Rambo: Last Blood 4K UHD (2019)

[Blu-21]

Originally Posted by batman144144

I actually think if he had kept the long hair that would have gone some way to connecting the movie to the Rambo character and the prior films in general. Giving the character a new look in a new setting I think causes at least some of the disconnect for people.

Yeah I mean Rambo was once distinctive and unique when it came to his visual appearance and that element of Stallone's portrayal continued with an ageing Rambo in the 2008 film. Last Blood just makes Rambo look like a lot of Stallone's DTV character roles he has been doing in the last few years.

[JohnCarpenterFan]

Originally Posted by Daredevil666

I agree it makes no sense script wise, to have Rambo threatening a young lady and a regular man, but not batting an eye when encountering the mexicans.

That whole scene made the movie totally go off the rails. As it was seen in the trailers, I expected Rambo to take many mexicans out. That was totally out of character.

He threatened those characters because he was in a position where he was in control of the situation, and could get off with it. With the cartel members, he was completely outnumbered, and if he started taking any of them he would be killed for sure and would never have the opportunity to rescue Gabriella which is why he went to Mexico in the first place. If he started taking them out then he would be an idiot.

I don't know why you expected Rambo to take cartel members out in that scene because in the trailers, you only saw him getting beat down. I thought it was to be expected that Rambo would take an ass-kicking during that sequence when going into the theater.

[Alister_M]

Yeah bro, it totally makes no sense for a 70 year old man to not attack 50 people and kick all their asses

[batman144144]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

something like Bautista's "Final Score" probably looked about as finished and expensive as this movie did.

It's funny you should mention Final Score because it's in my amazon Watchlist. I haven't seen it yet, though. Anyway...

Well, I don't think a simple story and a limited setting automatically make it look cheap and/or a DTV level production. Those things can be indicative of that, but not necessarily, right? For example, Hitchcock's Rope is not DTV level, is it? If you are more generally saying, "Well, this is obviously a less expensive production than the previous films so the settings and set pieces are more limited," then, yes, I obviously agree. As I said before Stallone is a much older man so the action is more limited. He also had to partially fund this himself so it's a smaller budget. Both of these things are reflected in the final product. Again, I don't think any of this automatically equates to DTV production. If the movie strikes you this way, fine. It does not me. Everyone's reaction is their own and that's fine, too.

I think the look and style of Last Blood are excellent. When I saw it in the theater, I really didn't think anything about the picture quality one way or the other. I never thought, "Man, this is DTV level," though. Seeing the Blu Ray (1080p) on the other hand was a very different experience. The picture quality is excellent. It's one of the clearest, sharpest pictures I've seen. (I believe it was finished in 4K, so I guess that's to be expected.) I didn't really notice the cinematography until then. The chiaroscuro lighting is very effective and interesting to look at, at least to me. I started to notice how Rambo's face is often lit with one side in light and one side in the dark. Yet, in the same scene the villain had pretty much his whole face lit. That's not a coincidence. The director is using this to comment on Rambo and what is to come. The scene in Rambo's truck midway in the film where he's trying to rush back home before Gabrielle dies, this scene in particular comes to mind as an example of the lighting, but that visual style is throughout the film. You'll also notice Rambo is often lit darker than the villains. Some of the brighter-lit sections, such as the kitchen scenes, are lit in what is referred to in the industry by some as Rembrandt lighting. The point being, some thought and effort were obviously put into this aspect of production. In my humble opinion, this is a gorgeous looking film. .....kind of makes the gore more disturbing, which very well may have been the point...

Again, this is based on watching the Blu. In the theater, I didn't really notice the picture quality one way or the other and I didn't notice the cinematography as much. I still enjoyed the film, though.

All that being said, is Final Score any good?

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by batman144144

All that being said, is Final Score any good?

By DTV standards it is, yeah. Bautista could be more charismatic but the action is solid, though it takes a bit to get there. Kind of a remake of Van Damme's Sudden Death.

[levcore]

So do we know definitively yet which country has the full 101 minute version on 4K UHD and that there are no issues with onscreen subtitles? I think i saw someone say that this movie has stylised subs like the John Wick movies, is this true?

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by Daredevil666

We're talking Rambo. Remember at the end of Rambo III, it's only him and Trautman against the whole Soviet army and he goes "FF Em'" and they move to shoot them all.

In Rambo II he takes out the whole Russian and vietnamese army alone.

In First Blood, he goes alone against a whole town.

The main element of Rambo is that he fights alone. Sure he gets caught, and tortured, but will escape and get his revenge killings.

The real Rambo (well, the characters from the older films) would have killed his way through the Cartel chief, before getting wounded doing nothing but standing. Just torturing one guy wasn't enough.

They should have killed him and thrown his body away, and he should have then be rescued and come back to take em' all.

Again that scene was bad writing. We didn't see much in the trailers, but they gave the impression he went against 50 men which is what Rambo does.

Except that’s not “what he does” in every circumstance. He didn’t do that in First Blood. In II, he took out an army, but not 50 men at once. He did it one at a time, just like - gasp - he dies in the new film, when he can control the traps and circumstances. I’m sure if he had a massive gun like in part IV, he would’ve used it, but he didn’t, so expecting him to is bad expectations, not bad writing.

