There can be little argument that at some point after the release of the prior Rambo adventure, or at some point in the second half of the film itself, the hero became something of a joke (or, what amounts to the same thing, a national institution). Accordingly, one of the foremost things to notice and to admire in this current adventure -- Rambo against the Russians in Afghanistan -- is its attitude of defiance: it isn't laughing, and it isn't looking over its shoulder. (Rambo himself, perhaps finally inching down the road of social reintegration, comes out with some uncharacteristic lines of light banter -- but those are jokes of another order.) The sophisticates in the audience certainly will have no trouble finding new things to laugh at -- and without having to resort to any of Rambo's conscious attempts at wit. All such laughs, however, can be fitted right in with the hero's general aura of martyrdom (and with his Victor-Mature-as-Samson tresses), not to mention with his past advocacy of the misunderstood Vietnam vet. (And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him...). With Sylvester Stallone and Richard Crenna; directed by Peter MacDonald. (1988) — Duncan Shepherd
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