A 'Rambo' Reboot Is Happening

Get your war paint ready, everyone. A Rambo reboot is in the works, and it might be the first in a long line of follow-ups to the ‘80s classic. Except this time, the movie won’t be starring Sylvester Stallone, the actor who played the title character in all four of the Rambo movies released: First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III, and Rambo. Instead, according to The Hollywood Reporter a younger, new actor would be playing Rambo. But before we all start trying to reconcile a world in which John Rambo is played by anyone other than Stallone, I think we can all take comfort in this one great fact: The production company is reportedly going to treat Rambo as a character like James Bond.

In other words, a character that will be played by different people over the years. So does that mean we can expect multiple Rambo films to be made and released in the coming years? If this report is right, Rambo could be getting one major revival, and really the timing couldn’t be better. For as much as an action movie as Rambo is — all four of them — at the heart of each of the stories is an examination into the lives of veterans during the Vietnam War.

How timely, then, that a new one is about to be made. As the U.S. withdraws troops even more slowly from the Middle East than originally promised, a movie set in today’s world could point out the equally important issues facing the men and women returning from war. I’m just hoping that the writers of this film don’t slip head first into the action movie genre and forget what this movie was originally and truly about.

But with the potential for multiple movies to be made for and about John Rambo, there’s a good chance that there will be plenty of opportunities for the writers, directors, and actors to get it right. And if the character continues to be played by the latest “it boy” in Hollywood, then even better.

Image: Orion Pictures (2)