Rambo: Last Blood

[Jokerz79]

There's a deleted ending from the first film where Rambo makes Trautman shoot him (Similar to the novel although it looks like Rambo forces the trigger, leaving Trautman a bit shocked). Apparently it tested poorly so they went for the Rambo surrenders ending instead.


A small snippet of it does appear in the fourth film during Rambo's dream sequence.

Stallone was against the original ending after filming it he didn't want to send the message that suicide was an option for soldiers suffering from PTSD.

[Nate Grey]

Here's the difference. Rocky was an underdog that you wanted to see succeed and have the American dream. Rambo was a flawed character who you knew couldn't and didn't really earn a happy ending. He was either going to be recluse or go out in a blaze of glory.

This got me thinking. What if an "ending" for Rambo is something that brings the franchise full circle? Something similar to the events of part 1 happens, and he basically plays the Troutman role?

[daBronzeBomma]

This got me thinking. What if an "ending" for Rambo is something that brings the franchise full circle? Something similar to the events of part 1 happens, and he basically plays the Troutman role?

That's what happened in the Rockyverse: Balboa took on his old trainer Mickey's role as a mentor to Adonis Creed.

The Ramboverse is not built that way at all. He ain't passing that torch to anyone.

By the way, can someone answer with spoiler tags: spoilers:

Does John Rambo die at the end of LAST BLOOD?

end of spoilers

[Nate Grey]

That's what happened in the Rockyverse: Balboa took on his old trainer Mickey's role as a mentor to Adonis Creed.

The Ramboverse is not built that way at all. He ain't passing that torch to anyone.

That's not what I meant, though mentioning Rocky what I had in mind would be more akin to Rocky 5.

Imagine how First Blood would have turned out if Rambo didn't know Troutman from way back? He wouldn't have been talked down and probably would have eventually killed someone (Galt doesn't count). In the book that's exactly the case, Troutman wasn't a friend and mentor to Rambo and was in fact brought in to kill Rambo. When I say make Rambo a sort of Troutman to another drifter that scenario is what I mean. Probably should have been clearer. *shrugs* Call it Rambo: Last Blood Part 2 to mirror Rambo: First Blood Part 2, voila.

By the way, can someone answer with spoiler tags: spoilers:

Does John Rambo die at the end of LAST BLOOD?

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Unclear. He's wounded, sits in the rocking chair on the porch like he's waiting to die...then decides to ride a horse into the wilderness. It can go either way.

end of spoilers

[Joker]

Stallone was against the original ending after filming it he didn't want to send the message that suicide was an option for soldiers suffering from PTSD.

Which is fair, but the point was more about the lack of rehabilitation for soldiers, and the damage being done to them by war.

And that's written by a card carrying Republican. The book is quite good. The ending works, but I can get why Stallone didn't want it in the movie.

[ChrisIII]

This got me thinking. What if an "ending" for Rambo is something that brings the franchise full circle? Something similar to the events of part 1 happens, and he basically plays the Troutman role?

I'm pretty sure Troutman was still employed with the military and definitely seemed far more mentally stable than Rambo ever was. So I couldn't really see that happening.

[daBronzeBomma]

True or false:

The Rambo franchise will definitively end with Last Blood.

[David Walton]

If they wanted to bring Rambo's story full circle, he'd need an antagonist who wasn't an irredeemable villain. That was the book's original intent, to portray both Rambo and the small-town sheriff as deeply flawed individuals whose failure to listen to the other leads to tragedy for them both.

The truly bold choice would be a Rambo film without him killing. He just struggles with his past and comes to terms with it through the help of others. Learns that there's a time to heal. But I know that's not likely!

[ChrisIII]

Technically, that's kind of been done with First Blood; Galt was more of an accident and although it's implied he killed the dogs it's never really confirmed....and Trautman does counsel him at the end.

[David Walton]

Technically, that's kind of been done with First Blood; Galt was more of an accident and although it's implied he killed the dogs it's never really confirmed....and Trautman does counsel him at the end.

If that's the case, a relatively bloodless Rambo film would bring things full circle. Because as it is, the sequels just leaned into the unstoppable killing machine angle and never looked back, completely passing over the original message.

Maybe that's the kind of thing Stallone would be interested in, given that he took Rocky back to his working class roots and mostly recaptured the spirit of the original for a new era.

But I'm not the target audience, so anything I say can be taken with a grain of salt. I just have no interest in seeing scores of people meet the most violent end possible these days.