Rambo

As a child, I lived in a house that respected the stupid action movie. That means that if you couldn't find something to watch within five minutes of channel flipping, you must default to TNT and watch whatever movie was playing. Our house was one with reverence to Seagal and Van Damme, where a white guy with a vendetta trumped every single "awards contender."

"First Blood" was our bridge between the two worlds, a no holds barred action flick that managed to have heart and something to say. While the franchise eventually became as ridiculous as its naming convention, Sylvester Stallone was committed to giving John Rambo the respect he was due in 2008's "Rambo." And, much like his return to Rocky in 2006's "Rocky Balboa," it is impressively successful.

Twenty years since the events of "Rambo III," John Rambo has hidden away in Thailand. Largely a hermit, he captures snakes and gives occasional boat rides to locals. A group of American missionaries has plans to travel to nearby Burma to administer aide. The group approaches John in hopes that he may provide transport, but seeing that they refuse to protect themselves with weapons, he refuses. Eventually, one of the group, Sarah Miller, is able to convince John to help. But soon after the missionaries touch down in Burma, they are attacked and captured by a ruthless army. When word gets to John, he has no choice but to arm himself and do what he does best: Kill.

In many ways, Rambo has become the face of '80s action masculinity. His headband, massive knife, and perpetually sweaty torso nearly defined its own genre of hyper action. But the franchise had humble beginnings, with "First Blood" serving as a meditation on PTSD and the abandoned Vietnam veteran. Although "Rambo" arrives 26 years after its first entry, it bears more in common with that film than the ones that came later. "Rambo" is Stallone with something to say, identifying an atrocity in the world and using his character to bring attention to its brutality. It is as much a movie about growing older as it is about how things often don't change. But it's also a movie where a vehicle-mounted machine gun turns a faceless baddie into blood pudding. It's all about balance.

The 4K release of "Rambo" comes as the film's fourth Blu-ray release, and largely acts as a collection of those that came before. There isn't anything new in terms of special features, but it also doesn't really leave anything out. There is a slew of featurettes, an extended cut of the movie (that surprisingly trades more action for character development), a feature-length Production Diary (which is, unfortunately, in standard definition), and an audio commentary from Stallone himself. For the most part, the 4K transfer looks fantastic, with the odd case of some CGI blood looking especially bad at such high resolution. For the Rambo completionist, the 4K release of "Rambo" is a must-own.

"Rambo"
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Copy
$17.96
https://www.lionsgate.com/movies/rambo