^[26]

Filming

Stallone stated that due to the small production budget the only way to make the film memorable was to make it graphically violent. He said “we were all sitting around in looking at the small production budget. Then I said ‘Hey, fake blood is cheap, lets make it all-out bloody.'” Filming started on January 22, 2007, and ended on May 4, 2007. It was shot in Chiang Mai, Thailand as well as in Mexico and the United States in Arizona and California. While filming near Burma, Stallone and the rest of the crew narrowly avoided being shot by the Burmese military. Stallone described Burma as a “hellhole”. He said, “We had shots fired above our heads” and that he “witnessed survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land-mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off.”^[27]

Post-production

John Rambo was the original working title for the film but was changed in the US because Stallone thought that audiences might think that this is the final film in the Rambo series (due to the then recently released Rocky Balboa), which was not his original intent. In many other countries, the title John Rambo is used because the first Rambo film was known as Rambo in those countries. The film premiered on US television as Rambo, but the title sequence referred to it as John Rambo.

On October 12, 2007, Lionsgate announced that the film title was being changed to Rambo: To Hell and Back. After some negative feedback from the online community, Stallone spoke with Harry Knowles^[28] and said:

Lionsgate jumped the gun on this. I just was thinking that the title John Rambo was derivative of Rocky Balboa and might give people the idea that this is the last Rambo film, and I don’t necessarily feel that it will be. He’s definitely a superb athlete, there’s no reason he can’t continue onto another adventure. Like John Wayne with The Searchers.

Music

Rambo: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Film score by Brian Tyler
Released	January 22, 2008
Length	75:59
Label	Lionsgate
Producer	Brian Tyler
Brian Tyler chronology
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2007)Rambo: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2008)Bangkok Dangerous: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2008)

Brian Tyler composed the original score for the film. Stallone wanted Tyler to incorporate Jerry Goldsmith‘s original themes into the film. He did not rely on Goldsmith’s actual theme, though he based his own theme and orchestrations on the style of the original to maintain the musical series. The soundtrack comprises 20 tracks.

Release

Home media

The DVD and Blu-ray Disc were released in the United States on May 27, 2008. The DVD was released in a single disc edition and 2-disc edition. The DVD was released in the UK on June 23, 2008. The film was the 19th best selling DVD of 2008 with 1.7m units sold and an overall gross of $41,811,370.^[34] In 2010, the film was included into the DVD and Blu-ray release of the Rambo: Complete Collector’s Set.^[35] The film was released on 4K Ultra HD on September 3, 2019, featuring the theatrical and extended cut.^[36]

In the United States and Canada, the DVD earned $40 million, and the Blu-ray earned $2.2 million, totaling $42.3 million in domestic video sales.

Extended cut

During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2008, Cliff Stephenson announced that a “slightly different, slightly longer version of Rambo” will be released in 2009.^[37] The extended cut premiered at the 2008 Zurich Film Festival.^[38] The extended cut was released exclusively on Blu-ray on July 27, 2010, and runs at 99 minutes.^[39] The extended cut was marketed as Rambo: Extended Cut but the film itself replaces the original title card with the original working title John Rambo.^[8] The extended cut restructures the film and restores most of the deleted scenes from the Blu-ray and 2-disc DVD of the theatrical cut. The Blu-ray features a 7.1 DTS-HD mix, and an 84-minute production diary titled “Rambo: To Hell and Back“.^[40] The extended cut premiered on Spike TV on July 11, 2010, two weeks before its Blu-ray debut and to commemorate Stallone’s then-latest film The Expendables.

