Sylvester Stallone calls 2008's Rambo 'the best action film I've ever done'

Sylvester Stallone's 2008 Rambo sequel, the fourth in the franchise, was a critical dud, but the action star still believes it to be the "best" and "most truthful" action film of his career.

Set in Burma, also known as Myanmar, the film is set against the country's long-raging civil war. This piece of the film's narrative felt so controversial, Stallone didn't think it would even make its way to theaters.

"One film I'm truly proud of — it's the best action film I've ever done because it's the most truthful — is Rambo IV, dealing with Burma, where they've had a civil war for 67 years," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "But I got excoriated because the movie's so violent. And it is violent. It's horrifying. It's children being burnt alive. That's what makes Civil War worse than anything. It's your neighbor, all of a sudden, killing you. I was really happy with that film and I never thought it would ever reach the theater. I thought, 'They're never going to show this.'"

EW was kinder than many critics at the time, giving it a B- despite it being "up to its boot tops in numbing violence." (We also called it "the best movie 1986 never gave us.")

Everett Collection

The star recounted how he and the filmmakers approached a particularly gruesome scene, in which Stallone aimed to show the true horrors of wartime violence.

"On Rambo IV, I wanted to show what a .50-caliber could do to a human being. We took a dummy and filled it with 200 pounds of beef," he recalled. "I thought, 'When I fire, it will knock the dummy over.' There were no bullets in the gun. It was just the force of the compression in the shell. But it turned the dummy into mist. It blew it apart. Then I turned the .50-caliber to a row of bamboo trees and it literally cut them in half. This is without bullets!"

The Oscar winner also touched on the way political viewpoints explored in the franchise have been misinterpreted since the first installment, Rambo: First Blood, was released in 1982.

"[E]veryone assumed Rambo is a conservative," he said. "President Reagan posted a picture going, 'Rambo's a Republican.' I went, 'Uh-oh.' Rambo is totally neutral."

Reagan's fascination with the character is well-documented. In 1985, he was caught on a hot mic joking about handling hostage negotiations like the character. Since then, the concept of "Rambo politics" has come to articulate an aggressive and hyper-masculine brand of politics.

But the 76-year-old insists the character, a Vietnam veteran who's fought off American bureaucrats as much as he has Soviets and warlords, is actually critical of America. Furthermore, he himself rests in the middle of the aisle.

"He doesn't even live in this country. He feels scorned by it. And my politics are: 'May the best man win.' I voted on both [sides], but I'm definitely in the middle," Stallone insists. "People assume I'm the same as my character and I do talk to everybody – I think it's crazy not to. Actually, I avoid some people because it sends out the wrong [message]. You're asking yourself, 'Do I really need this controversy?'"

Stallone will soon be seen in the mob drama The Tulsa King, which premieres on Paramount+ on November 13.

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