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Rambo (film)
Encyclopedia
Rambo is a 2008 German/American Action film
starring Sylvester Stallone
returning and reprising his famous role as legendary Cold War
/Vietnam veteran
John Rambo
. Stallone also co-wrote and directed the film. It is the fourth and most recent installment in the Rambo franchise, twenty years since the last film Rambo III
. This film is dedicated to the memory of Richard Crenna
, who played Col. Sam Trautman in the first three films, who died in 2003.
The film is about a former United States Army
Special Forces soldier, John Rambo, who is hired by a church pastor to help rescue a group of missionaries who were kidnapped by men from a brutal Burmese military regime
. Rambo holds the record with the most kills out of the entire Rambo series, with 236. In the film, Rambo kills a group of pirates, an entire squad of Burmese soldiers, and then, at the climax of the film, a huge number of Burmese army soldiers whom he shoots with a jeep-mounted .50-caliber
machine gun. Stallone justified this in a press conference by saying the violence in the film was to draw attention to the ongoing problems in Myanmar
.
Including the intake of $41,368,619 in DVD sales, the film's total gross revenue is $154,611,774. The film had its cable television premiere on Spike TV on July 11, 2010. However, it was the extended cut that was broadcast not the theatrical version. The extended cut was later released on Blu-ray two weeks after its cable TV premiere.
, amid the political protests of the crisis in Burma
, ruthless military officer Major Pa Tee Tint (Maung Maung Khin) leads an army of Tatmadaw soldiers to pillage small villages in a campaign of fear. He watches with indifference as innocent villagers are forced into mine-infested marsh
es and orders his men to abduct the teenage boys of the villages to be drafted into his army. Former U.S. soldier John Rambo
(Sylvester Stallone
) now lives in Thailand
in a remote village near the Burmese border where he makes a living capturing and selling snakes as well as taxiing people up and down the Salween River
in his boat. He is approached by missionary
Michael Burnett (Paul Schulze
) who requests that he and his group be ferried into Burma on a humanitarian mission
to provide aid to Karen tribespeople
. Rambo refuses, claiming that without weapons, there will be no changes, but is eventually persuaded by missionary Sarah Miller (Julie Benz
) to make the trip.
During their trip, the boat is stopped by a trio of pirates driving a gunboat who demand Sarah in exchange for passage. After negotiations fail, Rambo kills the pirates and later burns their bodies to conceal the evidence. Michael is greatly disturbed at Rambo's actions; upon arriving in Burma, he says that the group will travel by road and will not need him for the return trip. The mission goes well until the Tatmadaw, led by Major Tint, suddenly attack, slaughtering most of the villagers and two missionaries and kidnapping the rest, including Michael and Sarah. When the missionaries fail to return after ten days, their pastor (Ken Howard
) comes to ask Rambo's help to guide a hired team of five mercenaries
to the village where the missionaries were last seen.
Rambo agrees and accompanies the mercenaries to the drop-off. He offers to help but is refused by the team's leader Lewis Reese (Graham McTavish
), an ex-Special Air Service
operative, who demands he stay at the boat. As the mercenary team arrives at the village, a squad of Tatmadaw soldiers show up with a group of hostages. The soldiers are playing a game of sorts with their prisoners, which goes as follows: Several land mines are tossed into a rice paddy through which the prisoners are forced to run. The soldiers place bets on which person will step on a hidden mine. The team takes cover, planning to standby and (seemingly reluctantly) simply let the hostages be killed in order to avoid provoking a response from a much larger group of hostiles. Having disregarded Rambo as a simple boatman, the mercenaries are shocked when he appears and single-handedly wipes out the entire squad of Tatmadaw soldiers with his bow, allowing the hostages to escape unscathed.
Rambo convinces the team to avenge the massacre and save the hostages at the gulag
type P.O.W. camp after he witnesses the destroyed village filled with mutilated human and animal corpses. Rambo and the mercenaries stealthily infiltrate the camp and successfully locate and rescue Sarah and the other prisoners and flee with them. Tint quickly learns of the situation and ruthlessly investigates with the help of his army. The Tatmadaw manage to capture everyone except for Rambo, Sarah, and a mercenary known as "School Boy" the group's sniper (Matthew Marsden
). Just as the captured mercenaries and hostages are to be executed, Rambo hijacks a jeep-mounted .50-caliber
machine gun and engages the Tatmadaw, killing dozens in the process. Tint hides as the slaughter happens and kills one of the missionaries, after this one of the mercenaries is killed by an M2 frag grenade. The Tatmadaw, having a large numerical advantage, come close to victory but the Karen rebels
show up and join the fight, turning the tide of the battle. Tint, realizing his defeat, attempts to escape the area, but Rambo intercepts and disembowels him.
