First Rocky and Now Rambo

Posted October 2, 2007, 12:30 pm in Movies
Credit Growing Bolder

Talk about growing bolder! First Rocky Balboa and now angry Viet Nam veteran John Rambo. 61-year old Sylvester Stallone has climbed back into the ring and back onto the battlefield. And his time he's fighting for us. As in middle age us. Lionsgate has announced that John Rambo, the fourth film in the First Blood series will be released January 25, 2008.

Stallone not only stars in the film, but he also wrote, directed, and produced it. In the film, Rambo is hired by Christian aid workers to help them deliver medical supplies to a tribe near Burma. After the missionaries fail to return, Rambo goes in and does his thing.

We'll have to wait to see if Stallone can still deliver a credible performance as John Rambo but he's not bad in Rocky VI. The film is now out on DVD and some say this is the best Rocky since the original won an Oscar for Best Picture thirty years ago.

If you're one of the millions of fans of the franchise, you know Rocky is always the ultimate underdog fighting for respect and redemption. It's us against them. It's simple, trite and formulaic. But when it works, as it did in 1976, it's magic. The theme music alone makes me want to take on the world. At it's worst, as it was in Rocky; it's a laughable waste of 90 minutes.

Producer Irwin Winkler says this latest installment is about Rocky grappling with the irrelevance of middle age. "It's about a man who doesn't feel he's all washed up just because he's 60 years old," Winkler said.

Stallone, who wrote and directed the movie, agrees. "Every generation runs its course, and they are expected to step aside for the next generation," he says. "My peers are going through it right now, and they feel they have much to contribute, but the opportunity is no longer there. They're considered obsolete, and it's just not true. This film is about how we still have something more to say." Climbing back into the ring is Stallone's metaphor for climbing back into life.

Even if you've not seen the movie you already know what will happen. Rocky is going to have trouble getting motivated. He'll be mocked and humiliated. He'll have a personal tragedy and be headed for disaster when something inspires him. There will be a feel-good training montage in which Rocky transforms from a lethargic old man into a rock hard butt-kicker. His opponent will try to put him away early and he'll almost do it. Rocky will go down hard. He'll slowly get up. The music will build and his opponent will learn something about respecting your elders.



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