An unexpectedly excellent closing chapter to this venerable franchise. While the body count is high, this fourth film favors the gritty reality of the first (First Blood) than the super-human feats of the second and third.

Writing: You know, back when another Rocky movie was announced, I was skeptical. But then I was totally surprised by the film, which was a well written and performed closing chapter to the franchise. After that experience, I actually had my hopes up going into this movie, figuring Sly would come through with another surprisingly good closing chapter to his other most notable film franchise. Sure enough, he did it again. Unlike his closing chapter of the Rocky saga, which is a sweet, charming movie, this is a starkly violent character drama. Depicting the all-too-real ethnic cleansings of Burma (stepping on a great many toes to not hide their portrayal of Burma’s recent history of violence), this is a powerful yet basically simple story.

Production: Absolutely nothing to complain about here. Everything about the production of this film is top notch. From the harsh, gritty location shooting to the gorgeous cinematography, the look of the film is perfect. The sound design is a perfect blend of subtle and brutal. Editing is conservative but spot-on. And the on-set effects are appropriately nasty.

Cast: Stallone takes on a likely final performance as legendary John Rambo. Gone is the over-the-top bravado of the second and third films, as he channels much more of the John Rambo we first met in First Blood. Sure, when he’s dropped into the middle of the action, there’s nobody you’d rather have on your side of the fight. But when he’s not mowing down dozens of soldiers, he’s a humble and reserved character (it’s not too hard to draw comparisons between Rocky Balboa and John Rambo in that manner). One wonderful bit of casting for this film is that of the fantastic Julie Benz (of Buffy/Angel fame). She does a great job at appealing to Rambo’s better nature. Benz and Stallone have a great chemistry on screen. And Benz does a great job portraying the overwhelmed aid worker in the midst of violent chaos. As one might expect, she’s not afraid of getting dirty for most of the film. The rest of the characters are cast well, filling out the expected crew of mercenaries and thugs nicely.

Music: Sadly, Jerry Goldsmith would not live long enough to do the music for this (assumedly) final chapter of the saga. After having turned in three absolutely fantastic scores for the earlier films, I would have loved to have heard what he would have done with this chapter. Stepping in to compose this entry is Brian Tyler (who had previously done the replacement score to Richard Donner’s film Timeline, which would have been Goldsmith’s final score, after Goldsmith was unable to rescore the recut film). Tyler does a fine job with it, too. He lays in Goldsmith’s wonderful main theme, particularly in the final scene of the film (a scene that beautifully bookends the opening of the first film). The rest of the score is a nice mix of new material and references to previous Goldsmith scores for the franchise. It’s a worthy follow up.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 1:23 am and is filed under Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.