Encouraged by Sarah's words, Rambo travels to the United States and returns home, walking along a rural highway past a horse farm and a rusted mailbox bearing the name "R. Rambo.
and the United States
in Arizona
and California
.
While filming near Burma, Stallone and the rest of the crew narrowly avoided being shot by the Burmese military. Stallone described Burma as a "hellhole". He said "we had shots fired above our heads" and that he "witnessed survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land-mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off."
On October 12, 2007, Lionsgate announced that the film title was being changed to Rambo: To Hell and Back. After some negative feedback from the online community, Stallone spoke with AICN's Harry Knowles
and said:
composed the original score for the film. Stallone wanted Tyler to incorporate Jerry Goldsmith
's original themes into the movie. He did not rely on Goldsmith's actual theme, though he used it enough to tie this film to the others, musically, and also based his own theme and orchestrations on the style of the original to maintain the musical series. The soundtrack includes 20 tracks.
Brian Tyler
also composed the soundtrack to The Hunted in 2003, a film with striking similarities to the first Rambo film, First Blood
.
.
The film has a box office gross of $113,543,155, of which $42,754,105 was from Canada and the United States.
The film has grossed $42,368,619 in DVD sales, bringing its total film gross to $155,209,706.
In an unprecedented move, Europe's biggest cinema chain (and the third biggest in the world), Odeon
, controversially refused to show the film on any of its screens in the United Kingdom, blaming "commercial differences". UCI
followed suit in its Republic of Ireland
cinemas, which were managed by Odeon. The film was, however, shown in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland by other theater chains such as Empire Cinemas
, Vue
, Cineworld
and Ward Anderson
. The film was not shown in the French-speaking part of Switzerland
due to legal and commercial problems with the distributor, even if it was available on screens of France and the Swiss German-speaking part.
The film was rated R by the MPAA for strong graphic bloody violence, sexual assaults, grisly images and language.
, but in CinemaScore
polls, the film received an average A- grade from audiences.
In his review for the New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote, "Mr. Stallone is smart enough — or maybe dumb enough, though I tend to think not — to present the mythic dimensions of the character without apology or irony. His face looks like a misshapen chunk of granite, and his acting is only slightly more expressive, but the man gets the job done. Welcome back." Michael H. Price of Fort Worth Business Press wrote, "Stallone invests the role with a realistic acceptance of the aging process, and with traces reminiscent of Humphrey Bogart
in 1951’s The African Queen and Clint Eastwood
in 1992’s Unforgiven
— to say nothing of the influences that the original First Blood
had absorbed from Marlon Brando
in 1953’s The Wild One
and Tom Laughlin
in 1971’s Billy Jack
." Jonathan Garret (a former writer for the Atlanta Journal Constitution) said in an interview: "Rambo is the most violent movie I have ever seen. The last 11 minutes of the film are so violent, it makes We Were Soldiers
look like Sesame Street
".
When asked what his take on the film was, First Blood writer David Morrell
said:
has ordered DVD vendors in Myanmar not to distribute the film due to the movie's content. Despite having never been released there theatrically or on DVD, Rambo is, however, available there in bootleg versions. Despite the film being unpopular among some of the population due to the negative portrayal of the Tatmadaw, the opposition youth group Generation Wave
copied and distributed the film as anti-Tatmadaw propaganda.
According to Karen Freedom Fighters, the movie gave them a great boost of morale. Myanmarese Freedom Fighters have even adopted dialogue from the movie (most notably "Live for nothing, or die for something") as rallying points and battle cries. "That, to me," said Sylvester Stallone, "is one of the proudest moments I've ever had in film." Also, overseas Myanmarese have praised the movie for its vivid portrayal of the military's oppression of the Karen people.
and Blu-ray Disc
editions were released in the U.S. on May 27, 2008. The DVD is in 1 and 2 disc editions. The Special edition has a 2.40 anamorphic widescreen
presentation and a Dolby Digital 5.1 EX track. The single editions have a standard 5.1 Dolby Digital track. The Blu-ray Disc has Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and DTS HD 7.1 Tracks. The DVD and Blu-ray Disc on disc one have the film, deleted scenes, 6 featurettes, and commentary by Sylvester Stallone. The Blu-ray Disc also has 2 extra special features, that includes a trailer gallery.
The 2-disc DVD and Blu-ray Disc
editions have a digital copy
of the film. There is also a 6 disc DVD set of all four Rambo films, packaged in a limited edition tin case with over 20 bonus features. A Blu-ray Disc
set with Rambo 1-3 was also released.
The DVD
was released in the UK on June 23, 2008.
