Extreme blood and gore, lots of guns/shooting, and multiple deaths. Explosions. Knives and stabbing. Severed head and foot. Characters bashed with a hammer. Heart cut out of chest. Bow and arrows, characters pierced with arrows. Characters killed or maimed by traps. Knives used to carve characters' faces. Characters set on fire. Character run through by steel pole. Characters fall on spikes. Teen girls are kidnapped into a human trafficking ring and used as prostitutes. They're treated roughly, drugged, shown to be bruised and cut. A group of thugs gangs up on the main character, beating him to a pulp (bloody face, swollen eyelids). Brief, violent Vietnam flashbacks. Verbal description of a man beating his wife.
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Villains drink alcohol and snort cocaine in nightclubs. Character says she "drank too much" in one scene. Main character briefly takes prescription meds. Background characters smoke.
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One teen tries to kiss another at a party. An adult looks a teen up and down at a club. Scenes of prostitutes alone in rooms with men (no nudity, nothing graphic).
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Rambo has served his country honorably, which is deserving of admiration and respect. He also never attacks first and only defends himself. But he defends himself with such extraordinary violence and with such a trail of dead bodies that it's hard to argue for him as a role model.
Positive Messages
none
The movie is essentially a gun owner's revenge fantasy; the story justifies owning many weapons by including an actual invasion on a family. It's extremely one-note and one-dimensional, with no room for discussion.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Rambo: Last Blood is the fifth installment in the Rambo series starring Sylvester Stallone. Like all the sequels since the soulful first movie, it elevates intense gore over character. Violence is extremely graphic, with heavy guns and shooting, knives and stabbing, and tons of gore. Characters are killed, caught in traps, and burned. Body parts are severed and sliced out, and there are violent flashbacks to Vietnam. Plus, teen girls are kidnapped into a sex trafficking ring; they're shown to have been punched and cut and are given drugs. Language is also strong, with several uses of "f--k," "s--t," and more. Sexual content is mild; one teen tries to kiss another at a party, and a teen girl is ogled in a club. Villains drink alcohol and snort cocaine in nightclubs, there's a reference to drinking too much, the main character briefly takes prescription meds, and background characters smoke. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
Rambo: Last Blood is a phenomenal film with a great message, although it is violent and a bit sad.
This movie is incredibly exciting, emotional, and intense. Although it is an R rated action movie, with bloody, sometimes gory scenes, it has a tremendous message for families and especially teenagers about to become adults. Without giving the plot away, I can tell you that the life lessons of listening to your parents/loved ones who just want to keep you safe, and not thinking you know everything and can do whatever you want because you're an adult are well delivered and very important. If more teenagers saw this movie and took the moral of the story to heart, I think society would be better off. The characters are engaging and draw you in from the start, and if you love Rambo, you'll love this triumphant installment.
I will keep the rating to 17+ however, because the few times in the movie where there is blood and gore is some of the most intense and realistic I've seen in a movie. It's not without good reason, but it is there.
I don't care what people say, this movie still rocks. When I heard this movie was announced, I couldn't wait because I am a fan of Rambo a lot. So I saw it opening weekend, enjoyed every minute of it. Even more violent then 4 was. Although I wouldn't show it to kids
What's the Story?
In RAMBO: LAST BLOOD, John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is finally enjoying a quiet life, living on a horse ranch in Arizona alongside Maria (Adriana Barraza) and her teen granddaughter, Gabrielle (Yvette Monreal), whom he's helped raise and whom he considers family. When Gabrielle learns the whereabouts of her biological father (who left long ago), she heads to Mexico, without permission, to find him. Unfortunately, she's kidnapped and taken into a human trafficking ring. Rambo goes to Mexico to retrieve her but finds himself outnumbered and badly beaten. Journalist Carmen Delgado (Paz Vega) nurses him back to health, and he enters the den of thieves once more. This time, though, he's brought a war to his own front yard. Fortunately, he's ready.
Though it (vainly) tries for some of the human soul that drove the 1982 original, this fifth entry in the Rambo series is ultimately little more than a cheap, gory revenge fantasy. Coming 11 years after Rambo (2008), Rambo: Last Blood -- will this really be the last one? -- is basically a series of simple setups with predictable payoffs. We meet the pure, sheltered Gabrielle, who's so innocent and full of promise that she's not much more than a kidnap victim waiting to happen. We're also introduced to a series of military-grade tunnels -- with nooks and crannies stocked with guns, knives, and bows and arrows -- dug under Rambo's ranch, which seems like the perfect place for a climactic showdown.
Even though the movie isn't very long, it still feels like a bit of a wait before any of this inevitable stuff actually happens, not to mention that a long "trap setting" montage gives away most of the carnage to come. Stallone slips back into the character easily, carrying a lifetime's worth of hurt and rage and "trying to keep a lid on it." But the film's attempts to infuse the movie with heart, such as audio flashbacks to previous "touching" conversations, fall flat. The rest of the characters mean nothing; they're only there to react to him. The direction by Adrian Grunberg is mostly serviceable, though sometimes clunky, and Rambo: Last Blood eventually achieves the kind of mindless, primal kick it tries for. But it's easily forgotten.
MPAA explanation:
strong graphic violence, grisly images, drug use and language
Last updated:
March 2, 2023
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By Jeffrey M. Anderson
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