DVD Review: The Bank Job - Intricate Heist Thriller is Worth a Look

My DVD pick this week is this spring's sleeper hit, The Bank Job, directed by Roger Donaldson (Thirteen Days). This little gem surprised me. I admire its streamlined "all business" procedural attitude, and the fact that not a minute is wasted on extraneous character touches. Note the use of the word "extraneous," for it doesn't mean that character personalities are ignored. Just the opposite, as each character's personality facets appears as an organic result of the ever-moving plotline. And each actor ably highlights their respective moment without forgetting to support the overall story or stumbling to outshine their costars.

The film takes place in the seventies, and Britain's Princess Margret is photographed having a three way tryst while on vacation. A black militant (Peter De Jersey) in possession of these photographs hides them to protect himself from reprisals from the authorities over his activities. Beautiful Martine (Saffron Burrows) is used by MI5 to get to the photographs, hidden in a safety deposit box in a bank on Baker Street in London. Martine convinces her childhood pals, a rough lot led by Terry (Jason Statham), to rob the bank, ostensibly for the money since she doesn't make them aware of the real object of the heist. As Terry and his crew discover, there is much more going on under the surface, and Martine may have just endangered not only their lives, but their families' as well.

Though it is supposedly based on true events, there is little information available to confirm these claims. But that does not hinder one's enjoyment of the film. Its period setting evokes the classic British gangster films of the seventies, such as Get Garter, with their slick style and cold brutality.

Statham (The Transporter) is used to great effect here, bringing humor and a lion's ferocity to the role of down-on-his-luck family-man Terry. While there is an obvious attraction between childhood friend Martine and himself, the movie never wastes any time pursuing this incidental plot point up to its predictable dead end. It wisely focuses on the intricate plotline that eventually involves the seedy Soho porn industry, an S & M madam, and even the House of Lords.

Burrows (Deep Blue Sea) again proves herself to be more than just a pretty face. The former model is easily able to create the aura of casual glamor that the grownup Martine projects, while also evoking the more down-to-earth childhood pal that the heist crew grew up with. Equally comfortable carrying on her affair with a mysterious MI5 spy, but naive enough to fall prey to his manipulations in pursuit of the scandalous pictures, Burrows demonstrates she's got acting chops to spare.

Available today on single and 2-disc standard DVD, or 2-disc Blu-Ray, the single disc standard is a movie only disc, while both 2-disc versions contain extended scenes, the "Inside The Bank Job" and "The Baker Street Bank Raid" featurettes, the theatrical trailer, and a Digital Copy version of the film.

For those who miss the cool efficiency of the heist film, or the expert drama of seventies-era film, The Bank Job is the perfect DVD to see this week.

This entry first appeared on Blogcritics on 7/15/2008.

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Film Review: Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Everyone Involved Stands to Win Big with the Summer's Latest Comic Book Hero Installment

Mexican Guillermo Del Toro has had a curious bifurcated career thus far. While the average viewer would claim that he is simply a horror/fantasy director, that slash has been a much wider one than one would think. In this country, he's been known for his fun horror flicks, Mimic, Blade II, and Hellboy, which are terrific B-movies. On the other hand, his Spanish language films, while rooted in horror, are more in the fantasy vein. Their tragic stories, usually revolving around a child, carry no small amount of poignancy. And while Cronos and The Devil's Backbone (aka El Espinazo del Diablo) flew under the mainstream radar, Pan's Labyrinth (aka El Laberinto del Fauno) finally brought him the attention he's been due. Lucky for the big, red Anung un Rama, Hellboy to you, because if not it's doubtful that Hellboy II: The Golden Army would have gotten made. And we get a much more assured filmmaker in this one, as the two divergent career paths he's forged finally converge in this film, on the way to his next big production, The Hobbit, a prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Like in his earlier American films, The Golden Army enjoys poking fun, and having fun with our hero and the motley crew of compatriots he fights evil with at the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Development, or B.P.R.D. Beginning with a flashback to 1955, where a young Hellboy is eagerly awaiting Santa with his adopted dad Professor Bruttenholm (John Hurt in a cameo reprise from the first film), we get a look at the humorous dichotomy that our hero personifies. At once cute and fearsome, young Hellboy holds the same attraction that Blade held in Del Toro's earlier film. Blade was the most badass in a group of badass vampires, but also the most vulnerable, and human. The grown-up Hellboy (Ron Perlman), fearful of his destined role in vanquishing mankind, holds on to any vestige of humanity he can, keeping pet kittens, smoking Cuban cigars, drinking Tecate, a Mexican beer (I'm guessing this is a Del Toro touch).

