The only thing harder to kill than John Rambo is a profitable Sylvester Stallone franchise. After doing the seemingly impossible and reinvigorating the Rocky series with two successful Creed films, he’s back with another one of his classic characters, in what appears to be his swan song s the iconic Vietnam veteran who can’t escape his deadly past. But we’re not cynical this newest/likely final Rambo will end his story on a sour note, because the first trailer for the film looks fantastic.
Rambo: Last Blood picks up where 2008’s Rambo left off, with Stallone’s troubled veteran having returned to the United States to live a quiet life free of the death and carnage that has followed him since the franchise’s first film, 1982’s (yes, 1982!) First Blood. But in classic action hero fashion, the past has a way of following you wherever you go, and Rambo isn’t afraid to face it head on, whether he goes out to trouble it or it comes to him in a battle with a drug cartel that promises the series will add to its already high body count.
We were not expecting this trailer to be quite so good (it’s hard to keep franchises fresh when you’re making your fifth movie 37 years after the first), even if it seems like it will hew more towards the action movie side the series gradually leaned toward as opposed to the psychological thriller of the original film. Per 2008’s Rambo, we do expect elements of both. If this truly is the last blood John Rambo will be spilling, it would only be fitting that while he fights some bad guys he also has to face the personal demons that made him such a compelling character the first time we met him so long ago.
Rambo: Last Blood, which also stars Paz Vega, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Adrianna Barraza, Yvette Monreal, Genie Kim (aka Yenah Han), Joaquin Cosio, and Oscar Jaenada, comes to theaters this fall, September 20, 2019.
Featured Image: Lionsgate Movies