“Rambo: Last Blood”  is the first addition to the Rambo franchise in over a decade. It follows John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) in his senior years after he settles down on a ranch with his quasi granddaughter Gabrielle (Yvette Monreal). Rambo is forced to return to being a brutal killing machine after Gabrielle is kidnapped in Mexico while trying to reconnect with her father.

The movie is a success on many levels, as it successfully capitalizes on nostalgia from a classic movie franchise. It has all the elements of a great action movie with gore, violence and revenge. However, it falls short on one essential element; competently written dialogue.

The dialogue in “Rambo: Last Blood” is so bad that nothing that happens carries any weight. During the most touching scenes, all I could think about was the flat dialogue. Consequently, the rest of the plot seemed hollow. After just 45 minutes I had already forgotten all about 

Rambo’s motivation for revenge.

Additionally, instead of meaningful character development, the audience receives Stallone’s mumbled narration, which is a poor substitute.

The action in “Rambo: Last Blood” is intense in all the best ways possible, lots of great action.

However, excellent action cannot compensate for all the other elements the movie should have. It could have been a success had it not been incompetently written. Rather than feeling 

like a worthy successor to the Rambo franchise, in many ways it feels like a spinoff of a movie inspired by it.