He's now shacking up with pyrokinetic girlfriend Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), who discovers she's pregnant early on in this film. Sherman, unsure of their future, keeps it secret while the B.P.R.D. gets roped into its latest adventure. They must stop Elf Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) from warring on the humans to reclaim Elfdom's place in the world. Amphibian psychic Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), meanwhile, falls in love with Nuada's twin, Princess Nuala (Anna Walton). And the whole crew is shaken up by the assignment of a new leader, the ectoplasmic spirit, Johann Kraus (voiced by Family Guy's Seth McFarlane), who Hellboy objects to principally because of his German nationality, an allusion to his time fighting Nazis in Mike Mignola's comics.

The movie benefits from some of the trappings of Del Toro's Spanish language fantasy films. The Angel of Death that the B.P.R.D. crew encounters is very reminiscent of his Pan's Labyrinth creatures. And the slow fade into obscurity of Nuada's kind is a poignant plot point that gives the movie more emotional weight than the first Hellboy's more Lovecraftian storyline. Here we are as fascinated by the Elf Prince's stubborn refusal to let his fairy-tale world disappear as we are by the elegant mythic world Labyrinth's Ofelia loses herself in when she is in distress. In fact the two world's bear a strong resemblance to each other, and nowhere is this more evident than upon the B.P.R.D.'s visit to the Troll Market, populated by its odd fairy-tale menagerie.

The single most representative moment in which Del Toro's poignant sensibilities and his appreciation for B-movie humor converges in a film full of such small moments is in a scene with Hellboy and Abe. Hellboy gets drunk after Liz asks for some space and he overhears a Barry Manilow song emanating from a room down the hall at home base. He discovers a miserable Abe lamenting his unrequited love The two otherworldly creatures share a Tecate as they both join Manilow on a chorus of "Can't Smile Without You" in a scene that's as touching as it is amusing.

So thanks to Pan's Labyrinth's success, Del Toro gained enough cachet to be able to rescue this Hellboy sequel from the dust bin. Universal bought the rights from Sony, as they are reportedly seeking to get into business with more international directors. And with Del Toro's anticipated triumph as Peter Jackson's handpicked successor in The Lord of the Rings saga, Universal takes advantage of Sony's shortsightedness. Dark Horse Entertainment, Hellboy's comic book distributor has now hung its film production shingle at Universal for the next three years. And Del Toro successfully finally merges pathos and humor in this film, great practice for the similar effect he'll have to achieve in The Hobbit. Consider this dry run a triumph in that respect.

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Film Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - The Return of Harrison Ford

He's back! Not Indy. We've been expecting his return for 19 years. I refer to that other guy we haven't seen for so long. Harrison Ford is back! A little grayer, and a little more wrinkle-lined, he still displays the same twinkle-in-the-eye he always has when rendering Indy, his best-loved character. I thought that twinkle died right around the time he did Air Force One. The actor most closely associated with the mega-blockbusters of recent times had been phoning in his performances ever since then. I'm not sure if it was deliberate, but anyway... whatever the case... Indy seems to have lit his spark again. And to their credit, the creative team of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have made sure that the character has evolved even if the B-movie-like story hasn't, at least not by much.

