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Rambo (Rambo IV) (2008)

tomatometer

37

Average Rating: 4.8/10
Reviews Counted: 140
Fresh: 52 | Rotten: 88

Sylvester Stallone knows how to stage action sequences, but the movie's uneven pacing and excessive violence (even for the franchise) is more nauseating than entertaining.

26

Average Rating: 4/10
Critic Reviews: 27
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 20

Sylvester Stallone knows how to stage action sequences, but the movie's uneven pacing and excessive violence (even for the franchise) is more nauseating than entertaining.

audience

70

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 383,329

My Rating

Movie Info

When a group of missionary aid workers in Myanmar disappear into the vast green inferno, vigilante Vietnam War veteran John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) leaves his job as a Salween River boatman behind to accompany a group of mercenaries on a daring rescue mission. It's been 20 years since Rambo helped mujahedeen rebels fend off Soviet invaders in Afghanistan, and these days the former soldier lives a simple life in northern Thailand. Meanwhile, the world's longest-running civil war rages into its

May 27, 2008

$42.7M

Lionsgate

Cast

All Critics (141) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (56) | Rotten (91) | DVD (9)

The orgy of violence, as ghastly as in any video game, should go a long way toward erasing whatever goodwill Stallone earned with his sentimental Rocky Balboa.

December 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comments (3)
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

As the current obsession with Reagan suggests, it's back to fantasyland!

January 29, 2008 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Well-shot and well-edited violence porn.

January 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

No longer is Rambo killing for a cause, but for kicks. And his portentous blather, even by Rambo standards, becomes unintentionally hilarious.

January 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comments (4)
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

"So they send in the devil to do God's work," says a hulking Australian mercenary, part of the rescue attempt. "It's ironic, isn't it?" Highly ironic. The implications of that irony are not explored in the movie.

January 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comment
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This violence contains a movie, but only intermittently.

January 25, 2008 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Rambo/ was a gory delight. John Rambo is a tad more solemn, if just as splattery.

July 28, 2010 Full Review Source: DVD Verdict | Comment
DVD Verdict

Fans of Stallone's war-is-kickass-hell fable may get something from this extended cut. Everyone else can safely ignore it.

July 27, 2010 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

Sly may be a crass tyrannosaurus, but he's not a fake

August 27, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comment
CinePassion

Light on plot, heavy on violence - Rambo isn't for everyone, however I think it perfectly appeals to the video game crowd.

August 3, 2009 Full Review Source: 3BlackChicks Review | Comments (2)
3BlackChicks Review

Do you want disembowelment and decapitation with your popcorn? Is gore glorious? Is brutality orgasmic? Is spurting blood the fountain of fun? If so, Rambo is 4 U.

February 2, 2009 Full Review Source: Fayetteville Free Weekly | Comments (7)
Fayetteville Free Weekly

Straightforward wish fulfillment -- imagine what crimes against humanity we could punish if we had real, indestructible Rambos.

October 1, 2008 Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | Comment
Window to the Movies

It's not the perfect Rambo film I was hoping for, but it was a pretty entertaining one.

July 22, 2008 Full Review | Comment
Sin Magazine

Blood spurts, limbs fly, and bodies are machine-gunned to pieces and blown into mulch, lots of it aided by gory CGI flourishes, in his brand of gunboat diplomacy.

June 16, 2008 Full Review Source: MSN.com | Comment
MSN.com

Now we are no longer observing the icon... we are the icon.

June 14, 2008 Full Review Source: UGO | Comment

Rambo may not top First Blood, but it blows away the previous sequels--unfortunately, quite literally. The violence is so graphically excessive that it detracts from the film.

May 26, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

Geriatric Rambo saves the day!

May 23, 2008 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | Comment
NewsBlaze

I know my credibility could take a hit here, but I am man enough to admit that I enjoyed watching Rambo once again don his famous headband and shoot enemies with his trusty bow and arrow.

May 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Watertown Daily Times | Comment (1)
Watertown Daily Times

The DVD extras are fully locked, loaded, poised and nocked with info on the weaponry, Stallone talking about the inspiration for the story and the struggle to make sure that Rambo had a redeeming quality or two, plus hints about a possible sequel.

May 20, 2008 Comment
Buzzine Magazine

(Rambo) really only has 3-4 minutes of redeeming entertainment.

May 17, 2008 Full Review Source: BDK Reviews | Comment
BDK Reviews

Suspiciously wrinkle-resistant Stallone in comeback, a Rambo in serious need of anger management and not too shy to get into a little ripping out of throats with bare hands and selective disemboweling too.

May 13, 2008 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | Comments (3)
NewsBlaze
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Rambo (Rambo IV)

Rambo is not a great movie, but as a Rambo fan I just felt it was good. John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is living in Myanmar and when a few men vanish there during a civil war attack, a few people ask Rambo to guide them to the Saleem to help the tribe with food and water. When a woman who befriends Rambo is taken, he

June 25, 2011
DreamExtractor
Brad Wright

Super Reviewer

Fourth entry in the Rambo franchise is one of the most violent films that I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of violent films. The scope of the film is brutal, graphic and is also the goriest and nloodiest Rambo film yet. Yet despite this, this is an excellent fourth film Set on a backdrop of real life

May 9, 2011
TheDudeLebowski65
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

Super Reviewer

    1. John Rambo: War is natural. Peace, that's an accident.
    – Submitted by David H (5 months ago)
    1. En-Joo: [to Reese] Try reading a paper, redneck, instead of sleeping under it.
    – Submitted by David H (5 months ago)
    1. John Rambo: When you're pushed, killing's as easy as breathing.
    – Submitted by David H (5 months ago)

Latest News for Rambo (Rambo IV)

May 3, 2010:
Stallone Says He's "99% Sure" Rambo 5 Won't Happen
After all those wacky rumors about the "Rambo 5" script, it looks like there won't be another sequel...

September 8, 2009:
Stallone Releases Synopsis, First Poster for Rambo 5
You heard that the fifth "Rambo" was going to pit the titular hero against a drug-dealing slave...

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Foreign Titles

  • Rambo (DE)
  • Rambo (UK)
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