By: debbie lynn elias
It’s been 19 years since we heard from John Rambo. And leave it to Sylvester Stallone to resurrect him with a larger than life ferocity in this fourth installment of the RAMBO franchise. As history shows, Stallone has always used John Rambo as a means to address political issues of the day. Here, however, he becomes prescient with his choice of addressing the conflict between Burma’s ruling military junta and the Karen ethnic tribe. Although the brutal and systematic genocide at the hands of the Burmese government has been occurring for over 60 years, little attention has been paid it in the media – at least until September 2007 when the Buddhist monk led pro-democracy protests in Burma (now Myanmar) and horrible, disturbing images flashed across the airwaves and in print as the military junta quelled the protestors with beatings, arrests, murders and other crimes more heinous than one can even imagine. Communications to the outside were either cut-off or blocked and controlled. The total death toll is still unknown. Five months before the September uprising, RAMBO had wrapped production.
John Rambo has been living a quiet, simplistic, peaceful life in Southeast Asia. Unable to come to terms with his violent past, he has chosen to his life in solitude. Living off the land and working as a boatman traveling the Salween River, he earns money by doing odd jobs like capturing snakes for shows that attract tourists or fishing. But all that changes when Rambo is approached by a group of Christian missionaries who request transport to a remote Karen village to distribute medical supplies, education and some Christian fundamentals to refugees in need. Knowing the dangers of the region, he refuses to get involved, refuses to endanger anyone else in the regions wars. Ultimately, however, he is persuaded by Sarah, the lone female missionary. Traveling with her fiancé doctor boyfriend (who is less than likeable) with several other starry-eyed believers, there is something in Sarah that is different, good, moral and just that touches Rambo; something that sparks his own inner conflict of good versus evil.
Agreeing to take the group upriver to their drop point, Rambo’s inner fury rises weeks later when the pastor finds him, telling him the group is missing but there are rumors that they have been taken captive by the sadistic and murderous Major Tint. With a penchant for mass murder for sport, brutality and violence, Tint’s reputation is well known throughout the reason. Envisioning the horrors of his past and those that could yet happen to Sarah, that’s all Rambo needs to spur him into action. Agreeing to lead five highly trained mercenaries hired by the Missionary to the drop point where he left the group weeks earlier, Rambo soon finds himself pulled into the deadliest and bloodiest mission of his life as he fights to save not only Sarah and her friends, but his own soul.
Having the distinction of being not just the only girl in RAMBO, Julie Benz is proudest of the fact that she is the first female to survive in a “Rambo” film. A former champion ice skater, Benz brings a gentility, winsome strength and incredible amount of inner fortitude to the character of Sarah that is refreshing and a perfect compliment to the violence of the film and the real life situation. Knowing the most difficult aspects of the shoot would be combating 105 degree heat and keeping up with the macho group of mercenary rescuers, Benz relied on her own athletic training disciplines, hired a trainer, “started training twice a day, six days a week” and amped up her cardio. “I knew I was going to have to hold my own against all these very, very touch men.” Believe me – she does.
Matthew Marsden and Graham McTavish step in as mercenaries Schoolboy and Lewis with their patented brand of force and fury. As Schoolboy, Marsden brings a morality to an otherwise jaded group of men and much is seen through his eyes as battle unfolds. Having worked on “Black Hawk Down” he knew the rigors of a “military action film” but still increased his daily workouts and cardio, all to his advantage, considering he quickly learned that he would be handling a weapon weighing in excess of 75 lbs and 6 feet in length running and carrying it through the jungle, into canyons, up hills, etc., on a daily basis. One perk, however, because of his prior training on weapons handling, his missed out on “boot camp”, although Marsden candidly admits that “I thought I was prepared, but I was wrong.” McTavish, an accomplished swordsman and athlete, renowned for his work in British tv, film and theatre, landed the part of Lewis one week after arriving in Los Angeles. Again, his big concern was the physical demand of the role. And like his costars, pushed himself physically to meet the demands of the shoot. As Lewis, he is the man you love to hate. With a cockiness and conceit that runs deep, McTavish provides a visible emotional growth that is touching.
