The 5th film (and possibly final) in the Rambo franchise sees Sylvester Stallone in a plot line that feels borrowed from a Taken movie. When his niece goes missing in Mexico looking for her absent father John Rambo uses his special skills to find her.

I have always found the Rambo sequels an odd affair. The original film, which was simply titled First Blood and never mentioned the name Rambo was a political statement about America’s treatment of returning war veterans. Sequels 2 & 3 were 80’s action movies and sequels 4 & 5 are ultra violent revenge movies. All have small undertones of political statement but get lost in the spectacle and violence. None came close to the quality of the original.

Whilst Last Blood follows the Taken plot line it takes it to its extremes. There is no watered down version of what human traffickers do with their female slaves and no hiding from the physical damage Rambo inflicts upon them. But ultimately this film is just a succession of soap opera worthy speechifying followed by grim ultra violence and a political message that seems to halt at “Mexicans are bad”. Perhaps that is the political statement? Trump is right. But the Rambo of First Blood would surely not believe so?

Hackneyed ultra violence wrapped in a soap opera shell. The slow motion montage of Rambo over the credits is the best thing about this.