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Latest Rambo a Bloody Mess

Stallone's fourth flick about mercenary is ultraviolent and artless

By Marcia Greenwood, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 25, 2008 10:55 AM CST

(Newser) – Sylvester Stallone's latest, and last, film about Vietnam vet/mercenary John Rambo isn't short on violence. "Body parts go flying, blood gets applied with a fire hose, spleens decorate the trees," writes Andrew Wright of the Portland-Mercury. Unfortunately, the movie is short on everything else. "One would be hard-pressed to imagine a conventional narrative being any thinner than the one in Rambo," says Dustin Putnam of MovieBoy.com.

And what little dialogue there is in the picture—in which Rambo, now leading a solitary existence in Thailand, gets drawn into Burma's 60-year-old civil war—inspires "bad laughs." In short, writes Thomas Leupp of ReelzChannel.com: "Fans of the first three movies will likely love it—as will fans of irony, absurdity, and unintentional comedy."

[Images (2)]

[Videos (1)]

This undated photo provided by Lionsgate shows Sylvester Stallone in a scene from "Rambo." (AP Photo/Lionsgate, Karen Ballard) (Associated Press)

Actor Sylvester Stallone makes an appearance at Planet Hollywood Times Square to promote his latest film "Rambo", Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008 in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini) (Associated Press)

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