Despite its average sales at the box office, the DVD version of Rambo sold considerably well. As of now it stands 19th place of the top selling DVDs of 2008 with 1.7m units sold and an overall gross of $37m. Since the intake of $42,368,619 in DVD sales, the film's total film gross is raised to $154,611,774.
, it was vaguely announced that the director's cut (or as they labeled it, "extended cut") would be released in 2009, though no other specifics were given. Additionally, the director's cut premiered at the 2008 Zurich Film Festival. DVD Active announced it would premiere only on Blu-ray Disc in Canada and the United States on July 27, 2010. The cover art does not say John Rambo, but simply its current title. However, in the opening credits, it goes by the name of John Rambo.
The "new scenes" in the extended cut are the deleted scenes (seen on the Rambo 2-Disc features) just simply reinstated back. There are no new action sequences but there are a few alternations: a few new sound effects are added, the opening mine field scene is moved to appear later in the movie, Rambo's monologue about war as he carves a new blade is replaced with Reverend Marsh's prayer, a brief scene of Rambo waving to Reverend Marsh as he and the mercenaries sail off into Burma, the scene were Lewis complains on the boat is altered with different camera angles and the frame of Rambo spitting is removed, and the scene were Rambo waves back to Sarah and Michael and walks behind a jeep is reinstated.
The extended cut premiered on cable television (VIA Spike TV) on July 11, 2010, two weeks before its Blu-ray release. It then had its encore presentation on August 8 and August 9, 2010, promoting Stallone's then latest film The Expendables
. The extended cut runs 99 minutes long. Where the theatrical version runs 91 minutes.
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
starring Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
returning and reprising his famous role as legendary Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
/Vietnam veteran
Vietnam veteran
Vietnam veteran is a phrase used to describe someone who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War.The term has been used to describe veterans who were in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States armed forces, and countries allied to them, whether or...
John Rambo
John Rambo
John Rambo is an iconic fictional character and the basis of the Rambo saga. He first appeared in the 1972 novel First Blood by David Morrell, but later became more famous in the film series, played by Sylvester Stallone...
. Stallone also co-wrote and directed the film. It is the fourth and most recent installment in the Rambo franchise, twenty years since the last film Rambo III
Rambo III
Rambo III is an American Action film released on May 25, 1988. It is the third film in the Rambo series following First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II...
. This film is dedicated to the memory of Richard Crenna
Richard Crenna
Richard Donald Crenna was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid...
, who played Col. Sam Trautman in the first three films, who died in 2003.
The film is about a former United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
Special Forces soldier, John Rambo, who is hired by a church pastor to help rescue a group of missionaries who were kidnapped by men from a brutal Burmese military regime
State Peace and Development Council
The State Peace and Development Council was the official name of the military regime of Burma , which seized power in 1988. On 30 March 2011, Senior General Than Shwe signed a decree to officially dissolve the Council....
. Rambo holds the record with the most kills out of the entire Rambo series, with 236. In the film, Rambo kills a group of pirates, an entire squad of Burmese soldiers, and then, at the climax of the film, a huge number of Burmese army soldiers whom he shoots with a jeep-mounted .50-caliber
.50 BMG
The .50 Browning Machine Gun or 12.7×99mm NATO is a cartridge developed for the Browning .50 caliber machine gun in the late 1910s. Entering service officially in 1921, the round is based on a greatly scaled-up .30-06 cartridge...
machine gun. Stallone justified this in a press conference by saying the violence in the film was to draw attention to the ongoing problems in Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
.
Including the intake of $41,368,619 in DVD sales, the film's total gross revenue is $154,611,774. The film had its cable television premiere on Spike TV on July 11, 2010. However, it was the extended cut that was broadcast not the theatrical version. The extended cut was later released on Blu-ray two weeks after its cable TV premiere.
Plot
Twenty years after the events of Rambo IIIRambo III
Rambo III is an American Action film released on May 25, 1988. It is the third film in the Rambo series following First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II...
, amid the political protests of the crisis in Burma
2007 Burmese anti-government protests
The 2007 Burmese anti-government protests were a series of anti-government protests that started in Burma on 15 August 2007...
, ruthless military officer Major Pa Tee Tint (Maung Maung Khin) leads an army of Tatmadaw soldiers to pillage small villages in a campaign of fear. He watches with indifference as innocent villagers are forced into mine-infested marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
es and orders his men to abduct the teenage boys of the villages to be drafted into his army. Former U.S. soldier John Rambo
John Rambo
John Rambo is an iconic fictional character and the basis of the Rambo saga. He first appeared in the 1972 novel First Blood by David Morrell, but later became more famous in the film series, played by Sylvester Stallone...
(Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
) now lives in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
in a remote village near the Burmese border where he makes a living capturing and selling snakes as well as taxiing people up and down the Salween River
Salween River
The Salween is a river, about long, that flows from the Tibetan Plateau into the Andaman Sea in Southeast Asia. It drains a narrow and mountainous watershed of that extends into the countries China, Burma and Thailand. Steep canyon walls line the swift, powerful and undammed Salween, one of the...
in his boat. He is approached by missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
Michael Burnett (Paul Schulze
Paul Schulze
Paul Schulze is an American actor best known for portraying Ryan Chappelle on the FOX series 24 from 2001 to 2004 and Father Phil Intintola on HBO The Sopranos from 1999 to 2006....
) who requests that he and his group be ferried into Burma on a humanitarian mission
Humanitarianism
In its most general form, humanitarianism is an ethic of kindness, benevolence and sympathy extended universally and impartially to all human beings. Humanitarianism has been an evolving concept historically but universality is a common element in its evolution...
to provide aid to Karen tribespeople
Karen people
The Karen or Kayin people , are a Sino-Tibetan language speaking ethnic group which resides primarily in southern and southeastern Burma . The Karen make up approximately 7 percent of the total Burmese population of approximately 50 million people...
. Rambo refuses, claiming that without weapons, there will be no changes, but is eventually persuaded by missionary Sarah Miller (Julie Benz
Julie Benz
Julie M. Benz is an American actress, best known for her roles as Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and as Rita Bennett on Dexter, for which she won the 2006 Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television...
) to make the trip.
During their trip, the boat is stopped by a trio of pirates driving a gunboat who demand Sarah in exchange for passage. After negotiations fail, Rambo kills the pirates and later burns their bodies to conceal the evidence. Michael is greatly disturbed at Rambo's actions; upon arriving in Burma, he says that the group will travel by road and will not need him for the return trip. The mission goes well until the Tatmadaw, led by Major Tint, suddenly attack, slaughtering most of the villagers and two missionaries and kidnapping the rest, including Michael and Sarah. When the missionaries fail to return after ten days, their pastor (Ken Howard
Ken Howard
Kenneth Joseph "Ken" Howard, Jr. is an American actor, best known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in 1776 and as basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the television show The White Shadow...
) comes to ask Rambo's help to guide a hired team of five mercenaries
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
to the village where the missionaries were last seen.
Rambo agrees and accompanies the mercenaries to the drop-off. He offers to help but is refused by the team's leader Lewis Reese (Graham McTavish
Graham McTavish
Graham McTavish is a Scottish television and film actor.He has played the character Warden Ackerman in Red Dwarf in five episodes of series 8. McTavish has also had many supporting roles in British dramas and films such as Casualty, Jekyll, The Bill, Taggart and Sisterhood...
), an ex-Special Air Service
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
operative, who demands he stay at the boat. As the mercenary team arrives at the village, a squad of Tatmadaw soldiers show up with a group of hostages. The soldiers are playing a game of sorts with their prisoners, which goes as follows: Several land mines are tossed into a rice paddy through which the prisoners are forced to run. The soldiers place bets on which person will step on a hidden mine. The team takes cover, planning to standby and (seemingly reluctantly) simply let the hostages be killed in order to avoid provoking a response from a much larger group of hostiles. Having disregarded Rambo as a simple boatman, the mercenaries are shocked when he appears and single-handedly wipes out the entire squad of Tatmadaw soldiers with his bow, allowing the hostages to escape unscathed.
Rambo convinces the team to avenge the massacre and save the hostages at the gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
type P.O.W. camp after he witnesses the destroyed village filled with mutilated human and animal corpses. Rambo and the mercenaries stealthily infiltrate the camp and successfully locate and rescue Sarah and the other prisoners and flee with them. Tint quickly learns of the situation and ruthlessly investigates with the help of his army. The Tatmadaw manage to capture everyone except for Rambo, Sarah, and a mercenary known as "School Boy" the group's sniper (Matthew Marsden
Matthew Marsden
Matthew Marsden is an English actor and singer. In the United Kingdom he is widely remembered for playing the character Chris Collins in the popular soap opera, Coronation Street. However, he is best known in the USA as a film actor. He has played the roles of Paris in Helen of Troy, Dr...
). Just as the captured mercenaries and hostages are to be executed, Rambo hijacks a jeep-mounted .50-caliber
.50 BMG
The .50 Browning Machine Gun or 12.7×99mm NATO is a cartridge developed for the Browning .50 caliber machine gun in the late 1910s. Entering service officially in 1921, the round is based on a greatly scaled-up .30-06 cartridge...
machine gun and engages the Tatmadaw, killing dozens in the process. Tint hides as the slaughter happens and kills one of the missionaries, after this one of the mercenaries is killed by an M2 frag grenade. The Tatmadaw, having a large numerical advantage, come close to victory but the Karen rebels
Karen people
The Karen or Kayin people , are a Sino-Tibetan language speaking ethnic group which resides primarily in southern and southeastern Burma . The Karen make up approximately 7 percent of the total Burmese population of approximately 50 million people...
show up and join the fight, turning the tide of the battle. Tint, realizing his defeat, attempts to escape the area, but Rambo intercepts and disembowels him.
