With Sylvester Stallone announcing recently that he will not be returning to the Rambo movie franchise, it is the perfect time to examine how his incarnation of the character concluded the series. Stallone’s last contribution to the Rambo movies was 2008’s Rambo. It was the fourth movie in the series.
Following Rambo III, John Rambo is still in Thailand. Now he is making a living catching snakes and selling them to nearby villagers on the Burmese border. He is awoken from his day to day peaceful monotony by a group of missionaries wishing to take medical supplies into the war ravaged victims in Burma. Although he initially refuses he is convinced by the sole female of the group, Sarah, to take them up the Salween River on his boat. It is clear from his conversation with Sarah that he has no intentions of returning to America, saying that nothing would have changed, referring to how he couldn’t integrate back into society after returning from the Vietnam War.
On the boat trip into Burma, Rambo is forced to return to his killing ways when they are stopped by pirates, but he successfully drops the missionaries at their destination. However, later John Rambo is visited by the missionaries’ pastor saying he has lost contact with them and his church has hired mercenaries to try and retrieve them. Rambo decided to accompany them in the rescue attempt. The warrior inside Rambo well and truly returns to the fore as the rescue turns into the bloodiest of any of the battles in the Rambo series.
Following the rescue Rambo takes Sarah’s advice and finally returns to America and arrives at a driveway with R. Rambo on the letterbox. Earlier in the film Rambo had mentioned he may still have a father back home but wasn’t sure. The credits begin to roll as Rambo walks the long driveway to the house. The ending is significant in its bookending of the first Rambo movie, First Blood. In that movie Rambo wasn’t able to find his place in society; unable to make the transition from specialist killer and valuable contributor in the Vietnam War, to a functioning member of society. Society itself wasn’t ready for Rambo either, as was shown in the clash that resulted between Rambo and Sheriff Teasle. However, the closing scenes of the final Rambo movie provides hope that John Rambo can finally find peace.
