Movie Review: Son Of Rambow

8/10

It's a rare beast this.

A film about children that is absolutely not just for kids, it tells a, let's face it, fantastical tale of two very different boys meeting and bonding over a mutual love of First Blood.

You know, most of Sly Stallone's movies are atrocious, as the slurring gasbag woodenly traipses through nonsense scenarios, but there is no question at all in my mind that First Blood is a mighty fine picture, depicting not only alienation and post traumatic stress but also the dangers of having your perfect killing machine turned on you for a change. That the legacy is tarred forever by the lame sequels says more about the 80s movie business than it does about John Rambo.

This film is also about more than it seems on the face of it. Will is a lad seeking identity - he has no male role models since his dad is very obviously dead, and the only male figure he comes into any real contact with is a total creep. Yes... religion plays a large part in this alienation from the outside world - his family are whatI am told is called "Exclusive Brethren" whose beliefs prevent Will from watching TV, spending much time with outsiders, acting like a child, breathing in the wrong manner etc etc.

Lee Carter also has no parental guidance, but his role model is his ghastly older brother and he will do anything for him, nicking stuff for a birthday present or pirating films like First Blood and the like. In fact very few of the characters in the film are happy - even fewer are balanced sane individuals.

Lee Carter is one of those kids that you believed existed when you were at school - the ones who had the guts to do whatever they wanted and not give a toss what the outcome was. He's a fictional character though (he'd have been expelled years before in real life) so the fact he reminds me of those dreams that never were real - of some legend of the playground who threw mud in your headmaster's face, before setting fire to the school nurse's underwear, you know the sort of thing - is excusable.

Will is persuaded under some dodgy pretext that he has to help Lee win Screentest (an 80s amateur filmmakers competition) and make his sequel to First Blood, eventually called Son Of Rambow due to them not knowing the spelling of Rambo's name (the first film is called First Blood, folks!).

Unlike some, I doubt this name change is entirely down to legal reasons , since a good minute of footage from the original film crops up on several occasions. The lads even cut it into their own picture.

And... er... that's the whole plot. Very little of earth shattering proportions goes on, except the obvious tensions arising from the religious cult's desire to keep Will on the straight and narrow path and his mother's suitor turning out to be even more of a jerk.

That's not really the point of the movie, and it conjured up for me lovely memories of a childhood I may be imagining, but that's just it - it was all about imagination and no bills or rent payments got in the way of these kids creativity as they come up with an outlandish story and just blooming run with it.

It's brought to life even more by the liberal use of fantasy sequences and Will's own drawings coming alive at points. It really captured the joy of being a young guy learning exciting new things and loving it.

As for the acting, well it's very good, the two children will get all the plaudits and fair play to them they deserve it, especially Will Poulter, who plays Lee Carter looking almost exactly like the young River Phoenix did - he may well be a similar talent. Hoorays also to Jessica (still) Stevenson (now Hynes) who is always "skills".

I'm not saying it is perfect - the (funny) French exchange student's entourage were more "Carry On" than "Hammer & Tongs" and Lee's older brother is so obnoxious as to distract from the tone of the piece, but for the most part it was simply good, clean, fun.

Hoorah!

A