Encouraged by Sarah's words, Rambo travels to the United States and returns home, walking along a rural highway past a horse farm and a rusted mailbox bearing the name "R. Rambo.
Cast
- Sylvester StalloneSylvester StalloneMichael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
as John RamboJohn RamboJohn Rambo is an iconic fictional character and the basis of the Rambo saga. He first appeared in the 1972 novel First Blood by David Morrell, but later became more famous in the film series, played by Sylvester Stallone... - Julie BenzJulie BenzJulie M. Benz is an American actress, best known for her roles as Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and as Rita Bennett on Dexter, for which she won the 2006 Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television...
as Sarah Miller - Matthew MarsdenMatthew MarsdenMatthew Marsden is an English actor and singer. In the United Kingdom he is widely remembered for playing the character Chris Collins in the popular soap opera, Coronation Street. However, he is best known in the USA as a film actor. He has played the roles of Paris in Helen of Troy, Dr...
as School Boy, a young British sniper - Graham McTavishGraham McTavishGraham McTavish is a Scottish television and film actor.He has played the character Warden Ackerman in Red Dwarf in five episodes of series 8. McTavish has also had many supporting roles in British dramas and films such as Casualty, Jekyll, The Bill, Taggart and Sisterhood...
as Lewis - Tim KangTim KangTim Kang is an American television and film actor. He is best known for his AT&T commercials and his role as Kimball Cho in the TV series The Mentalist.-Life and career:...
as En-Joo - Reynaldo Gallegos as Diaz
- Jake La BotzJake La BotzJake La Botz is an American blues singer-songwriter from Chicago. He is also an actor.La Botz learned the blues from Maxwell Street veterans Jimmy Davis, David Honeyboy Edwards and Homesick James. In 2006, he created what he called the "tattoo circuit" by doing the world's first-ever tour of...
as Reese - Maung Maung Khin as Tint
- Paul SchulzePaul SchulzePaul Schulze is an American actor best known for portraying Ryan Chappelle on the FOX series 24 from 2001 to 2004 and Father Phil Intintola on HBO The Sopranos from 1999 to 2006....
as Michael Burnett - Cameron Pearson as Jeff - Missionary #4
- Thomas PetersonThomas PetersonThomas Peterson is a professional racing cyclist who rides for . In 2004 he became the Junior US National Road Race Champion.-Career accomplishments:200420062007-External links:...
as Dentist - Missionary #2 - Tony Skarberg as Videographer - Missionary #3
- James Wearing Smith as Preacher - Missionary #5
- Kasikorn Niyompattana as Snake Hunter #2
- Jordan T as Snake Hunter #1
- Supakorn "Tok" KitsuwonSupakorn KitsuwonSupakorn Kitsuwon is a Thai film and stage actor. Among his starring roles are as Pan in Monrak Transistor and Khun Krabi in SARS Wars...
as Myint - Aung Aay Noi as Lt. Aye
- Ken HowardKen HowardKenneth Joseph "Ken" Howard, Jr. is an American actor, best known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in 1776 and as basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the television show The White Shadow...
as Rev. Arthur Marsh - Aung Theng as Pirate Leader
- Pornpop "Tor" Kampusiri as Snake Village Owner
- Wasawat Panyarat as Snake Village MC
- Kammul Kawtep as Snake Village Young Charmer
Filming
Filming started on February 23, 2007 and ended on May 4, 2007. The movie was shot at Chiang Mai, Thailand as well as in MexicoMexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
While filming near Burma, Stallone and the rest of the crew narrowly avoided being shot by the Burmese military. Stallone described Burma as a "hellhole". He said "we had shots fired above our heads" and that he "witnessed survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land-mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off."
Alternative titles
The most recent installment of the Rambo franchise had undergone many name changes during pre-release, and has been known as the following:- Rambo IV - The title used in BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, due to the fact that First Blood was originally released as simply Rambo (or as Rambo: First Blood in RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
) in those countries and also this is how the film is completely known and referred to as by fans and the public. - John Rambo - This was the original working title for the film but was changed because Stallone thought that audiences might think that this is the final film in the Rambo series(due to the then recently released Rocky BalboaRocky Balboa (film)Rocky Balboa is the sixth and final film in the Rocky franchise, directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone. The film, which was also written by Stallone who plays underdog boxer Rocky Balboa, is the sixth film in the Rocky series that began with the Academy Award-winning Rocky thirty years...
