Goodbye 'Rambo', I guess war really was 'in your blood'

"Killing's as easy as breathin'."

Only Sylvester Stallone can get away with saying (let alone writing) a line like that. After flirting with the possibility of a fifth Rambo film, the action icon seems to have dropped it. Which may be for the best because this 2008 swan sang is a fitting finale for the character.

I know there rumors of a origin story reboot of Rambo (is there any franchise Hollywood is willing not to resurrect and ruin?). But I can't imagine how anyone but Stallone can play this role, and even though he appears to in denial that he is pushing 70, audiences aren't

Watching Rambo after the previous three is edifying because the movie is essentially a combination of the most distinct elements of the previous three.

It brings back the edgier, more grizzled John Rambo from First Blood (which I appreciated), the intense machine-gunning action of Part II (which I expected) and the simplistic, speechifying right-wing politics of Rambo III (which I hated).

Still, this movie looks and feels like a legitimate Rambo film, which, coming 20 years after the last installment is pretty impressive. This period is an interesting one for Stallone. In a 2-year span he took the reins of his two most iconic characters (Rocky and Rambo) resurrected them (in spite of all the late night comedian's incessant mocking of his age in the roles) and gave them the denouements they deserved.

Stallone the director

Rocky Balboa (2007) was more successful, both critically and commercially. But Rambo does have some of the old juice from the originals. It takes way too long for Rambo to spring into action (he's still the most reluctant of heroes) but when he does it's pretty fantastic. No one shoots a bow and arrow like this guy.

The movie's messaging is very Hallmark-cardy. My girlfriend and I still can't figure out what Rambo's talking about when he says "Live for nothing. Die for something." We get that you want to die for "something" but why would anyone live for "nothing"?

Without Trautman in his life (Crenna died in 2003), Rambo is truly alone is this film. "Fuck the world," he declares early in the film. As someone who clearly suffers from undiagnosed PTSD, he interestingly likes to surround himself with dutiful indigenous people while living a mostly hermit-like existence.

His philosophy seems to be that everyone and nearly everything is hopelessly corrupt. He thinks no conflict can really be solved (at least when your enemy is evil) without weapons and he appears to form attachments to pretty girls very easily. Other than that, he's pretty much a non-stop killing machine.

Stallone wastes a ton of screen-time documenting the atrocities of the villains in this movie (which in this case, are the Burmese military government). But I think he is being 'Sly' here. He needs to make the bad guys seem so bad that it "justifies" the massive killings he will perpetrate on them later in the film.

This movie allegedly holds the record for the most people killed all screen and the last 20 minutes have a sort of gonzo quality to them. Stallone set out to make the goriest, most relentlessly violent movie he could and he kind of did it (except he curiously, never takes off his shirt this time).

And the ending, which is all kinds of corny, is still kind of cool because it brings everything full circle. Rambo finally comes home (in his fashionable army jacket and duffel bag) and seems to have found some semblance of peace, even though "war," as he puts it, is in his "blood."