Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

TAKING this film seriously is as futile as a non-descript Asian-citizen taking on John Rambo in this, Sylvester Stallone’s latest 80s revivalist project. But I will anyway. And for the multitudes who will see this and applaud the outrageously enjoyably fascistic violence, of course it’s just a movie. No-one would have expected otherwise. But Rambo 4 (aka simply Rambo) with the curious working subtitle, To Hell and Back might as well be a recruitment poster for the American army.

Reviewed by David Levinson

AS A TRAGIC survey of the tolls of the American Dream (God, sweat, oil ‘n’ all), There Will Be Blood locates its essence in Daniel Plainview – a self-made “oil man,” ripped from the pages of Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel, Oil!. More than a tacky imprint of the rural huckster though, Plainview enters the West askew: As both a family man – seeking out the promises of modern living –, as well as the victim of a more sinister drive – one that clots his ambition with episodes of abject hatred.