Stallone's AI-Generated Rambo Prequel Would Have Changed The Character's History

At the end of 2019's "Rambo: Last Blood," John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) finally met his end. In that film, Rambo had been peacefully living on an Arizona farm with his ambiguously romantic friend Maria (Adriana Barraza) and her granddaughter Gabriela (Yvette Monreal). The plot of the movie involves Gabriela being kidnapped by a wicked Mexican drug cartel, and Rambo's aggressive, violent efforts to rescue her. The film climaxes with Rambo luring cartel members into a series of tunnels he has dug underneath his farm, and killing them one by one. The efforts, however, paired with some wounds, wear him out and kill him. That was it for Rambo, and for Stallone. 

Even if Rambo had lived, though, the series would be over. The 79-year-old Stallone — by dint of his advanced age — would likely be done acting in the series. Stallone, however, has figured a new way he could potentially make another "Rambo" film, and a prequel at that. According to a recent interview with ScreenRant, Stallone says that he could use A.I.-based VFX tech (sigh) to tell the story of John Rambo as a young man, and how he first came to fight in the Vietnam War. From the sound of it, Stallone wanted to re-capture the tragic elements of the character, not seen since the "First Blood" in 1982.

"I wanted to do the first A.I. ... not retroactive ... but I wanted to rewrite history of the earlier Rambo because I wanted Rambo to be the nicest guy in the school, the valedictorian, the prom king, and all that stuff. And when he goes to Vietnam, he thinks it's going to be a three-week hit-and-run, and you see him being tortured and captured, his friends murdered, one thing after another, and [his] life in Saigon. And that's how I became the way I became, but originally I was bon vivant–that kind of thing."

This sounds like a fun idea. 

To remind readers, John Rambo occupies a strange place in popular culture. In Ted Kotcheff's "First Blood," he was definitely a tragic figure, a super-capable soldier who hated and feared his own capacity for government-imbued violence. In George P. Cosmatos' 1985 sequel "Rambo: First Blood Part II," however, he mutated into a symbol of ultra-masculine ultra-American military might. Rambo no longer seemed tragic, but "awesome." He went from being a symbol of the horrors of war, to its primary mascot. Rambo returned for the dunderheaded "Rambo III" in 1988, and then for the ultra-violent "Rambo" in 2008.

From the sound of it, Stallone's "Rambo" project aimed to steer the series away from its accumulated badassery, and back toward its tragedy. If Rambo had a warm, loving life prior to fighting in the war, then his transformation into a bloody, violent soldier would be depicted as a downfall. By the filmmaker's estimation, Rambo would have been a clean-cut, hopeful, upbeat young man, only to become ripped apart by the Vietnam War. 

Stallone said he wanted to use A.I. to achieve this vision, although it's not clear if he wanted to use A.I. to de-age himself digitally, or transform another actor into a young Stallone. 

A nice idea, although A.I. hasn't proven to be a very useful tool when it comes to the arts — it can only thoughtlessly remix the art and research of real humans, after all — but perhaps re-casting the role would have been a fine way to approach the material. Stallone concluded by saying that: 

"I thought we could do this with A.I., but [we] procrastinated too long, and they took it over and ... I hope, you know ... good luck." 

Stallone is alluding to an upcoming prequel called "John Rambo" that he is not involved with. 

So it seems that there were, once upon a time, two competing "Rambo" prequel projects. There was the A.I.-assisted story concocted by Stallone, and there was "John Rambo," an upcoming movie to be directed by Jalmari Helander, the director of 2022's "Sisu." That film has recast John Rambo with actor Noah Centineo, and it, too, will be a prequel. Not much is known about the story of "John Rambo," but it's logical to assume that it will be a story of the young Rambo's days fighting in the Vietnam War. It's unclear if Helander intends to make the film a tragedy or an action picture, although his comments in an interview with Comic Book Resources imply that it may be the latter. He said: 

"I have been the biggest fan of Rambo since the age of 11. It is so surreal to be in a situation where I can actually make my own Rambo movie. The chain of events that got me here makes, in a fantastic way, my whole childhood make sense. I can't wait to bring the greatest action hero back to the big screen, where he belongs."

The fact that he sees Rambo as an "action hero," means that "John Rambo" will not be a tragedy. It's also possible that the series may time-shift the events of the series forward to the present day. If that's the case, Rambo will become the veteran of a different war, perhaps an American soldier who fought in Afghanistan. 

There are some intriguing ideas floating independently through the two recorded "Rambo" prequels, although both seem ill-advised for various small reasons. Of course, this is all speculation. Time will tell if the next "Rambo" movie gets made, and if it will be good.