), which was not his original intent. In many other countries, the title John Rambo is kept because the first Rambo movie, First Blood, was released as Rambo in many foreign territories. The film premiered on television as Rambo, but the title sequence referred to it as John Rambo. - Rambo: Regreso al Infierno - (Rambo: Return to Hell in Spanish) - The name of the film in MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Latin America, and In other Latin countries, the film was re-titled from Rambo: Regreso al Infierno to John Rambo: Vuelta al Infierno (John Rambo: Back to Hell in Spanish) and in some other Latin regions, the film's original title John Rambo still remains. - Rambo: El Regreso - (Rambo: The Return) in ChileChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, as First Blood was also known as Rambo in those territories. - Rambo 4: John Rambo - Back to Hell - Singapore title
- Rambo: The Final Battlefield - Japanese title.
On October 12, 2007, Lionsgate announced that the film title was being changed to Rambo: To Hell and Back. After some negative feedback from the online community, Stallone spoke with AICN's Harry Knowles
Harry Knowles
Harry Knowles is known for his website called Ain't It Cool News. Knowles is a member of the Austin Film Critics Association.-Biography:...
and said:
"Lionsgate jumped the gun on this. I just was thinking that the title John Rambo was derivative of Rocky Balboa and might give people the idea that this is the last Rambo film, and I don't necessarily feel that it will be. He's definitely a superb athlete, there's no reason he can't continue onto another adventure. Like John WayneJohn WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
with The SearchersThe SearchersThe Searchers may refer to:* The Searchers , a 1956 American movie** The novel it was based on, by Alan Le May* The Searchers , a music group* The Searchers , a 2009 Iranian television show* A comic from Caliber Comics...
."
Soundtrack
Brian TylerBrian Tyler (composer)
Brian Tyler is an American composer, producer, conductor, and film producer most known for his scores of Eagle Eye, The Expendables, Battle: Los Angeles, The Final Destination, Rambo, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Final Destination 5. Tyler is a symphonic conductor and conducts his own scores....
composed the original score for the film. Stallone wanted Tyler to incorporate Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
's original themes into the movie. He did not rely on Goldsmith's actual theme, though he used it enough to tie this film to the others, musically, and also based his own theme and orchestrations on the style of the original to maintain the musical series. The soundtrack includes 20 tracks.
Brian Tyler
Brian Tyler (composer)
Brian Tyler is an American composer, producer, conductor, and film producer most known for his scores of Eagle Eye, The Expendables, Battle: Los Angeles, The Final Destination, Rambo, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Final Destination 5. Tyler is a symphonic conductor and conducts his own scores....
also composed the soundtrack to The Hunted in 2003, a film with striking similarities to the first Rambo film, First Blood
First Blood
First Blood is a 1982 action thriller film directed by Ted Kotcheff. The film stars Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled and misunderstood Vietnam War veteran, with Sheriff Will Teasle as his nemesis and Colonel Samuel Trautman as his former commander and only ally...
.
- Rambo Theme 3:34
- No Rules of Engagement 7:09
- Conscription 2:55
- The Rescue 4:04
- Aftermath 2:33
- Searching for Missionaries 7:07
- Hunting Mercenaries 2:44
- Crossing into Burma 6:59
- The Village 1:44
- Rambo Returns 2:44
- When You Are Pushed 2:26
- The Call to War 2:52
- Atrocities 1:40
- Prison Camp 4:42
- Attack on the Village 3:01
- Rambo Takes Charge 2:23
- The Compound 7:48
- Battle Adagio 3:10
- Rambo Main Title 3:30
- Rambo End Title 2:59
Box office
Rambo opened in 2,751 North American theaters on January 25, 2008 and grossed $6,490,000 on its opening day, and $18,200,000 over its opening weekend. It was the second highest grossing movie for the weekend in the U.S. and Canada behind Meet the SpartansMeet the Spartans
Meet the Spartans is a 2008 parody film directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Similar to past movies, such as Scary Movie, Date Movie, and most recently Epic Movie, it directs parodies at various films. Although it references many movies, TV shows, people and pop cultural events, it...
.
The film has a box office gross of $113,543,155, of which $42,754,105 was from Canada and the United States.
The film has grossed $42,368,619 in DVD sales, bringing its total film gross to $155,209,706.
In an unprecedented move, Europe's biggest cinema chain (and the third biggest in the world), Odeon
Odeon Cinemas
Odeon Cinemas is a British chain of cinemas, one of the largest in Europe. It is owned by Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group whose ultimate parent is Terra Firma Capital Partners.-History:Odeon Cinemas was created in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch...
