The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Stallone back in action

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Sunday, Jan 27, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Stallone back in action

Film: John Rambo-4

Cast: Sylvester Stallone

‘Live for nothing or die for something,’ Sylvester Stallone says midway into the film. He lives by his word. Now on the wrong side of 60, he continues to play by his rules. So, he still takes on guns with arrows! And emerges the winner! Of course, he reinvents his popular avatar a wee bit, gives it a contemporary touch by talking of the wrongs in Burma. But that is merely window dressing. At heart and in action, he still remains the Rambo masses first saw and admired many summers ago. The fierce expression, the rippling muscles and brooding persona -- are all there. The ruggedness of his demeanour complemented with a carefully casual attire.

This one here is a mere reiteration of a tale well and oft told: the luckless are helpless too. The world has villains. And there rises one man who suffers no wrong. It has been many summers since the last outing. Time flits by, or does it? Rambo or Stallone now lives in Thailand, where he works on a longboat on the Salween River. On the nearby Thailand-Burma border, there is a long running civil war.

The not-so-young man’s isolation ends when a group of missionaries search out the ‘American river guide’. It is difficult for even relief workers to set foot on the land, the missionaries cry out. Rambo steps in, helping out the abducted and those in distress.

Slow pace

It is slow, quite slow to begin with. Things get better in the second half. and the film comes to life when it picks up pace later. Therein lies its hope at the box office. Despite its drawbacks, an avid Stallone fan won’t have too much to complain.

ZIYA US SALAM

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