Critic Reviews

The Looney Tunes nature of Rambo’s murder spree tempers much of the script’s ideological offense.

This movie is the product of truly deranged minds. It’s a must-see.

While part of the film offers the expected, unsparingly violent action tropes typical of the series, there’s another aspect to the story, a surprisingly brooding examination of a warrior in winter, a dark story of a berserker who can’t let go, that’s in its own way bleaker and more despairing than we may be expecting.

The film’s no-nonsense approach is a neat tribute to 1980’s action flicks of yore, where badass heroes said and did badass things.

Rambo: Last Blood features what’s easily the most violent movie scene of the year. It’s awesome.

Rambo: Last Blood captures everything that's gone wrong with this action franchise over the years.

The sequence is Last Blood’s pièce de résistance, and perhaps the only compelling reason the movie has to exist. But it’s also pure, relentless, grimacing punishment at the end of a joyless film, choreographed like a ritual sacrifice. Rambo has always been a monster, but in his old age, he has become something even worse: no fun.

The character deserves better, and so does the audience.

As a last hurrah for a once great action icon, Rambo: Last Blood is a damp squib. Put your headbands at half mast and remember him from his glory days.

There’s still a thrill seeing Stallone dig out a classic character for one last rumble, but this is formulaic action fare.