Also opening: 'Rambo' takes aim at a 'Rocky' finish

By Steve Persall, Times Film Critic
Published January 24, 2008

Sylvester Stallone created a surprisingly fine finale for his Rocky series with Rocky Balboa in 2006. Now we'll see how he wraps up the saga of ultrawarrior John Rambo, 20 years after the character's last screen appearance.

Rambo (R) finds the monosyllabic action icon living peacefully in Thailand, salvaging scrap metal from rusty weapons. A group of Christian missionaries persuades Rambo to take them upriver to Burma, where refugees suffer under a brutal military government. He leaves before the Samaritans are captured, tortured and, in some cases, killed.

That makes it personal, so Rambo rounds up a platoon of mercenaries for a rescue mission.

Rambo raised curiosity months ago when an incredibly violent "red band" preview trailer surfaced on the Internet. Red band trailers are more graphic than traditional green band ones, and they can be shown only in theaters along with R and NC-17 releases. Even then, they're rarely used.

The buzz created by Stallone decapitating bad guys and blasting one into bloody goo at close range is countered by jokes about a 61-year-old action hero on the loose again. We'll see which way it shakes out. Lionsgate didn't make Rambo available for preview in time for Weekend.

Steve Persall, Times film critic

Meet the Spartans (PG-13) comes from the creators of Date Movie and Epic Movie, which spoofed romantic-comedy cliches and blockbuster-movie plots. As long as movies make money, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer will mimic and poke fun at them for their own profit.

This time the chief target is last year's action smash 300. You may have seen preview trailers for Meet the Spartans showing sweaty warriors breaking into a You Got Served-style dance routine and a Britney Spears look-alike kicked into a bottomless pit. There's also a Donald Trump impersonator "firing" Spider-Man by clipping his lifeline on a skyscraper.

Keeping in mind that comedies use their best gags in previews to sell tickets, Meet the Spartans looks like another weekend diversion that'll be forgotten by Monday.

Twentieth Century Fox didn't show Meet the Spartans to critics in time for Weekend review.

S.P.

U2 may not be the world's best rock 'n' roll band, but this weekend it's the largest, debuting in IMAX 3-D theaters nationwide, including Channelside Cinemas in Tampa.

U2:3D (G) culls performances from five stops of the Central and South American legs of 2006's Vertigo tour. Fourteen songs are reportedly included, and not a single minute of talking heads harping on the band's grand importance.

The 5.1 surround sound technology promises a true concert experience, as do three-dimensional tricks making smoke effects seem to envelop viewers and Bono levitate over the crowd during a particularly messianic moment. Party on, dudes.

U2:3D wasn't shown in time for Weekend review.

S.P.

Diane Lane is a sophisticated, captivating actor, as proven in Unfaithful and Under the Tuscan Sun. She's also an actor who would like to have a hit movie on her resume, hence the formulaic Must Love Dogs and now Untraceable (R), which looks like a classier version of the Saw flicks.

Untraceable casts Lane as FBI agent Jennifer Marsh, an expert in Internet crime investigations. Her latest case is a doozy: A madman kidnaps victims and sets up elaborate death scenes that can be viewed live on the Web. Each time a morbidly curious user enters the site, the victim's murder is slowly accomplished.

And you thought spamming scams were horrible.

Untraceable will undoubtedly cater to the gore crowd, with its MPAA rating for "prolonged sequences of strong, gruesome violence." The film was shown too late for Weekend review.

S.P.

[Last modified January 22, 2008, 16:53:39]