, controversially refused to show the film on any of its screens in the United Kingdom, blaming "commercial differences". UCI
United Cinemas International
UCI Cinemas is a brand of cinema, currently operating in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Brazil...
followed suit in its Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
cinemas, which were managed by Odeon. The film was, however, shown in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland by other theater chains such as Empire Cinemas
Empire Cinemas
Empire Cinemas Limited is a multiplex cinema chain in the UK. There are 17 Empire Cinemas with 141 screens in total, including the flagship Empire Cinema in Leicester Square, London which hosts various film premières and first-runs.-Ownership & Management:...
, Vue
Vue (cinema)
Vue Entertainment , formerly known as SBC International Cinemas, is a cinema company in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The company was formed in May 2003 when SBC acquired 36 Warner Village cinemas. There are now 69 Vue cinemas, with 654 screens totaling 140,500 seats, including the rebranded...
, Cineworld
Cineworld
Cineworld Group plc is a cinema chain operating in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Jersey. The chain consists of 78 cinemas; 76 of which are located in the UK and one each in Ireland and Jersey. It is the second-largest cinema operator in the UK with 801 screens, and the owner of...
and Ward Anderson
Ward Anderson
Ward Anderson is the largest cinema chain in Ireland. It operates cinemas throughout the Republic Of Ireland and Northern Ireland.The group is owned by its two founders, Leo Ward, and Kevin Anderson, and its different brands are managed by various members of their families...
. The film was not shown in the French-speaking part of Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
due to legal and commercial problems with the distributor, even if it was available on screens of France and the Swiss German-speaking part.
The film was rated R by the MPAA for strong graphic bloody violence, sexual assaults, grisly images and language.
Critical reception
The film gained mixed reviews from critics, but was well received by fans. It earned a 36% rating on the movie review aggregate Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, but in CinemaScore
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.-Background:...
polls, the film received an average A- grade from audiences.
In his review for the New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote, "Mr. Stallone is smart enough — or maybe dumb enough, though I tend to think not — to present the mythic dimensions of the character without apology or irony. His face looks like a misshapen chunk of granite, and his acting is only slightly more expressive, but the man gets the job done. Welcome back." Michael H. Price of Fort Worth Business Press wrote, "Stallone invests the role with a realistic acceptance of the aging process, and with traces reminiscent of Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
in 1951’s The African Queen and Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
in 1992’s Unforgiven
Unforgiven
Unforgiven is a 1992 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after he had hung up his guns and turned to farming...
— to say nothing of the influences that the original First Blood
First Blood
First Blood is a 1982 action thriller film directed by Ted Kotcheff. The film stars Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled and misunderstood Vietnam War veteran, with Sheriff Will Teasle as his nemesis and Colonel Samuel Trautman as his former commander and only ally...
had absorbed from Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
in 1953’s The Wild One
The Wild One
The Wild One is a 1953 outlaw biker film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. It is famed for Marlon Brando's iconic portrayal of the gang leader Johnny Strabler.-Basis:...
and Tom Laughlin
Tom Laughlin
Tom Laughlin is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author, educator and political activist. Laughlin is best known for his series of Billy Jack films. He has been married to Delores Taylor since 1954. Taylor has also co-produced and acted in all four of the Billy Jack films...
in 1971’s Billy Jack
Billy Jack
Billy Jack is a 1971 action film. It is the second, and highest grossing, in a series of motion pictures centering on a character of the same name, played by Tom Laughlin who also directed and co-wrote the script. Filming began in Prescott, Arizona, in fall 1969, but the movie was not completed...
." Jonathan Garret (a former writer for the Atlanta Journal Constitution) said in an interview: "Rambo is the most violent movie I have ever seen. The last 11 minutes of the film are so violent, it makes We Were Soldiers
We Were Soldiers
We Were Soldiers is a 2002 American war film that dramatizes the Battle of Ia Drang on November 14, 1965. The film was directed by Randall Wallace and stars Mel Gibson. It is based on the book We Were Soldiers Once… And Young by Lieutenant General Hal Moore and reporter Joseph L...
look like Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
".
When asked what his take on the film was, First Blood writer David Morrell
David Morrell
David Morrell is a Canadian-American novelist, best known for his debut 1972 novel First Blood, which would later become the successful Rambo film franchise starring Sylvester Stallone. He has written 28 novels, and his work has been translated into 26 languages...
said:
I'm happy to report that overall I’m pleased. The level of violence might not be for everyone, but it has a serious intent. This is the first time that the tone of my novel First Blood has been used in any of the movies. It's spot-on in terms of how I imagined the character — angry, burned-out, and filled with self-disgust because Rambo hates what he is and yet knows it's the only thing he does well. ... I think some elements could have been done better, [but] I think this film deserves a solid three stars.
