The best film in the Rambo franchise since First Blood, the curiously titled Rambo: Last Blood injects the heart back into the legendary action franchise, before ripping it out with an awe-inspiring avalanche of violence that re-establishes Sylvester Stallone as an action hero without equal.

Mention of the Rambo films would usually conjure up images of a muscle-bound Sylvester Stallone laying waste to a battalion of enemy soldiers. Yet the true heart of the Rambo franchise is found in the 1982 classic First Blood, where an emotionally and physically spent John J. Rambo breaks down in front of his mentor and commander Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna). Sobbing and deflated, he stands a warrior without a war and a man rejected by his country. He cares. Underneath the tough exterior and beyond his training as a war machine, is a man of duty and loyalty, and yes, even love. But so too does a beast rage, with the ability to kill with extreme prejudice. Rambo: Last Blood brings both extremes of this character together, and what a bloody great sight it is to behold.

The film begins with Rambo (Stallone) at peace while working his late fathers ranch in Bowie, Arizona. Living underground in man-made tunnels and popping pills to keep that beast in check, Rambo has taken on the responsibility of guardian to teenage girl Gabrielle (Yvette Monreal). When she decides to track down her biological father in the slums of Mexico, Gabrielle falls prey to a cartel whose speciality is abducting young girls and forcing them into the sex trade.

To say that “Uncle John” is pissed would be an understatement. What made First Blood such a great film were the emotional stakes at play. Rambo was a man pushed to breaking point and responded in kind. In …Last Blood that breaking point is reached again, but this time it is much rawer and more intimate. Director Adrian Grunberg (Get the Gringo), along with screenwriters Matthew Cirulnick (Paid in Full) and Stallone himself, do a great job establishing the relationship between Rambo and Gabrielle. Love blends with heartbreak, resulting in anger both righteous and violent.

If on screen kills are an art, that what …Last Blood delivers is a masterpiece. A deluge of bloody ferocious brutality, delivered with trademark Sly snarl and thankfully shaky-cam free, the violence of …Last Blood more than matches the recent output from other one-man army movies. Suitably excessive in execution and wince inducing in its means, it’s the kind of action filmmaking that hardcore fans would especially appreciate.

Much like the Creed films, Rambo: Last Blood successfully replicates the heart and spirit of how its franchise operates at the best level. John J. Rambo is back, and the cinematic killing floor is his domain.