The story: It's 1957, and the Red Scare wave of paranoia is cresting. Kidnapped by Soviets led by a psychic Stalin-ite (Cate Blanchett), Indy is forced to help them find a mysterious corpse, in Nevada's infamous Hangar 51, that may or may not be an alien. He foils them, of course, but not before giving us another great opening sequence. What does he get for his trouble? The FBI investigates him as a person of interest, calling his World War II military exploits into question. Into this comes a young greaser named Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), with news of the disappearance of a couple of mutual friends tied to the mythological crystal skulls of the title. And spearheading the race for the skulls on the side of evil, is Blanchett's Irina Spalko.

The movie has the requisite acknowledgements to past adventures, including a quite funny one to Raiders of the Lost Ark in the opening sequence, and thematic references to The Last Crusade's young-vs.-old humor in the relationship between Indy and Mutt (sorry, Temple of Doom fans, no references to the underrated redheaded-stepchild of the franchise). The same way Connery (cinema's original action star in his 007 franchise) figuratively passed the action-hero torch to Ford in the last film, Ford seems to be doing the same to The Transformers' LaBeouf in this one. But wait a second Mr. LaBeouf. I like you and all, but you are no Harrison Ford. And the movie's epilogue has a gag that confirms Spielberg and Lucas' reluctance to bestow the young actor with the crown too quickly.

Rooted in the B-movies of the fifties, the way the earlier ones were in the thirties, the film's plot is not original, but there are plenty of surprises and treats along the way. Spalko is a formidable adversary, and probably Indy's best since Raiders. Karen Allen's return as Marion, gives the film some of the heart that had been missing in the last two films. For fans of the Young Indy TV show who hoped that the series would not be brushed under the carpet, don't worry, it's not. Aside from the rather oblique references to the show in Indy's references to his exploits as an OSS spy in WWII (he had also been a spy in WWI in the TV series), there is a more direct reference to one of the episodic adventures midway through the movie. And don't ask me why, but I was impressed by the minimal supporting part that Igor Jijikine plays as Spalko's henchman, Dovchenko. Maybe it's his resemblance to Lawrence Montaigne (The Great Escape) on steroids.

Of course, it's Ford that carries the movie. And though he actually looks a little creakier when cracking the whip, he looks like he's having more fun. Indy's physical ability has always been secondary to his charm. Maybe the increasingly morose roles he has chosen in the intervening years haven't given him the same opportunity to display the roguishness he did as Indy. But Crystal Skull allows him to while still accepting that Indy is much older. He falls a little faster when punched by the Soviets. He's a little more wistful when he sees Marion for the first time. And he is much more his father's son than he used to be, going into scientific explanations about their predicament while sinking in quicksand.

You stand to be disappointed if you go into this movie expecting the second coming of Raiders, as many in the press seem to have. After all, Raiders is arguably the best film that Ford, Spielberg or Lucas have EVER done. This is just a fun little gem more akin to The Last Crusade. Catch it at a matinee, the way you were meant to.
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DVD Review: 24 Season One Special Edition - Innovative First Season Finally Gets a Release Worthy of Its Significance

With the recent announcement of a 24 two-hour TV movie, premiering this fall on Fox, now is the perfect time for Fox to release a special edition of 24's first season. Fans are hungry. Season seven was supposed to premiere this past January, and in fact, a few episodes were completed. But then the writer's strike interfered. Rather than leave fans hanging between episodes while that business sorted itself out, Fox has instead rewarded patient fans with a two-hour movie. Meant to bridge the gap between season six and season seven, the movie is filming in South Africa (!), and is a significant way to lead in to the new season which takes place in Washington, D.C. (!!). These locations will no doubt prove to be quite the game-changers in a series that has a long tradition of game-changers. So much so, that the Job-like obstacles that have afflicted its hero, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), were at this point bordering on self-parody. Let's go back in time to season one for a look at an innovative series that was just starting to affirm its strong identity.

