Millions of movie-goers around the world turned out to see RAMBO: LAST BLOOD over its opening weekend, and while comparing notes online they have come to the realization that audiences in the US, Canada, and the UK have gotten less movie than viewers have received in other countries.
As Chris Bumbray mentioned in our 7/10 review of the movie, a prologue involving Rambo attempting to rescue some hikers during a flash flood was "cut at the last minute"… but it was cut for the theatrical release in the US, Canada, and the UK. Other countries still have this sequence at the head of the film. While my local listings in the US say RAMBO: LAST BLOOD has an 89 minute running time, listings in countries where the flood sequence is still intact tend to give a running time of 101 minutes.
From what I've heard of the flood sequence, I'm finding it hard to understand why it would have been cut in some territories. Not only does it get the movie started off with some extra thrills, but it's also beneficial to the character of Rambo. Dialogue suggests that he regularly volunteers to try to help people like this, even though it has a heavy mental and emotional impact on him when he's not able to save everyone. This stirs up memories of his time in the Vietnam War. When he returns to his ranch from the rescue mission, there's an extra scene with his housekeeper Maria that establishes her character and also contains references to Rambo's late father. This all seems to me to be stuff that should have been part of the theatrical cut everywhere.
Star Sylvester Stallone wrote the LAST BLOOD screenplay with Absentia TV series co-creator Matt Cirulnick, and Dan Gordon (PASSENGER 57, SURF NINJAS, WYATT EARP, THE HURRICANE) receives a story credit. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Israeli army veteran Gordon discussed the fact that he has fought in six wars in his life, so he was able to project his own experiences onto Rambo while helping craft the story. The flash flood sequence was also inspired by Gordon's life experiences, but not by his time in combat. The sad inspiration for that sequence was the death of Gordon's son in a 1998 traffic accident.
That scene was really about my son. It’s not losing someone you love is in the past and a reliving of something that happened 20 years ago. It’s that you keep on trying to save that person as if you can undo the past by saving others, and of course you always fail."
Directed by Adrian Grunberg, LAST BLOOD finds
Rambo, who has been working on a ranch, crossing the U.S./Mexico border to help find the kidnapped daughter of one of his close friends. He quickly finds himself up against the full might of one of Mexico’s most violent cartels.
Stallone is joined in the cast by Adriana Barraza as Maria; Yvette Monreal as Maria's granddaughter Gabrielle; Sergio Peris-Mencheta as villainous cartel leader Hugo Martinez; Óscar Jaenada as Victor Martinez; and Paz Vega as Carmen Delgado, "a reporter who covers the Mexican drug trade and teams up with Rambo after her younger half-sister is kidnapped".
At least those of us who got a shorter version of the movie have an "extended cut" to look forward to on home video, even if the extended cut is the regular cut for most of the world.