Reception in Myanmar
The film is currently banned by the Myanmar government. The military juntaState Peace and Development Council
The State Peace and Development Council was the official name of the military regime of Burma , which seized power in 1988. On 30 March 2011, Senior General Than Shwe signed a decree to officially dissolve the Council....
has ordered DVD vendors in Myanmar not to distribute the film due to the movie's content. Despite having never been released there theatrically or on DVD, Rambo is, however, available there in bootleg versions. Despite the film being unpopular among some of the population due to the negative portrayal of the Tatmadaw, the opposition youth group Generation Wave
Generation Wave
Generation Wave is a pro-democracy Burmese youth movement founded by Min Yan Naing, Moe Thwe, hip-hop star Zayar Thaw, and one other activist.-Background and activism:...
copied and distributed the film as anti-Tatmadaw propaganda.
According to Karen Freedom Fighters, the movie gave them a great boost of morale. Myanmarese Freedom Fighters have even adopted dialogue from the movie (most notably "Live for nothing, or die for something") as rallying points and battle cries. "That, to me," said Sylvester Stallone, "is one of the proudest moments I've ever had in film." Also, overseas Myanmarese have praised the movie for its vivid portrayal of the military's oppression of the Karen people.
Home video
The DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
editions were released in the U.S. on May 27, 2008. The DVD is in 1 and 2 disc editions. The Special edition has a 2.40 anamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
presentation and a Dolby Digital 5.1 EX track. The single editions have a standard 5.1 Dolby Digital track. The Blu-ray Disc has Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and DTS HD 7.1 Tracks. The DVD and Blu-ray Disc on disc one have the film, deleted scenes, 6 featurettes, and commentary by Sylvester Stallone. The Blu-ray Disc also has 2 extra special features, that includes a trailer gallery.
The 2-disc DVD and Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
editions have a digital copy
Digital copy
Digital Copy provides consumers who purchase a film on DVD or Blu-ray Disc with an additional, digital copy of the movie for devices capable of operating with a file in contrast to a DVD.-Features:...
of the film. There is also a 6 disc DVD set of all four Rambo films, packaged in a limited edition tin case with over 20 bonus features. A Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
set with Rambo 1-3 was also released.
The DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
was released in the UK on June 23, 2008.
Despite its average sales at the box office, the DVD version of Rambo sold considerably well. As of now it stands 19th place of the top selling DVDs of 2008 with 1.7m units sold and an overall gross of $37m. Since the intake of $42,368,619 in DVD sales, the film's total film gross is raised to $154,611,774.
Extended cut
When asked about the moral of the film in a Daily Yomiuri Online interview, Sylvester Stallone mentioned that he will be doing an Extended Cut of the film, which will go by the original title of John Rambo. Nevertheless, the news became most well known after a May 2008 interview with Jay Leno when he announced the work of a director's cut, and that the proceeds would go to Burma. On top of this, an online petition appeared shortly after the announcement in order to "motivate" Stallone in completing this new cut. At the 2008 Comic-ConComic-Con International
San Diego Comic-Con International, also known as Comic-Con International: San Diego , and commonly known as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con, was founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention and later the San Diego Comic Book Convention in 1970 by Shel Dorf and a group of San Diegans...
, it was vaguely announced that the director's cut (or as they labeled it, "extended cut") would be released in 2009, though no other specifics were given. Additionally, the director's cut premiered at the 2008 Zurich Film Festival. DVD Active announced it would premiere only on Blu-ray Disc in Canada and the United States on July 27, 2010. The cover art does not say John Rambo, but simply its current title. However, in the opening credits, it goes by the name of John Rambo.
The "new scenes" in the extended cut are the deleted scenes (seen on the Rambo 2-Disc features) just simply reinstated back. There are no new action sequences but there are a few alternations: a few new sound effects are added, the opening mine field scene is moved to appear later in the movie, Rambo's monologue about war as he carves a new blade is replaced with Reverend Marsh's prayer, a brief scene of Rambo waving to Reverend Marsh as he and the mercenaries sail off into Burma, the scene were Lewis complains on the boat is altered with different camera angles and the frame of Rambo spitting is removed, and the scene were Rambo waves back to Sarah and Michael and walks behind a jeep is reinstated.
The extended cut premiered on cable television (VIA Spike TV) on July 11, 2010, two weeks before its Blu-ray release. It then had its encore presentation on August 8 and August 9, 2010, promoting Stallone's then latest film The Expendables
The Expendables (2010 film)
The Expendables is a 2010 American ensemble action film written by David Callaham and Sylvester Stallone, and directed by Stallone. Filming began on March 28, 2009, in Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans, and Los Angeles, and the film was released in theaters on August 13, 2010 in North America.The film is...
. The extended cut runs 99 minutes long. Where the theatrical version runs 91 minutes.