Jack Bauer, family man and federal agent, is called back to the field to prevent an assassination attempt on Presidential candidate David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert). Unfortunately, the timing couldn't be worse, as Jack's teenage daughter, Kim (Elisha Cuthbert), has been missing since last night, and his recent restored marriage to Teri (Leslie Hope), may not survive the strain of the day's events. The plot is a somewhat traditional thriller scenario. What made the series unique was its structure. Each hour would take place in real time, so that by season's end, the twenty-four episodes would correspond to the twenty-four hours in a day, thus making it, as Bauer would remind us in the opening narration every week, "the longest day of [his] life."

The production crew and its creators weren't sure if they could pull this off. As co-creator Bob Cochran explains in the documentary "The Genesis of 24" (included in the set), without time-cuts every minute would have to be accounted for. For example, if character X gets on a five-hour flight, that means he'll be absent for five episodes, and you better have another subplot you can switch over to that will carry you through that wait. David Palmer's campaign, and Bauer's family's travails would prove to be essential components to the plot structure.

24 would innovate in other ways. Palmer would become the first black President, years before Obama's run as a viable candidate. The show's frenetic pace would influence future action thrillers, like the Bourne movies, and Mission: Impossible III. And Bauer's, at times savage, relentless pursuit of counter-intelligence would put his morally compromised character in the pantheon of TV's most memorable antiheroes. It's hard to remember that back then, there may have been only Tony Soprano or Andy Sipowicz of NYPD Blue to keep him company there. Today's TV landscape is strewn with such characters like Battlestar Galactica's Bill Adama or Lost's John Locke.

Most importantly, let's not forget that the first season struggled in the ratings. It's premiere on November 2001, which featured a plane blown up by a terrorist, was coming to viewers on the heels of 9/11. After thirteen episodes, Fox seemed to renew it only because of Sutherland's Golden Globe win for the role. Going into season two, Fox did something that would pioneer the way TV series and TV DVDs in particular would continue in the future. Conscious of the show's addictive nature which invite viewers to watch the shows in large blocks of episodes, they released a quickie DVD version of season one to prepare uninitiated viewers before the second season premiere. Relying on the core fans to promote the DVD set to their friends by word-of-mouth, the gambit worked, as the second season premiered to higher ratings. And after American Idol premiered as the 24's lead-in, it really took off.

Season one's previous DVD version was bare-bones. To correct that, a special-edition was released this week with added features, such as the aforementioned documentary, and commentaries on the premiere and season finale episodes by the cast and crew of the show. It elevates the season one shows to the same level as the rest of the show on DVD. It is well worth your time and money to purchase this set, especially to relive the first season while you wait for season seven.
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Tribeca Film Festival 5/3: Speed Racer World Premiere

5:53 pm - Speed Racer, the new film directed by the Wachowski Brothers, had its world premiere this past Saturday at the Tribeca Film Festival. Among the stars arriving via the red carpet were Robert De Niro, co-founder of the festival, and Limp Bizkit front man Fred Durst. Also in attendance were the film's producer, Joel Silver, and most of the cast, including Christina Ricci (Trixie), Susan Sarandon (Mom), Christian Oliver (Snake Oiler), and Paulie Litt (Spritle).











Also there, John Goodman, who plays Speed's dad, Pops, and is a fan of the original show, said "[The cartoon] was different from anything that was on before." When asked if he would appear in the Wachowskis' next film, he responded, "They're great. Andy gives me all kinds of great fiction to read. We're kind of tuned into the same stuff. I hope so."

Peter Fernandez voiced Speed Racer on the American version of the Japanese import, but now plays a race announcer in the new summer movie. Primarily a voice actor, he hadn't appeared in front of the camera in some time, joking, "I make a feature film every 60 years."

Kick Curry, who plays Sparky, Speed's mechanic, spoke of the difficulty with working on a film with no actual props. "John [Goodman's] character has to design the cars, and I have to fix them. We'd always laugh, because we actually had absolutely no idea what the hell the cars were made of, or what they were doing. In fact, most of the time, there wasn't even a car sitting there. It was all computer generated."











