Four important themes you may have missed...
...amidst the carnage:
- BITTERNESS/DESPAIR AND DELIVERANCE. The beginning of the film shows Rambo in a state of utter bitterness: He's just existing. He has no friends. He doesn't talk much and, when he does, it's few words laced with expletives. The male leader of the missionaries is completely unable to talk him into helping them. Two Hebrew proverbs state "a gentle answer turns away wrath" and "a gentle tongue can break a bone." The female missionary, Sarah (Julie Benz), knows this and skillfully talks John into helping them. Yet there's more going on here. This woman with a heart of gold is Rambo's "golden connection" out of the rut of bitterness. Despite his gruff exterior, she sees something in him, something in his eyes – a good heart, even greatness, a genuine glimmer, however faint. Is Rambo helping the missionaries or is she the one helping him? John instinctively realizes the rope she's throwing him and takes hold of it. There's nothing sensual about their relationship, despite her attractiveness; it's solely spiritual. She stirs in him the hope and faith he's been longing for.
- VIOLENCE IS NOT ALWAYS NECESSARY. Although this is a very violent film it skillfully shows when pacifism is appropriate. Note the incident on Rambo's riverboat when the lead mercenary continually insults John and tries to provoke him into a fight. Rambo just ignores him, not even saying a word. In other words, he refuses to allow someone to victimize him and draw him into a conflict that has no positive purpose. It takes true strength to do this and Rambo has this strength. Indeed, John treats the guy as if he's a bothersome gnat. What do you do when a gnat bothers you? Do you break out a machine gun or merely ignore it? This is the biblical "turn the cheek" principle.
- TOTAL PACIFISM DOES NOT WORK. The New Testament does not support the notion of absolute pacifism, but rather limited pacifism -- the idea that violence should only be resorted to when justified, like when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor unprovoked. Christ’s ministry team had a treasury box with loads of money and some of his workers carried swords for protection from thieves and murderers. Also, Romans 13 clearly states that the righteous laws of human governments are God-ordained for the purpose of punishing criminals, including the right to execute when appropriate. The vast majority of sane Christians realize this, but there are a few extremists who refuse to be balanced with the Scriptures on this topic and insist that conflict, and especially armed conflict, is never appropriate. The lead male missionary represents such a person, but perhaps he'll learn the error of his ways before the movie's over. The simple fact is: Some people are so degenerate and evil that execution is the only just ultimate reaction (notice I said "ultimate").
- RAMBO’S SPIRITUAL REBIRTH. The first two sequels show Rambo searching for truth and flirting with religion and spirituality. In the second film he gets a Buddhist necklace off the Asian woman he befriends and at the beginning of "Rambo III" he is shown living & working at a Buddhist temple helping the priests; later, he meets and wins the hearts of moderate Islamic villagers and gives his necklace to a Muslim boy who helped him. In this movie the female missionary is key to John's positive transformation; at one point she gently asks him whether or not he has any family back in the USA. He mumbles that he might have a father, he wasn't sure, and didn't seem to care. Shortly later she gives him a cross necklace for helping them (he wouldn't take money). Anyway, the end of the film shows Rambo walking to his family ranch in southern Arizona. Obviously John had a positive spiritual metamorphosis in the story, which inspires him to reconcile with his family and leads to a decade of peace & love before the next film, “Last Blood” (2019).