So I've had a couple of hours to digest this film after returning from the cinema...

What a sad way to end the Rambo anthology.

This is basically Stallone does Taken. Or maybe Taken 2 as it lacks the tenacity that Taken had.

Any good points? It's always nice to see Sly Stallone. The guy is an institution. Also the violence at the end was clever and OTT as expected.

The bad? Well, where do I start...

(spoilers) Rambo basically gets his niece killed. He storms in to get her, wimps out of fighting the guys, then they cut him and her and drug her up.

Once he is all patched up, he goes on a killing spree and gets her back. Only for her to die - and he doesn't even try CPR or anything...

I cannot even tell you how many holes there are in the plot, the non-sensical way the plot progresses. It feels like this must have been edited down a lot, coming in at only 89 minutes, but considering the only bit that drags is the Mexico bit... It doesn't look like it was edited.

In short, terrible story/script/editing. What a shame and a deeply unfitting way to end the Rambos.

5/10 (being generous as Stallone is an icon)

EDIT: There's a director's cut with extra footage. More gruesome killings, no improvement to the ridiculous and non-sensical plot. Even more of a slap in the face that this was released separately.

Downgrading to 4/10 as it really is an abomination.

The problem with this movie is that it is just a basic revenge movie that could have been done without the character of Rambo and it would have been all the same. It doesn't have a hidden anti-war message, no real link to the reality of a veteran's PTSD nor the over the top one-man army meme that Rambo is known for.

[spoiler] I haven't read/seen anything about this movie before watching and I was expecting to see Rambo doing what Rambo does the best - many, many, many violent kills. But I wasn't expecting the story to be around the horrible sex trafficking industry, a pretty harsh subject.
Sadly, it just doesn't fit well with the character of Rambo, yeah yeah we see him having difficulty to handle the accidental deaths at the start of the movie but beside that, there's no hard link to the back-story of Rambo, the Viêt-Nam vet suffering from PTSD and turned into a one-man army just turn into a basic revenge flick. Moreover, I was happy to see him go back to the old traps and spikes so those assholes get the painful death they deserves for all those innocent life they destroyed just to see Rambo quickly end their life after being impaled. What's the purpose of the traps then? He said himself that he wanted them to suffer, just to mercifully kill them. [/spoiler]
Anyway, I just spent the last 15 minutes trying to see the meaning of this movie for the character of Rambo and I'm just losing my time.
**TL;DR: The movie's title is clickbait at best. The movie would have been the same without Rambo and there's no links to First Blood beside wood spikes traps.**

There is something a little "True Grit" about this - not because the script is good; nor the scenery, score or acting - but that a star is daring to look old and "lived-in" and for that Stallone deserves praise. The film itself is a very slow burn as it focusses initially on the activities of his feisty but naive neice 'Gabriela" (Yvette Monreal) as she gets embroiled with a Mexican drug/whoring cartel that means he has to go risk life and limb to recover her and fend off their pursuers. It's all a bit too procedural, though the last 20 minutes or so do bring back a bit of the gung-ho flair of their predecessors with loads of pyrotechnics and bodies flying. It is short and sweet but I'm sure I'll never remember it.

Action (and violence) filled sequel (and likely last) in the Rambo franchise. Not nearly as good as First Blood or Rambo (2008), but still darkly entertaining flick with another solid performance from Stallone who thankfully hasn't gone into the lazy realm like Steven Seagal.

There are some plot contrivances one has to get past but still enjoyed this entry and it is one insane of an ending. **3.75/5**

_**Rambo goes to Mexico**_

Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) has been living on the family ranch in southern Arizona for the last ten years. When his niece (Yvette Monreal) goes missing across the border he has to fight a cartel of thugs to get her back. Paz Vega is on hand as a helpful journalist.

“Rambo: Last Blood” (2019) is the fifth and probably last of the Rambo franchise since Stallone was 72 during filming. While the plot is simple, with elements bringing to mind “One-Eyed Jacks” (1961) and “Conan the Barbarian” (1982), the film is a worthy addition to the series, albeit not quite as good as the previous one.

It provides what fans look for in a Rambo flick: A one-man-army situation with a noble cause and plenty of brutal action. While criticized for being “racist,” it’s no more racist than the other Rambo flicks. “Last Blood” never for a second suggests that ALL Mexicans are evil any more than ALL cops, Vietnamese, Afghans and Siamese were evil in the four previous films. Speaking of which, for me, this installment places third after “First Blood” (1982) and “Rambo IV” (2008).

The movie runs 1 hour, 29 minutes, and was shot in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. There’s also an Extended Cut that runs 12 minutes longer.

GRADE: B