Italian Stallion South Paw Stallone

The film marks a return to Stallone's famous character (after Rocky Balboa) after a hiatus of Twenty years, with him co-writing the film and directing it, and has been hailed as his 'comeback' movie. First off, the film is violent. Very violent. There is lots of claret on the screen, with people being blown up, heads being shot at, nothing is left intact. It shows intense scenes of what might be going on, with small villages being raided for recruits, normally kids from the ages of 12, to people being shot in the head, and being stabbed with rifle-mounted knives. It leaves nothing to the imagination. But, through all the violence, is a really good, well written story that, even though it has been told before in a different form, is so realistic, that it is a radical departure from the last Rambo movie (where he had a limitless supply of ammo, and loads of one-liners. A sure-sign of an Eighties movie if ever I saw one!). It also shows, that Stallone is a very capable director, that can deliver a finely crafted movie and doesn't cut any corners. There is not one scene I can see that the actors delivers an off performance, and there's no let-up in the intensity of any scene. The music is also great, giving the film an atmosphere that is sometimes lacking in modern-day movies (only some, mind). Even Coming Home from First Blood is used at the start, which is a nice nod to the original.