8A - Monday, January 28, 2008
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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Returning to the heart of darkness
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Despite an aging
hero 'Rambo'
delivers signature
high intensity
By BRANDON CONRADIS
DailyArts Writer
In an early scene in "Rambo,"
SylvesterStallone'snewinstallment
in the long-dormant action series,
we're introduced
to the titularhero
(Sly, of course) **
as he rummag-
es through the Rambo
underbrush of At Quality 16
Thailand search- and Showcase
ing for cobras.
See, ever since Lions Gate
we last left him
- after having fought the Soviets in
Afghanistan in 1988's "Rambo III"
- the former Green Beret has been
living in Southeast Asia working on
a snake farm. Yep, he's traded in his
combat knife and bow and arrow for
the chance to nurse pythons. What?
Did you expect him to be flipping
burgers somewhere in Ohio?
Rambo's simple life in the sticks
is disrupted, however, when aband
of Christian missionaries arrive
asking for his help. Initially refus-
ing, the grizzled stoic gives in
when he's approached by the beau-
tiful Sarah (Julie Benz, TV's "Dex-
ter"), who begs him to take them
up the river into Burma to help the
desperate villagers that are being
massacred by the ruling army.
Even Rambo's hardened heart
can't resist the impassioned pleas
of a beautiful blonde, and soon he's
leading the group into the jungles
of Burma on his little ramshackle
boat. Things go wrong, of course,
and the missionaries end up get-
ting captured. In response, Rambo
leads a ragtag group of mercenar-
ies - including a scowling thug
(Graham McTavish) and an impos-
sibly wet-behind-the-ears young-
ster (Matthew Marsden) - into
the lion's den. Mucho ass-kicking,
American-style, ensues.
If there's one thing that sets
"Rambo" apart from the recent
spate of franchise resurrections
we've been seeing lately ("Rocky
Balboa" (2006), "Live Free or
Die Hard" (2007)), it's the inher-
ent political incorrectness of it
all. The film is like one big middle
finger in the direction of popular
liberal sentiments, although some-
thing must be said for the fact that
Sarah - who, by all accounts, is the
wide-eyed naive liberal to Rambo's
world-weary, war-prone conser-
vative - is a Christian activist.
But the last thing the film is inter-
ested in is politics. What really
makes "Rambo" so jaw-dropping
is its questionable taste. Like the
insultingly manipulative "Blood
Diamond" (2006), "Rambo" comes
across as a message movie with-
out a conscious, a commentary
on a tragic current event boosted
up with considerable amounts of
crowd-pleasing action and gore
- you have to keep the people
entertained, you know, even when
you're trying to nail home an hon-
est-to-God message.
That's not necessarily a bad
thing. "Rambo" has something
that the aforementioned "Blood
Diamond" didn't, and that thing is
Sylvester Stallone. Let's face it, Sly
can make anything watchable. See-
ing him sport that bandana again
and wield his bow and arrow like a
world-class archer is both an exhil-
arating and surreal experience. The
entire film feels like it was pulled
out of a 20-year-old vault, dusted
off and repackaged to look new.
It's something that could have only
been spawned from the '80s, and
yet - look at that - it was filmed
last year.
For all its many trespasses into
seriously questionable moral ter-
ritory, the film desperately wants
to be taken seriously. Opening
with genuinely unsettling news-
reel footage of the various mas-
sacres in Burma and loaded with
anguished, preachy diatribes from
its cardboard-cutout characters,
it's the sort of somber, overtly dra-
matic film that dares you to laugh
at it. For this reason alone the film
comes across as more than just a
vanity project for Stallone. You
get the sense that there is genuine
anger here towards the situation,
and its admirably unflinchingview
of the carnage ensuing in Burma
almost gives it credibility. But the
film is just too silly; the ridiculous
dialogue, preposterous characters
and over-the-top gore (I couldn't
count the number of exploding
heads with two hands) immedi-
ately throw into question its moti-
vations.
Whatever. "Rambo" may be
cheesy - even tasteless - but
it's entertaining and refreshingly
devoid of any self-conscious pan-
dering to contemporary political
correctness. It's lean (clocking
in around 90 minutes), mean
and thoroughly, in-your-face
American. Reagan would've been
proud.
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TM
Stop by the ALumni Association for:
Wednesdays is a
,Wtome weto catch a Free coffee
wonderful way enFbetween
quick breatherihe Web Free bagels
classes, read f s'i,
and chat with
Free magazines
Free WI-FI
,,Yu'esaved me mone
and brightened my
Wednesdays.
THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF ENVIRONMENTAL
REGULATIONS AND A LOOK AT BETTER SOLUTIONS
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 Donald R. Leal and Brandon Scarborough of the Property and
7e y, anary[ Environment Research Center, www.perc.org, will be discussing
7:00pm - 8:30pm their experience and research on the failures ofgovemment
Location: Great Lakes Central Room regulations on fisheries and water allocation in the Great Lakes and
in Palmer Commons otherpaces.
At Welcome Wednesdays, you can feed your caffeine addiction, grab a bagel and
check your email. All for free at the Alumni Center. You also can learn about the
programs we offer, like career mentors, inCircle (the U-M social networking site)
and free business cards. Or pick up a free blue book for your next exam.
Every Wednesday from January 16 through March 19.
8 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Starting an hour earlier!)
Open to all U-M students.
The Alumni Center is located at 200 Fletcher St., at the corner
of Fletcher and Washington, next to the Michigan League.
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
www.umalumni.com/students
Can the market protect the Great Lakes better than
government bureaucrats? Do government fish and water
regulations do more damage than good? How can private
property help conservation efforts?
The event isfree and open to all! There will be a Q&A after
the discussion.
Hosted by SFE and the U of M College Libertarians
A project of the MackinacCenter
www.michigansfe.org / www.mackinac.org
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