Rambo VS Predator?

That’s what the most recent synopsis of the new Rambo flick sounds like.  According to the article

Stallone is Turning Hunter Into Rambo V – ComingSoon.net.

there’s been some different versions flying around the net, so who knows which one is legit (other than Stallone)?

The original idea, about Rambo going after human traffickers in Mexico, actually sounded kinda badass.  From what I remember from the Rambo DVD bonus stuff, the human trafficking angle was originally intended for Rambo, but Stallone felt it odd that suddenly John Rambo is back in the U.S. after being in Vietnam, and then Afghanistan in the previous 2.  He needed a story that brought Rambo home, which became last year’s Rambo.

What I like about the human trafficking story is that it has potential to be different without being ridiculous (Rambo movies in general are ridiculous, but Rambo vs a monster is ridiculous).  Think about it: First Blood – Part 2 had Rambo going back to ‘Nam fighting the North Vietnamese.  Rambo III had him in Afghanistan fighting the Soviets.  Rambo put, um… Rambo in Burma fighting the Burmese military.

Sometimes Photoshop can be used for bad, bad things.

What made this last movie work, at least in my own opinion, was that it put John Rambo in his element, and I mean really in his element.  It was so violent, it almost became funny (he shoots a man in half.  Shoots him in half! That’s a pretty funny image, right?).  But, it gave the character a scene, albeit a very brief one, to contemplate his actions and accept who he is, a killing machine.

What Rambo V could be, if they use the Mexico storyline, is a more introspective John Rambo.  Here, he’s not going up against a structured military.  He’s going up against cold-blooded kidnappers, thieves, rapists, etc.  While the people he dispatched in parts 2, 3, and 4 could very well be fighting for something themselves, here you know the people he’s killing are bad to the bone; awful people who have no ideology to fight for, except to continue the evil of slavery in its modern form and profit from it.  Sometimes you’d need a monster to kill a monster, and John Rambo is the perfect killing machine, who just happens to have a bit of a conscience.

This could also bring the series back to the original (and arguably, best entry).  In First Blood, Rambo is going through serious post-traumatic stress, and having an a-hole of a sheriff on your case isn’t helping.  But that’s what the film was centered on: Rambo dealing with his demons from ‘Nam; it’s something personal.  In V, if his goal is to save a girl, a single person with which to focus all his intent, it becomes personal again.  It’s a smaller-scale story, but could yield the highest emotional investment from the character, and potentially the audience.  If Stallone goes the opposite route, and plays it safe with another action plot stuck in the 80’s (like if Rambo were to go back to Afghanistan to search for bin Laden), then it might ring hollow with viewers.

Anyway, that’s my take on this newest Rambo V news.  I’ll still watch whatever the movie turns out to be; I’m a fan enough of Stallone as a director to trust he’ll do the right thing with this character and franchise.