Determined to cast locals, Stallone incorporated real Karen refugees into the film. Victims of land mines, torture and even former soldiers, one look at these people on screen forces us an audience to see the undeniable truth and horror of the situation in Burma/Myanmar. A key character, the evil Major Tint is played by former resistance fighter for the Karen rebels, Muang Muang Khin. Despite his concern for his own safety, Khin was determined to take part in the film. “I want the world to know what is actually going on here.” His portrayal of Tint is chilling.
Written and directed by Stallone, the script is simple. Basic. As for his own character, the words are minimal at best, allowing Rambo’s silence and animal instinct to do the talking for him. And let me tell you, Sly has never looked better!
With an approximate 264 countable kills, RAMBO is without a doubt, the most brutally violent film of all time; a fact for which Sylvester Stallone makes no apologies. “I worked hard for this.” From the opening shots of actual CNN and other newsreel footage of the murders, rapes and bearings occurring in the region, there are no holds barred. According to Stallone, “There’s nothing more impressionable than when you actually see real news reel footage, that you are not doing a film that’s just a fantasy; it’s for real. I that it would add little gravatai to it to and then bring you up to speed.” Involved in every aspect of the film from chopping down trees to clearing land, to even avoid getting bitten by snakes crawling up his pant leg, no one worked harder or was more dedicated to this production than Stallone. And having had the privilege of working with him on previous films, I know his intensity and dedication to perfection and excellence. Demanding authenticity, the film was based in Chiang Mai, a Thai city as close to its birder with Burma as possible. Under the guiding hand of production designer Franco-Giacomo Carbone who worked with Stallone on “Rocky Balboa,” the crew of over 500 built 6 boats of varying kinds, a Burmese army compound that required clearing 4 acres of jungle and the construction of over 50 buildings, irrigation and rice paddy terraces and 34 bamboo structures.
When I asked him about his style of shooting RAMBO, he told me, “I thought this one would be like the characters – jerky, erratic, unsteady, always always moving. It always blows my mind when you see a jungle film and then you see dolly shots. I can’t walk 5 feet without tripping over a vine. So I thought the camera should be that way. And also, because of economics we didn’t have time to put the camera on anything that resembled a dolly. It was quick and “run and gone.” I think you miss a lot of shots but you get a lot of energy. In the last battle, I had 9 cameras and then normally it would be 3.”
Using old school filmmaking, this is the first time Stallone has used CGI but as he explains it, that was the only way to convey the real horror of the situation. “When you are hit with a 50 caliber, you are literally emulsified. I wanted to show that when people go to see situations of great violence, it’s horrifying.” Trust me, he conveys the horror. From heads being blown off bodies to decapitation a la Vlad the Impaler, there is nothing left to the imagination. A visual master, working in tandem with DP Glen MacPherson, his punches are never wasted as he eloquently and powerfully says so much with so few words.
The MPAA “was very conflicted” over the rating of RAMBO, but according to Stallone, “You’re dealing with a real subject. People are dying and being tortured in what brutal fashion you can never imagine. And this film will show that. And if we’re going to do anything that uses the media for anything besides entertaining is to perhaps to save a few lives and bring an awareness to this. Please don’t water it down. Yes. Babies are being dessimated, women are being raped. The pirate scenes – all that happens all the time. I said, just let it flow. People can turn away. They have this option but don’t just cut away from it. This has to walk that thin line. It was almost an experiment as to how far you can push entertainment but also stay true to the bloodshed that’s going down as we speak.”
Fast paced, spectacular riveting explosive eye-popping effects, emotional, powerful, prescient and timely….RAMBO, it’s ****ing AWESOME!!!!!!!!
John Rambo – Sylvester Stallone Sarah – Julie Benz Lewis – Graham McTavish Schoolboy – Mathew Marsden Major Ting – Muang Muang Khin
Written and Directed by Sylvester Stallone. Rated R.
