Am amazed by the "yee ha" themes which are constantly coming across in the reviews/comments on this film. To be frank it's gun (and knife, and mine, and bow and arrow, and flamethrower....) porn all the way. Now that's fine but attempting to dress it up as deep and meaningful is hugely disingenuous. In my opinion the whole Burma message and the massive over inflating of just how mean and nasty the villains really are combine solely to give some sort of justification for the incessant violence.
This is an action flick plain and simple with SFX taken to a new level of realism over a prolonged period. Look at the stats on IMDb as to which demographics are giving the biggest thumbs up - male under 18 and male 18-29 - says it all really. To me it's not hugely different from the Hostel type films which co-incidentally enjoy the same type of reviews from the very same demographics on this and other sites.
It's a tough watch but a good action movie if that's your bag. It is not a deep and meaningful film in any way shape or form despite what you may read on here. If you want a war and/or genocide based film with genuine meaning and poignancy go and watch The Killing Fields, Hotel Rwanda, Welcome To Sarajevo, Black Hawk Down or even Private Ryan. If you want good old fashion "kick-ass" guns, explosions and blood alongside Sly reprising the Rambo of 2&3 rather than First Blood then this is your film, just don't dress it up as a movie with a message. Stallone could have made a much more effective film about the plight of Burma had he wished to it's just that it wouldn't have fitted with the Rambo franchise. Sly is widely quoted as saying he was struggling with whether to make a documentary or a Rambo movie. Looks like the studio helped him overcome that struggle and judging by the comments on here it was financially at least the right thing to do.
This is an action flick plain and simple with SFX taken to a new level of realism over a prolonged period. Look at the stats on IMDb as to which demographics are giving the biggest thumbs up - male under 18 and male 18-29 - says it all really. To me it's not hugely different from the Hostel type films which co-incidentally enjoy the same type of reviews from the very same demographics on this and other sites.
It's a tough watch but a good action movie if that's your bag. It is not a deep and meaningful film in any way shape or form despite what you may read on here. If you want a war and/or genocide based film with genuine meaning and poignancy go and watch The Killing Fields, Hotel Rwanda, Welcome To Sarajevo, Black Hawk Down or even Private Ryan. If you want good old fashion "kick-ass" guns, explosions and blood alongside Sly reprising the Rambo of 2&3 rather than First Blood then this is your film, just don't dress it up as a movie with a message. Stallone could have made a much more effective film about the plight of Burma had he wished to it's just that it wouldn't have fitted with the Rambo franchise. Sly is widely quoted as saying he was struggling with whether to make a documentary or a Rambo movie. Looks like the studio helped him overcome that struggle and judging by the comments on here it was financially at least the right thing to do.