Son of Rambow ( 2007)

I have never seen a Rambo movie. Except for Spy Kids 3 or 4, I have not seen a single Sylvester Stallone movie. I don't get any references to Rocky or Rambo. When I though Stallone was yelling "Adrian!" on top of the stairs, I thought he was referring to his girlfriend.

I remember seeing trailers for this movie. It seemed interesting in that the references to Rambo were warped by a child's imagination. If there's a type of movie I love to watch, it's anything warped.

When I finally sat down to watch this movie, I didn't really have any high expectations. I was already mildly distracted on a costume project I was working on when the opening credits rolled through. So I missed a bit of the first segment.

When I did take a break from my work and actually paid attention to the movie, I was hooked.

It's a story about children handling issues that are bigger than them. Issues of friendship, betrayal, adults, and reality. They deal with their issues in the only way they know how. In the way that I am guilty of still employing: over active imaginations.

The movie centers around two young school boys. A young Brethren boy (which I believed is like the Amish,I'm not too sure) named Will Proudfoot and a bully with a hidden soft hard named Joshua. This unlikely pairing of friends become close as they embark on a film project to submit to a young filmmakers competition. Will is influenced strongly by Rambo and they make their film. As they film, they meet obstacles through an arriving french school of uppity snots, the oppressing order of the Brethren, an indifferent and dominant older sibling, and a near drowning experience.

This movie was funny and sweet. The boys are so creative and intent on making their movie. The adult somewhere in me cringes every time they pull a dangerous stunt. The kid in me cries out in excitement.

I loved the scene where Will is imagining the rescuing of Rambo. It's this super cool fast cutting sequence with a pretty intimidating scarecrow.

The rise, fall, and rise of the friendship is just too sweet for words. You can see that the boys are close and have a bond between them. Even in the movie extras, the directors noted that the boys actually did become great friends. How cool is that?

If I had the technology of today when I was young, I would make a gazillion nonsense movies. I would probably bug my mother by following her around the house. I would piss off the cat as I followed him after annoying my mom.

Most likely I would film the epic staged destruction of "town" by my brothers army of little green men. We had two buckets full of McDonald giveaway toys of plastic barbie dolls with stringy hair and other figurines. I would make several circles lined with yarn spools and top them off with a plastic lid. Underneath were all the toys. I remember having a shop, a school, and I believe even a farm. As I was carefully lining those up, my brother would quietly stuff his army men in his toy plane. At a quiet signal, the destruction and mayhem would begin! He would divebomb the plane into the houses. Toy and yarn would scatter every which way. I can easily imagine filming that as we both would make exploding sounds.

What is it about destruction and war that makes it a favorite children's game?
To add in another bit of trivia, the directors for the movie also directed "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy".

So even with my utter lack of knowledge of Rambo, this movie was really great. Sweet, funny, and entertaining all the way through.