RAMBO

HEADLINE: ** Very Pro-Christian But Marred By Ultra-Violence **
TITLE: RAMBO
Quality: * * * Acceptability: -3
SUBTITLES: -- Some English subtitles from Burmese dialogue --
WARNING CODES:
Language: LLL
Violence: VVV
Sex: S
Nudity: N

RATING: R
RELEASE: January 25, 2008
TIME: 91 minutes
STARRING: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden, Paul Schulze, and Graham McTavish
DIRECTOR: Sylvester Stallone
PRODUCERS: Kevin King, Avi Lerner, Sylvester Stallone, and John Thompson
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Peter Block, Boaz Davidson, Danny Dimbort, Randall Emmett, Jon Feltheimer, George Furla, Florian Lechner, Trevor Short, Andreas Thiesmeyer, Bob Weinstein, and Harvey Weinstein
WRITER: Sylvester Stallone
DISTRIBUTOR: Lionsgate
BASED ON CHARACTERS CREATED BY: David Morrell

CONTENT: (BBB, CCC, Ab, FR, Ho, LLL, VVV, S, N, AA, DD, M,) Very strong moral worldview with clear-cut good versus evil as Burmese military is violent, vicious and inhumane, even though both good characters and bad characters kill people there is still a very strong moral line, plus strong Christian content as church missionaries journey into war-torn area in order to bring food, medicine and the Gospel to Burmese villages, with very positive view of missionaries, martyrdom, the Bible, a Christian pastor, woman gives Rambo a cross necklace, speaks to him about faith and self-sacrifice, prayer depicted, missionary reads Scripture to Burmese villagers & says "Christ may dwell in your heart with faith," mercenary says he thinks that the missionaries are noble and Rambo makes statement of self-sacrifice as he says that "you can live for nothing or you can die for something," one mercenary makes two anti-biblical statements about "sending the devil to do God's work," and when he rescues a captured missionary he says, "God didn't save your life, we did," plus false religion includes quick shot of Buddhist monks, and movie implies that evil Burmese General homosexually accosts young boys; 55 very strong obscenities and four profanities; extremely strong and bloody violence includes almost non-stop warfare action including shootings, limbs being blown off, decapitations, mines blowing people up and stabbings as well long sequences of the merciless slaughter of Burmese villagers from men to women and children including implied rape, also missionary is fed to pigs, explosions from bombs and grenades and many people shot with Rambo's bow and arrow; sexual content includes two sequences of implied rape as well as the implication that the evil General rapes young boys; nudity includes upper male nudity, rear male nudity, and quick shot of upper female nudity as young woman has her shirt torn away during village raid; alcoholism includes out-of-control soldiers drinking to drunkenness; several scenes of cigarette smoking and discussion about military generals exporting crystal meth; and, miscellaneous immorality includes war mercenaries who want to give up on their mission and just take the money although they eventually fulfill their commitment, plus some gambling on cobra snake fighting.

GENRE: War Drama
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Adults

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Jon Feltheimer, CEO
Lionsgate
AKA Lions Gate Films
(Roadside Attractions)
2700 Colorado Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Phone: (310) 449-9200
Fax: (310) 255-3870
Website: www.lionsgatefilms.com

SUMMARY: In RAMBO, Sylvester Stallone once again plays the troubled Vietnam vet who leads a bunch of mercenaries to rescue a group of Christian missionaries captured by the ruthless Burmese military. RAMBO is an exciting, testosterone-filled, action-packed movie with very strong moral and positive Christian elements, but it contains extreme ultra-violence and many strong obscenities used by the non-Christian soldiers and the villains.

IN BRIEF:

In RAMBO, Sylvester Stallone, after 20 years, once again dons his bandana to reprise his role as the troubled Vietnam vet. Trying to leave behind his past, Rambo lives a quiet life in Thailand. When an American church group wants to take food, medicine and the Gospel into Burma and need a boatman to take them up river, Rambo reluctantly agrees, due to the promptings of one particularly beautiful missionary, Sarah. He drops them off, and Sarah gives Rambo a cross necklace to encourage his faith. Later, he learns they have been captured and taken prisoner by the ruthless military. He then accompanies a team of ex-military mercenaries into the camp to set Sarah and her companions free.

RAMBO is an exciting, testosterone-filled, action-packed movie, but suffers from mixed content. On one hand, the movie presents a very strong moral worldview. It has clearly distinguished lines between good and evil. The movie also has very positive references to Christianity, including very clear depictions of salvation through Christ, missionaries, martyrdom, the Bible, prayer, and self-sacrifice. The movie is extremely ultra-violent, however, and the non-Christian characters and villains use many strong obscenities.