Lead actor Emile Hirsch, echoed the sentiment, "You really have to put your imagination to work."

8:34 pm - In the movie, Speed Racer, potentially the greatest auto racer of all time, refuses to break the records set by his late brother and idol, Rex. Sought by industrialist Royalton (played with evil relish by Roger Allam) to join his race team, he refuses to betray his father, who wisely sees the depth of Royalton's corruption. But when that leads to Speed being blacklisted in the racing community, he must join the masked Racer X (Matthew Fox) to bring the villainous businessman down.

Fox deepens his voice a notch to play the mysterious Racer X. X is much more charismatic than his more famous role, the tiresome Jack in the TV hit, Lost. Clever, agile, and clad in a cool suit of black leather, I'd be very surprised if Racer X doesn't get his own movie spin-off, as he is arguably more popular than Speed.

Exciting and fast-paced, Speed Racer can be hard to keep up with if you're not tuned in. Approaching the film as if it were animated, the Wachowski's take advantage of the flexibility the medium affords in telling a story. They use wipes to transition from shot to shot rather than cuts. Foreground and background are always in focus simultaneously, as in most animated fare. Awash in brilliant colors and effects meant to duplicate some of the conventions of Japanese anime, it might lose some older folks, but kids and the young at heart should have no problem keeping up.

11:17pm - Took the train up to the Village with my friend, J.C. Alvarez, to get dinner at the Waverly Inn and Garden (16 Bank St., New York, NY, 10014, 212-243-7900). The Waverly is a bustling, hip restaurant owned by Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair. There's always a few celebrity sightings, and this night was no different. Sitting in the back of the restaurant when we arrived was Ron Perlman of Hellboy fame, and Miami Steve of the E Street Band, aka Silvio Dante of The Sopranos, Steven Van Zandt.

And the food? It was delicious, I started off with a Tuna Tartare, with avocado and dijon emulsion, that was perfect both in taste and presentation. That was followed with the Brook Trout on Cedar plank with roasted carrots, which were appropriately toasty and savory. For dessert, an awesome warm Bananas Foster served with a scoop of ice cream. J.C. enjoyed the Amish Free-Range chicken followed by a warm apple crisp, also served with ice cream.

The service was excellent, as we were well taken care of by five different waiters on a crowded Saturday night, with no one dropping the ball even once.

This was the perfect way to end my time at Tribeca, before heading home to Miami the next day.

A slightly modified version of this entry first appeared on Blogcritics on 5/5/2008.

Still provided courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
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Film Review: Iron Man - Fun Flick Marks Start of Summer Movie Season

Iron Man, based on the Marvel Comics superhero from the 1960s, opened Friday nationwide. Directed by Jon Favreau, it tells the story of Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), a less charitable Bill Gates-like (updated from Howard Hughes in the comic) multi-billionaire who makes most of his fortune from the lucrative weapons development division of his company. Injured when he is captured by rogue terrorists, he has a change of heart (literally and figuratively) about his role in the scheme of things, after seeing the terrorists using his weapons to subjugate the innocents of their country, and defeat American soldiers. Forced to make a missile for them in return for his release, he instead makes the first clunky version of the armor that will lead to his new endeavor as Iron Man.

The film is everything a fun summer flick should be. It's topical, updating the comic book origin to take place in Afghanistan rather than Vietnam. It's exciting, particularly whenever Stark takes exhilarating flight as he tests his armor. It has enough humor to let you know it doesn't take itself too seriously. One running gag involves a government agent frustratedly seeking a moment to debrief Stark after his escape from captivity. The gag is amusing on that level, but it's also a nod to the geeks (if they listen to what division he's from, they should get the joke right away). And it has a brilliant cast.

