Has ‘Rambo 5′ Nuked The Shark By Adding A Sci-Fi Plot?

Posted by Rob Hunter (rob@filmschoolrejects.com) on September 5, 2009

rambo-scifi

I know there are naysayers among you who think the headline above is redundant, who think Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo series has been a joke since the first sequel. We can all agree that First Blood is a damn fine film and that the two sequels that followed are rubbish, but last year’s Rambo? That movie kicked all kinds of ass, and it did so with bloody style and glee. It also made money which is why a fifth film in the franchise was predictably greenlit as well. Variety recently ran a story claiming that the film’s plot centered around a kidnapping on the US/Mexican border and John Rambo’s mission to save the girl while killing truck-loads of drug lords and Mexicans. But now a new plot has surfaced, and it comes straight from the horse’s mouth… see Stallone’s Rocky nickname was “The Italian Stallion”… ah screw it, by way of Harry Knowles and AICN.

Harry apparently had a spontaneous (?) conversation with Stallone and the man revealed the true plot to Rambo 5: The Savage Hunt as follows:

It seems that somewhere in [the Pacific Northwest] there is a U.S. Military installation that is doing experiments on elite soldiers as part of some sort of program where they’re attempting to tap into that SAVAGERY that we have deeply embedded into us. The plan is create brilliantly instinctual killer soldiers that have no qualms about taking life. Well as happens with Government Experiments to create the perfect killer – it goes exceptionally well… and then exceptionally badly. And Rambo is brought in with a Black Ops squad to hunt, capture or kill this worse than Rambo killer.”

And I died a little inside. Did you catch the supposed subtitle? The Savage Hunt? This sounds like a mix of Predator and Universal Soldier to me, and if both of those series didn’t already have new installments in production (or soon will have anyway) I might just suspect an intentionally secretive crossover was in the works… and I’d forgive the silliness if it meant Stallone would be hunting Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. AICN also has a supposed teaser poster mock-up that’s not really worth checking out, but it’s right here if you absolutely have to see it.

The plot has it’s pros, or pro anyway, in that it’d a nice change of pace to see Rambo as the hunter instead of the hunted or defender. And I’ll admit that I’m intrigued by the thought of an existing franchise shifting gears fairly radically like this. I can’t even think of any existing comparisons, but it’d be like John McClane or Martin Riggs suddenly facing off against aliens. Or a non-white guy as a main villain. (Seriously, think about it. And John Amos and Jet Li weren’t the main villains.)

What do you think? And what are the odds it’s even true?

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mychaleg

i'm not even gonna front; i'm there when this comes out. i do fear the resemblance to Predator's scenario (military squad getting ripped up by the mega baddy). this thing is so far off though, way too early to judge.

!_!

where is the mexico plot?

KevinCarr

Considering Stallone's use of HGH to get his muscular bulk and that disturbing puffy look, this plot isn't as scifi as it initially seems.

Regi_S

Should have went all out with the sci-fi plot like this:
Since not being able to hide from his issues and the problems of the world in Thailand John Rambo moves to the deserts of Mexico. Locals in the area where he is living start getting abducted and probed by aliens. One night while out in the desert reliving his rescue of Colonel Trautman in Afghanistan John gets abducted by the aliens. Coming out of sedation while being probed John clenches up his butt cheeks and destroys the probe. Mustering the strength to break free from the probing table John starts his retaliation to the violation of his rectum. Starting with killing the aliens overseeing the probing with the piece of the probe he snapped off with his butt cheeks John begins to work his way through the ship. Averaging 5.67 kills per minute by creating traps and using whatever weaponry he finds on the ship he decimates the crew of the alien ship working his way to it's command center. When reaching the command center he proceeds to kill the rest of the crew which causes the ship to crash into the desert. As John Rambo makes his way out the crashed ship it explodes when he gets a safe distance away. Credits roll.

mymhm

LOL.
NUKED the shark. Gonna have to remember that.
I just think it interesting we're seeing a subtle shift in story telling and how we're relating to media. I read the plot, and didn't think of other movie parallels, I immediately thought "Oh that sounds a little like Far Cry".
More and more, I think we're starting to see video game influence on the way movies are produced. It might be cheesy for a franchise film like Rambo, but it was much appreciated in District 9.

RobertFure

It's not really that Sci-fi. I don't have a problem with it. That's based in reality, using drugs to increase human performance.

Aleric

I call BS on this until I see something more substancial.

tjhawk

This has to be a joke.

hwdincaliforniagoldcountry

Pacific Northwest???? Rambo is hunting a Bigfoot hybrid!!!

Has ‘Rambo 5′ Nuked The Shark By Adding A Sci-Fi Plot?

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