Reception

Box office

Rambo opened in 2,751 North American theaters on January 25, 2008, and grossed $6,490,000 on its opening day,^[5] and $18,200,000 over its opening weekend. It was the second highest-grossing movie for the weekend in the U.S. and Canada behind Meet the Spartans.^[41] The film has a box office gross of $113,344,290, of which $42,754,105 was from Canada and the United States.^[5]

Europe’s biggest cinema chain (and the third biggest in the world), Odeon, refused to show the film on any of its screens in the United Kingdom, due to a dispute with its British distributor Sony Pictures over rental terms for the film.^[42] The film was shown in Ireland and the United Kingdom by other theater chains such as Empire Cinemas, Vue, Cineworld and Ward Anderson. The film was not shown in the French-speaking part of Switzerland due to legal and commercial problems with the distributor, even if it was available on screens of France and the Swiss German-speaking part.^[43]

Critical response

Rambo received mixed reviews, with critics praising the film’s action sequences and Stallone’s performance, but criticizing the film’s excessive violence.^[10] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 37% based on 153 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The site’s critical consensus reads: “Sylvester Stallone knows how to stage action sequences, but the movie’s uneven pacing and excessive violence (even for the franchise) is more nauseating than entertaining.”^[44] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating “mixed or average reviews”.^[45] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A−” on an A+ to F scale.^[46]

In his review for The New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote, “Mr. Stallone is smart enough—or maybe dumb enough, though I tend to think not—to present the mythic dimensions of the character without apology or irony. His face looks like a misshapen chunk of granite, and his acting is only slightly more expressive, but the man gets the job done. Welcome back.”^[47] Michael H. Price of Fort Worth Business Press wrote, “Stallone invests the role with a realistic acceptance of the aging process, and with traces reminiscent of Humphrey Bogart in 1951’s The African Queen and Clint Eastwood in 1992’s Unforgiven — to say nothing of the influences that the original First Blood had absorbed from Marlon Brando in 1953’s The Wild One and Tom Laughlin in 1971’s Billy Jack.”^[48]

When asked what his take on the film was, First Blood writer David Morrell said:

I’m happy to report that overall I’m pleased. The level of violence might not be for everyone, but it has a serious intent. This is the first time that the tone of my novel First Blood has been used in any of the movies. It’s spot-on in terms of how I imagined the character — angry, burned-out, and filled with self-disgust because Rambo hates what he is and yet knows it’s the only thing he does well. … I think some elements could have been done better, [but] I think this film deserves a solid three stars.^[49][50]

Reception in Burma

The film is banned by the Burmese government. Upon release, the then-ruling military junta ordered DVD vendors in Burma not to distribute the film due to the movie’s content.^[51] Despite having never been released there theatrically or on DVD, bootleg versions of Rambo are available. The opposition youth group Generation Wave copied and distributed the film as anti-Tatmadaw propaganda.^[52]

The Karen National Liberation Army has said that the movie gave them a great boost of morale. Some rebels in Burma have even adopted dialogue from the movie (most notably “Live for nothing, or die for something”) as rallying points and battle cries. “That, to me,” said Stallone, “is one of the proudest moments I’ve ever had in film.”^[51] Also, overseas Burmese have praised the movie for its vivid portrayal of the military’s oppression of the Karen people.^[53]

Sequel

Main article: Rambo: Last Blood

In 2009, Stallone announced plans for a fifth film titled Rambo V: The Savage Hunt. The film would have been loosely based on Hunter by James Byron Huggins and would have focused on Rambo leading an elite special forces kill team to hunt and kill a genetically engineered creature.^[54] In 2011, Sean Hood was hired to write a new script, separate from The Savage Hunt, titled Rambo: Last Stand that Hood described was “more in line with the small-town thriller of First Blood“.^[55] In 2012, Hood revealed that Rambo V was on hold while Stallone finishes The Expendables 2. Hood also revealed his uncertainty whether the film will be similar to Unforgiven or will be a passing-of-the-torch.^[56] In 2016, Sylvester Stallone revealed that Rambo V was no longer in production.

In May 2018, Rambo V was re-announced and was scheduled to begin filming in September with the plot focusing on Rambo taking on a Mexican drug cartel. Stallone was confirmed to be co-writing the script with Matt Cirulnick, but was unlikely to direct. That same month, Stallone confirmed that the film was scheduled for a fall 2019 release. In August 2018, Adrian Grunberg was announced as the director.^[61] Principal photography began in October 2018. Rambo: Last Blood was theatrically released in the United States on September 20, 2019.

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