It's been over 10 years since we last saw saw Sylvester Stallone play one of his most well known characters, John Rambo. While 2008's Rambo could have functioned as the finale of this particular franchise, it seems there is one more story left to tell. Rambo: Last Blood is set to hit theaters later this year, and Stallone has continued to tease us with more images for the movie, including this one, which is a picture of a picture being taken of Rambo, armed with a bow and arrow. Check it out.
The picture posted to Sylvester Stallone's Instagram is taken from a much safer position than the one we can see being taken in the image. The woman is standing right in the path of a drawn arrow, which probably makes for an awesome picture, as long as Sly doesn't lose his grip, of course.
In addition to the bow and arrow, we see that Sly's arms are covered in blood. Whatever Rambo has been doing, it's been messy work.
As far as what he's been doing, based on what we know of the plot, what Rambo has been doing is killing members of a Mexican drug cartel. Rambo: Last Blood will see John Rambo living a quiet life on his family ranch in Arizona when a friend's daughter runs a fowl of the cartel and Rambo goes in to rescue her.
Based on the premise, and the title of the film, we can expect Rambo: Last Blood to be a movie much more in line with the first Rambo story than any of the sequels that came after. All of the previous Rambo sequels were about sending a one man army into hostile foreign territory to save one group of people, or maybe just kill another group of people.
First Blood was a movie about a former Vietnam vet who came up against corrupt police officers in a small town, and how that small town became a war zone. Last Blood certainly wants to remind us of that much smaller story, and while there will surely be no lack of action, the stakes her are much more personal for Rambo.
Of course, the title is also fairly ominous. It doesn't imply anything good happening to John Rambo.
As somebody who never felt the Rambo sequels ever lived up to the visceral feeling of the first film, I'm actually a lot more interested in this one than I ever would have guessed. Sylvester Stallone's Rocky movies were always better when they were character stories about a man and not actually about who won a boxing match. In a similar vein, Rambo movies are better when they're about the man and not about the battle.
Rambo: Last Blood has been given a release date of September 20.
