TMG Scale 4.5
Starring Sylvester Stallone . . . and all the friends in Hollywood he could sign up!

TMG admires Sly Stallone.  He has made many a fun “guy film” like Rambo and even classics such as the Rocky series. He still looks fit and we like his characters. Getting Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger and other great tough guys lined up for another run at a military,  soldiers of fortune style film is commendable.  This film started off as expected but half way through, I think Sly just got tired. It appears Stallone quit writing and directing after 60 minutes and left the set with the admonishment to  “Just keep shooting and blowing up stuff.”

Stallone leads a group commissioned by the mysterious Mr. Church to assassinate the dictator of a small South American island. Once there, they meet with a local rebel and discover things are a bit different than planned and pull the plug and the release button on lots of bullets and bombs. Stallone has to head back to rescue the female rebel.   More stuff then explodes.

TMG is perhaps a bit harsh with a 4.5 rating,  but I simply cannot recall one line of dialogue, any story line or any character in the last half of this film. We were offered some great character names like Barney Ross, Lee Christmas, Yin Yang, Hale Caesar, and Toll Road. But what did they ever say?   Most guys will love the guns, explosions and pyrotechnics.  TMG certainly did. The knife handling was certainly impressive.  Schwarzenegger had a great cameo scene. As an aviation buff, TMG loved the Gruman, HU-16 Albatross seaplane used throughout the film. [Only about 30 of these cool planes are still flying.] My cola was cold and my popcorn was fresh and tasty. That’s pretty much it.

Most folks will be hard pressed to remember this movie a year from now.  It has done awesome at the box office though and TMG is slow to criticize brute success.  Box office success does not a good film make,  and vice-versa. TMG suggests downloading Rambo off of Netflix tonight and then going outside and lighting off a bunch of old fireworks in your backyard. You will get the same effect and rush.