Downey is perfect for the party boy savant Stark, whose lifestyle parallels much of Downey's own brushes with addiction. Gwyneth Paltrow, as his assistant Pepper Potts, is clearly having fun with her role, but is integral to saving the day, a role rarely assigned to females in this genre. Terrence Howard as Rhodey is the everyman that must manage his friend, making sure he doesn't screw up his naive pursuit of justice, but secretly happy that his friend has the guts to go outside of the box in his crusade.

Jeff Bridges is a strong adversary. His Obadiah Stane is the real workhorse who's built Stark Enterprises to what it is today, and won't see it, or himself, flushed down with the refuse because the mercurial Stark has had a sudden notion to save the world. Bridges wisely plays the villain without twirling his mustache too much. Instead, he makes us understand the business obligations that drive Stane to do what he has to do, delineating the contrast between Stane's pragmatic persona with Stark's, until now, more flighty one.

By the way, if you're a fan of the comic books, stay till after the end credits for a special surprise that sets up future adventures. You will not be disappointed. Iron Man is a solid entertaining way to start the summer movie season, and I hope the rest of this season lives up to the benchmark established by this film.
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DVD Review: Bonnie and Clyde - Beatty's Contributions Sparked the Fuse of the 70s Film Explosion

It is number 42 on the American Film Institute's top 100 movies. It is notable for bringing Faye Dunaway and Gene Hackman to the attention of moviegoers around the world. It was Gene Wilder's film debut. It was the first film Warren Beatty produced. And above all, it is arguably the film that ushered in the era of "auteur cinema" that was so dominant in the 1970s, even though the film was released in 1967, and the film was hardly the solitary vision of its director, Arthur Penn. Bonnie and Clyde is all these things and more, and it was finally released last week on Blu-ray and standard DVD in a version much improved over its first DVD release in 1999.

Warren Beatty was not an unknown at the time he decided to produce this film, but he definitely saw the opportunity to further his career with the David Newman & Robert Benton-penned script. The two former magazine staffers first presented the script, covering the exploits of gangster folk heroes Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, to François Truffaut. A leader of the French New Wave, his Jules et Jim had some influence on the story. Truffaut turned it down, but recommended it to Beatty, who was in the market for something to shepherd into production. Not only did Beatty see the chance to give it his all and launch his career as a power player in Hollywood. He saw the possibility of transcending his pretty-boy career with his portrayal of the gangster Clyde Barrow. The sometimes self-conscious Beatty has rarely seemed as dynamic as he does when wooing Dunaway's Parker into complicity at the start of the film.

He also was generous enough to offer the part of his brother Buck to the then unknown Gene Hackman. This was the beginning of a trend as Beatty has always surrounded himself with actors he has befriended in movies throughout his career, such as Reds and Dick Tracy. After costarring with him in Lilith, Beatty had said Hackman was the best thing about the movie. This and other anecdotes are referenced in the wonderful documentary, Revolution! The Making of Bonnie and Clyde included in the special features). In that doc, Hackman tells of how very close he was to quitting as an actor before this movie brought him an Academy Award nomination.

Together with director Arthur Penn, Beatty made an extraordinary effort to bring this film in line with the French New Wave films that were causing such a stir at the time. Penn contributed his speed and agility in setting up the camera from his time as a TV director. Beatty used his own frustrations with the studio system to stoke the fire fueling the cast and crew. As told in the documentary, the pair made a pact to argue about whose filmmaking approach was going to be best for that day's shooting. Whoever got tired of the discussion first would usually lose the debate.

This gave the film its fresh freewheeling flavor that contributed to the development of the "auteur cinema" that subsequently prevailed in the late 60s and 70s American film. Sexual frankness in film was largely absent at the time of its release. Yet both men pushed the envelope in scenes depicting Clyde's impotence and Bonnie's naive remedy... oral sex, a box-office taboo in the 60s. The drastic tonal changes from rollicking to comedy to jarring violence and the now famously shocking abrupt ending were further evidence that the pair were out to change the art of American film. Even though this was not the solitary vision of one director, the lunatics were clearly running the asylum, so to speak. The era of the domineering studio boss was fast approaching its apocalypse.

