Or actually, the human traffickers and drug lords that are running people through the U.S.-Mexico border for their nefarious purposes, but saying “Rambo vs. Mexico” in the title just sounded more … Rambo-er. But I digress. Variety reports that Nu Image/Millennium Films has greenlit a fifth Rambo movie, to once again be written and directed by Sylvester Stallone.
Stallone has actually been talking up the sequel for awhile now, but this will mark the first time the film has gotten the official green light from the studio. The fourth film had Rambo working part time as a river boatman when he’s not running around gutting or finger-gouging super evil mean Asian military types in the neck. Made for $50 million, the film did $42 million in domestic business and scored nearly double that ($70 million) in overseas markets.
The fifth film will find Rambo running foul of slimy human traffickers and drug lords along the U.S.-Mexico border as he attempts to rescue an abducted girl. As you’ll recall, at the end of “Rambo”, Stallone’s character had finally decided to come home, and we saw him walking back to the Rambo homestead over the closing credits.
I recently saw “Rambo” on cable again a few days ago, and I have to admit, it’s gotten better with repeat viewing. It’s still bloody as hell, almost cartoonishly so, but I really felt for the big lug throughout the movie, and towards the end, when he’s staring down at Julie Benz’s character and realizing that he will never get the girl, kinda broke my heart.
I used to be against another Rambo movie, but now I’m kind of looking forward to seeing him come home and maybe, just maybe, get a little bit of a happy ending for himself at the end. Is that too much to ask? Yeah, yeah, it’ll be kind of sappy and maybe a little unrealistic (Rambo has killed enough people to populate his own country, after all), but why not? If it’s going to be the last one, then give the man a little bit of a happy ending already, dammit! (Preferably after he’s killed half of Mexico ala “The Wild Bunch”.)
No one crosses Rambo’s land without proper identification. No one!
