We React to Rambo: Last Blood for the First Time and Call It 'The Least Rambo' Movie Yet

Watching Rambo: Last Blood for the first time, our overall verdict is that it is the most entertaining but also the least Rambo film in the franchise. As we put it during the credits, "That was the least Rambo of the Rambo films in my opinion."

For fans who have followed John Rambo across five films, this one matters because it is Stallone's last time playing the character, closing out a saga that started with a quiet, traumatized veteran and ends here with a very different tone.

Stallone's Rambo Still Moves Like a Much Younger Man at 72

One of the first things we noticed was Stallone's age. We were shocked to learn he was 72 when he made this, noting he was "just 60 in the last one." We spent real time discussing how well he still moves, comparing his gait favorably to people decades younger, before conceding he is a little stiff, but he is also 72.

The Violence Gets So Extreme It Starts to Feel Like Mortal Kombat

As the final act kicked into gear, we kept comparing the kills to fighting game finishers, calling out "late stage Mortal Kombat fatalities" and reacting to a heart-ripping finish with "Oh, Indiana Jones style." We enjoyed the spectacle in the moment, but by the end felt it had tipped into something almost comical rather than the stealthy, efficient Rambo we remembered from earlier films.

Killing Off Gabrielle Was a Choice We Did Not Like

We were openly unhappy that the film fridges Gabrielle rather than keeping her alive. "I didn't like that they fridged the girl," we said, arguing the story would have worked just as well, maybe better, as a straightforward protection mission once the cartel had Rambo's address, rather than pivoting entirely into revenge.

We Missed the Quiet, Stealthy Rambo of Earlier Films

We also flagged how much dialogue this Rambo has compared to earlier entries, noting he barely spoke in the first film and not much in the fourth either. We missed his classic bow kills from parts three and four, pointed out he never wears his signature bandana in this one, and were surprised there is no acknowledgment anywhere of Colonel Trautman, a character we felt was crucial to Rambo's story.

We Would Have Ended It Differently, and We Are Curious About the Reported Behind-the-Scenes Fight

We floated our own preferred ending, with Rambo dying quietly in his rocking chair rather than the ambiguous finish the film gives us: "I think they should have very clearly let him die in this movie." We also looked up reports that Stallone originally wanted a darker, Western-style, Taken-inspired take before the studio pushed the film in a different direction, with another director brought in to handle day-to-day shooting. Our reaction to that was blunt: "I would have trusted Stallone's instincts on this one."

Do you think Last Blood should have kept Gabrielle alive and made it a protection mission instead of a revenge story?