‘Rambo’ shows its age

The new “Rambo” exists for three reasons — reaffirm Sylvester Stallone’s action hero chops, shed light on Burmese atrocities and show Hollywood that killing the bad guys en masse can be a morally sound position.

It’s mission accomplished on all three fronts, yet “Rambo” devalues Mr. Stallone’s recent comeback.

While “Rocky Balboa” proved Mr. Stallone could still find nuance in his relic of a hero, “Rambo” reveals he has little interest in taking the Vietnam veteran in new directions.

It’s been more than 20 years since we last saw John Rambo, and as the movie opens he’s wrangling snakes in Thailand.

Hey, it’s a living.

A pack of Christian missionaries pays him a visit one day, hoping he can commandeer a boat to lead them into Burmese territory. They want to help the victims of Burma’s civil war.

Rambo reluctantly agrees, mainly because he’s charmed by the group’s lone female (Julie Benz).

It’s not long before Burmese pirates surround Rambo’s boat. The old soldier’s killer instinct resurfaces, leaving the missionaries aghast but still alive. Killing never solves a problem, the lead missionary (Paul Schulze) tells him.

Rambo says little in response — fortune cookies divulge more than our hero. And when he does talk, it’s only a few raspy syllables at a time.

The missionaries finally reach their destination, but before they can lend a hand, Burmese soldiers storm their camp and start firing at will.

It’s up to Rambo, working alongside a colorful team of mercenaries, to rescue the survivors.

“Rambo,” written and directed by the star himself, may be the goriest action film in recent memory. Heads and limbs fly off their bodies, accompanied by torrents of blood, and every fired round leaves a gaping hole. Mr. Stallone either miscalculated the current market’s bloodlust or wanted to set a new benchmark for on-screen atrocities.

He’s on firmer ground when showing the barbarism behind the Burmese troops. That calculation should leave audiences cheering when Rambo starts firing on all cylinders.

The film’s politics, for those desperate for subtext, stand to the right of Ann Coulter. Violence is the only answer in times of crisis, and even the missionaries come to appreciate the Tao of Rambo. And the mercenaries depicted here are the good guys, not thugs.

The “Rambo” series was always Mr. Stallone’s lesser franchise, a saga which helped transform the actor into a muscle-bound cliche.

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