Gain an appreciation for one of the more entertaining and fast-paced classics by making this one a star in your movie collection. You won't be disappointed.

Still provided courtesy of Warner Home Entertainment.
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First Look: Zack Snyder's Watchmen

That's the Comedian from Zack (300) Snyder's adaptation of Watchmen. Watchmen is the only graphic novel selected by Time Magazine as one of "the 100 Best English-language novels from 1923 to the present".

Click on the photograph above to head over to the official site and see just-released photos of the rest of the Watchmen.

Watchmen is scheduled to be released exactly one year from today.

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Movie Trailer: Speed Racer

This one's been around for a little bit. I had to share it because the visuals are great, AND it's the first movie from the Wachowski brothers since The Matrix trilogy.

Click on the picture above to be directed to the trailer.

Let me know what you think of it.

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Movie Trailer: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Click on the picture above to be directed to the trailer.

Let me know what you think of it.
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Film Review: Rambo - Full Circle

Though Sylvester Stallone left the ending open enough to allow for even more sequels, this deserves to be the last Rambo film. The movie's final scene ends the series on a graceful note, a subtle reference to the first scene in First Blood. And even though the violence and gore is the most brutal that this series has ever seen, it is evident Stallone is commenting on both the political and artistic baggage which has often weighed down the character.

The film picks up 20 years after Rambo III. Rambo is still living in Thailand, though he is no longer living in a monastery nor stick-fighting to support himself. He has now retreated further into Thailand's jungles where he runs a small crew that sells snakes to a local snake-fighting showman. Thought he couldn't verbalize the demons haunting him before? He is even less prone to talk now. Which is why when a group of missionaries call on him to ferry them up to Burma, rife with the destruction of a genocidal civil war, he wastes little time in his monosyllabic refusal to take them up there. But when one of the missionaries, Sarah, connects to him on an emotional level, he gives in. He journeys up the river, evoking images of Apocalypse Now, for this is Rambo's heart of darkness we are voyaging into. Ten days after he has dropped his passengers off, Sarah, and her fellow missionaries have disappeared, possibly being held captive by the Burmese army. Guess who must rescue them?

By setting the film in Burma he manages to be topical without hitting on the head with allusions to a present-day conflict as he did in Rambo III. That backfired, as evidenced by the ending title card that dedicated the movie to the Afghans. 20 years later we are locked in a war with the Afghans, a war seeded from our intervention in their conflict with the Russians in the 80s (the time of Rambo III's release). The Burmese army represents a clear-cut enemy that the Iraqi insurgents, for example, would not have. The Iraqi conflict is one whose blame may not be so easy to pin down. The brutality of the Burmese soldiers against the Karen refugees of the film is horrific. Every blown off leg, chopped arm and murdered child is indelibly burned in one's mind.

Rambo's retribution is even more brutal. This is Stallone, who directed the film, letting you know this is not Reagan's Rambo, celebrated savior of forgotten vets. This is the Rambo that shares a lot in common with the very cobras he collects. Like the cobra, pushed the wrong way he will kill, for it is in his nature to kill. And when the damage he's done at the end of the picture is surveyed, there is no sense of gratitude for the rescue he achieved. There is only a lingering regret that, as his mentor Trautman warned him in the last film, it is only when he accepts his true nature as a killer that he'll be able to leave the killing behind.

Make no mistake, the violence and gore in this movie are far from the cartoonish, clever, or patriotic displays of the previous films in the series. Stallone is aware of how the depiction of violence has changed in the torture porn (Hostel, Saw) era of film, and post-Private Ryan treatment of battlefield war films in particular. He cunningly uses the excesses of such violence to respond to the criticisms often lobbed against the Rambo films, movies whose enjoyment in their portrayal of violence has little consequence past the next frame. This movie is much smarter and more cynical than I expected it to be.

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