Here's What Rotten Tomatoes Is Saying About Rambo: Last Blood

John Rambo has finally met his match: the critics. Reviews are coming in for Rambo: Last Blood, which brings an end to the story begun with 1982's First Blood. The general consensus: Rambo deserved a better sendoff, and one with much less of a sadistic streak.

Over-the-top carnage is nothing new for this franchise. 2008's Rambo similarly turned off critics with its cartoonish reliance on dishing up as much blood and guts as humanly possible. But Last Blood's detractors — of which there were many — were taken aback not only by the extreme level of the violence on display, but by some of the more troubling themes implied by the film's plot, which involves Rambo crossing the border into Mexico to search for a family friend who has been kidnapped by sex traffickers.

Many of the flick's detractors noted that political themes had always been present in the Rambo series, even — perhaps especially — First Blood, which dealt with the mistreatment of Vietnam veterans after they returned home from the war. But the series' worldview seems to have changed with the times, and not for the better, according to Variety's Peter Debruge, who wrote,

"[Rambo: Last Blood is] another cruel and ugly showcase of xenophobic carnage squeezed into barely 80 minutes and packaged for export. [The screenwriters] adopt the racist view of Mexicans as murderers, drug dealers and rapists [...] This character has always been a mess of contradictions, representing on one hand the permanent damage that military service can do to one's soul, while simultaneously suggesting what the ideal soldier looks like. Rambo single-handedly wins the wars that America can't. And the blood isn't likely to stop here, or anytime soon."

Tom Glasson of Concrete Playground concurred, musing that the level of violence presented in Last Blood — a step up even from 2008's Rambo, in his estimation — was better suited for a very different type of franchise. Glasson wrote,

"[Rambo: Last Blood] a film that aspires to be Logan, yet lands somewhere closer to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. [Rambo] abhors violence, yet maintains a terrifying arsenal of knives, guns and explosives. And beneath [his] picturesque ranch is a straight-up house of horrors, physically and psychologically. But is the film still enjoyable? Mostly, no."

Yet still, some reviewers were even less kind — like The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw, who absolutely leveled the picture in his review's first paragraph, writing,

"This massively enlarged prostate of a film can only make you wince with its badly acted geronto-ultraviolence, its Trumpian fantasies of Mexican rapists and hilariously insecure US border, and its crass enthusiasm for rape-revenge attacks undertaken by a still-got-it senior dude, 73 years young, on behalf of a sweet teenager."

Even some of the reviewers who recommended the film seemed aghast at its violence, with many remarking that even for a series which has always hung its hat on wanton bloodshed, Last Blood is a bridge too far. Fred Topel of Showbiz Cheat Sheet wrote,

"It's funny to think how these movies were always symbols of Hollywood's gratuitous violence. They were bloody, but blood was the worst they could show in the '80s. [...] Last Blood takes violence so far it almost has to be the last blood because there's no more blood left. Remember when the most graphic scene in First Blood was when he cleaned his arm wound with his knife?"

Again, this was a positive review, which indicates that even some of those predisposed to expect a heaping helping of bloody mayhem got a little bit more than they bargained for. Other critics posting positive reviews seemed to recommend the flick in spite of themselves. Vince Mancini of Uproxx, for example, penned an assessment which read for all the world like an absolute evisceration of the film, right up until the point where the critic offered his endorsement.

"Trump-era Rambo is essentially a human border wall keeping out Mexican rapists and murderers. [...] It's so genuinely horrific I'm convinced there are real-life cartel videos celebrating the torture of rivals that are less gory. I was either howling with nervous laughter or covering my face the entire time. [...] This movie is the product of truly deranged minds. It's a must-see."

One thing viewers shouldn't expect is for the film to do justice to its iconic main character. This idea was summed up most succinctly by Harry Guerin of RTE, who wrote,

"This last post for the 37-year-old franchise is a cheap and rushed send-off. There are plenty of bodies but not much soul […] and although this is by far the bloodiest of Rambo's rampages, it's also the least cathartic. Don't remember him this way."

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