[dcx4610]

Originally Posted by levcore

So do we know definitively yet which country has the full 101 minute version on 4K UHD and that there are no issues with onscreen subtitles? I think i saw someone say that this movie has stylised subs like the John Wick movies, is this true?

Germany will have the full version but we don't know about the subtitles.

The subtitles aren't stylized but they are burned into the picture for the Spanish speaking sections. The question is if they'll be in English or German.

I have it pre-ordered and I guess I'll be one of the guinea pigs. I should get it early Feb.

[levcore]

Originally Posted by dcx4610

Germany will have the full version but we don't know about the subtitles.

The subtitles aren't stylized but they are burned into the picture for the Spanish speaking sections. The question is if they'll be in English or German.

I have it pre-ordered and I guess I'll be one of the guinea pigs. I should get it early Feb.

Thanks for clarifying regarding the subs, keep us posted!

[Alister_M]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

Except that’s not “what he does” in every circumstance. He didn’t do that in First Blood. In II, he took out an army, but not 50 men at once. He did it one at a time, just like - gasp - he dies in the new film, when he can control the traps and circumstances. I’m sure if he had a massive gun like in part IV, he would’ve used it, but he didn’t, so expecting him to is bad expectations, not bad writing.

Exactly. Plus Rambo III is the epitome of a ridiculous OTT 80s action movie, the others are all far more grounded. Shooting a bunch of dudes and then blowing up a helicopter with a rocket isn't exactly the same as taking on 50+ all at once while unarmed and completely surrounded. Especially when they're all half your age.

[DaMikstar]

Originally Posted by dcx4610

Germany will have the full version but we don't know about the subtitles.

The subtitles aren't stylized but they are burned into the picture for the Spanish speaking sections. The question is if they'll be in English or German.

I have it pre-ordered and I guess I'll be one of the guinea pigs. I should get it early Feb.

There were no subs for Spanish sections in German cinemas because they dubbed everything. I hardly doubt they would reverse that for the home release.

The only question is if there will be English subs for that scenes.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by dcx4610

Germany will have the full version but we don't know about the subtitles.

The subtitles aren't stylized but they are burned into the picture for the Spanish speaking sections. The question is if they'll be in English or German.

I have it pre-ordered and I guess I'll be one of the guinea pigs. I should get it early Feb.

Doubt there will be burned-in English subs on a German print. They would be burned-in German.

[Alister_M]

Makes me glad I don't live in Europe, having to watched dubbed movies in cinemas would suck. Subtitles are the norm here, most local BDs of foreign-language films don't even include a dubbed soundtrack.

[octanejunkie]

The German/Dutch versions of the last Rambo (2008) did not contain any English subtitles for the Burmese/Thai parts. You either had it all in German/Dutch, or not at all..
Not saying this one will be like that (different studio/release etc.), but that's what occurred last time....

[barty22]

UK version is out now, anything special? Or short cut on 4K + BD, as predicted?

[batman144144]

If there is an extended edition in the works I'm hoping it'll have a commentary track so I think I'll wait out that version's release.

[LexInHD]

An extended edition likely won't come until Stallone finishes another Expendables film with Millennium and the only news we've heard about it is that he's interested again and is looking into story ideas, which means that whatever sequel idea that he had before, with the new team from 3, is in the trash pile after the head of Millennium shot him down for wanting a bigger and better film than 3. Since Millennium has had a string of box office failures in the action genre, it's not likely that we'll get another Expendables in the near future, if at all.

[Tuc0]

Originally Posted by Alister_M

Makes me glad I don't live in Europe, having to watched dubbed movies in cinemas would suck. Subtitles are the norm here, most local BDs of foreign-language films don't even include a dubbed soundtrack.

Well not all Europe does the dubbing thing. In Finland only the disney animations or other "kids movies" are dubbed and even they always have the original audio option in theatres. It is definitely more a German/Spanish thing.

[Alister_M]

Originally Posted by Tuc0

Well not all Europe does the dubbing thing. In Finland only the disney animations or other "kids movies" are dubbed and even they always have the original audio option in theatres. It is definitely more a German/Spanish thing.

French too, no doubt That said, I have seen the opposite apply - I recall buying an Asterix live-action movie on DVD and the only audio option was an English dub, which was also a piss-poor translation that completely failed carry across any of the humour, making it a thoroughly dismal experience.

[Leterface]

Originally Posted by Tuc0

Well not all Europe does the dubbing thing. In Finland only the disney animations or other "kids movies" are dubbed and even they always have the original audio option in theatres. It is definitely more a German/Spanish thing.

Unfortunately Finland won't even get a 4K release it seems like e.g. Sweden gets but perhaps with inferior audio if the back covers "Dolby Digital" is correct spelled (those cheap-skate Nordic distributors).

But I wonder if the other EU releases (France, Germany, etc) are all getting the original English Dolby Atmos soundtrack?

Lastly I would like to know how much / how sinificant dialogue is there in Last Blood in non English language, as otherwise, as I speak Swedish I would perhaps even be best with a Swedish UHD of the longer international cut? As I would guess the scandinavian versions either have English or scandinavian subs for non English dialogue?

Also have been thinking to get the shorter USA / UK cut as I would love to have both cuts and to compare them - but then again not sure if needed (?) but perhaps for the steelbook if it would come down in price..?