Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo racked up a sizable bodycount during the franchise, and here’s arguably his darkest kill from the whole series. Here’s Sylvester Stallone’s darkest kill as Rambo in the movie series. First Blood introduced audiences to the character of John Rambo, which was based on the 1972 novel by David Morrell. The novel had a long road to the big screen, with actors such as Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman being considered. Stallone was the first to suggest the movie adaptation tone down the darkness of the novel, where Rambo had no problem killing people; in the movie, he only kills one character in self-defense. Of course, that would change with Rambo’s various sequels.
Rambo became an icon of ’80s action with Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rambo III, where he dispatched foes with rockets, exploding arrows, knives and even his bare hands.
In fact, Guinness World Records once labeled Rambo III the most violent movie ever made. In all, the character of John Rambo has slain at least 500 people onscreen. Considering he only killed one person – again, by accident – in First Blood, that means in the remaining four entries he slays an average of 125 enemies per movie.
Most of the characters Rambo has dispatched throughout the franchise have been via machine guns or explosions, though on occasion, he’s gotten more creative. In Rambo: Last Blood, he set up a series of gruesome, Home Alone-style traps, which includes ramming a pipe through a henchman’s head. In Rambo III – which almost cast Marlon Brando – he wraps a cord around an enemy soldier’s neck and pulls a pin on one of his grenades before
dropping him down a hole; so not only does the soldier’s neck snap on impact, he then blows up too. Probably the character’s darkest kill comes from 2008’s Rambo, which is fittingly the bleakest entry. During a rescue sequence in the second act, Rambo finds a Burmese soldier attempting to assault Julie Benz’s Sarah; Rambo grabs the man from behind, slowly digs his fingers into the man’s neck and rips out his throat. Rambo tends to dispatch foes quickly, so the unflinching brutality of this Rambo 2008 kill is what makes it linger. Rambo really wants this soldier to feel pain before killing him, especially for his attempted assault.
Rambo generally reserves special demises for those who hurt his loved ones, however. In First Blood Part II – which was almost a Stallone/Travolta buddy comedy – he memorably used an exploding arrow on Lieutenant Tay, the man who killed Rambo’s love interest Agent Co.
Likewise in Last Blood, he pins villain Hugo using arrows and cuts out his heart in revenge for the death of Rambo’s surrogate daughter Gabrielle. Gory as that particular scene is, Rambo’s throat rip from the 2008 sequel is probably the darkest kill in the entire franchise.
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