This article is a detailed summary on all of John Rambo's actions during Rambo.
Life in Thailand[]
Rambo in the rain, trying to cleanse his soul.
After having been released from jail (Rambo II) and having fought on his own in Afghanistan (Rambo III), Vietnam War veteran John Rambo has retreated to Thailand, where he lives a relatively peaceful, albeit reclusive, life as a hermit. He apparently moved around nomadically to various countries over the years, but ultimately returned to Thailand, where he was living at the beginning of Rambo III. Rambo, due in no small part to the horrifying ordeals he has seen or done in his lifetime, has become a disillusioned person, now makes a meger living by catching snakes for a local snake farm as a job. He also taxis people down the Salween River on his longboat for extra money. Rambo will also fish with his bow and give the fish he catches to local Buddhist Monks. Since his only friend Colonel Sam Trautman has died, Rambo has realized that he has completely wasted his life by doing what he thought would change the world. As a result, he has become very angry and burned-out over the years and has completely lost his faith in God and humanity.
Changing what is[]
Rambo has a change of heart after listening to Sarah.
Rambo is spotted while feeding his snakes by some missionaries from the Christ Church of Colorado. Their leader, Michael Burnett, asks Rambo to take them downriver, into war-torn Burma because the Tatmadaw have laid too many land mines on their usual route since their last visit. Rambo declines, rudely leaving the group, telling them that they're "not goona change anything". Rambo leaves and begins forging a new propeller for his boat, only to be approached by a young, naive schoolteacher and one of the missionaries, Sarah Miller, who tries to persuade Rambo to take them downriver, but to no avail. Rambo rudely rebuffs her and leaves. Later that night, Rambo is sitting out in the rain in a symbolic attempt to try and cleanse himself when he is visited again by Sarah. Rambo tries to tell her that he can't help her out, but she tells Rambo that what they're doing is necessary. When Rambo tells her to live her live, because she has a good one, Sarah tells him that she is not wasting her life by trying to save the lives of others. Rambo is so encouraged by Sarah's passionate words that he agrees to take them downriver at no charge. Sarah would later be the only missionary to talk to Rambo, and although the unpersonable Rambo doesn't want to talk, he does tell Sarah that it is because of her that they are going into Burma.
River Pirates[]
Rambo tells Sarah she won't change anything.
Later that night, they are attacked by a group of Tatmadaw river pirates, who attempt to rape Sarah. Rambo tries to negotiate, but the pirates will have none of it. Rambo is finally forced to draw his war-era GI Colt M1911A1 .45 pistol and shoot all of the pirates to death. This horrifies the missionaries, and Michael shouts at Rambo, asking why he did it. Rambo grabs Michael by the throat and tells him that they would have raped Sarah at least fifty times, before cutting all the missionaries heads off if they surrendered to them.
Rambo then attempts to turn the boat around, Sarah tells Rambo that they can't turn around, and Rambo reluctantly takes them into Burma. After they dock at Burma, Michael tells Rambo that he intends to report him for the murder of the pirates, which disgusts Rambo, as he did it for them. Sarah thanks Rambo and gives him her cross necklace, before leaving into Burma.
War's in your blood[]
Rambo forges his machete.
Rambo returns back home, on the way dousing the River Pirate boat in boat fuel and lighting it on fire with his wartime Zippo lighter, destroying it. At this point, Rambo is revealed to be suffering from traumatic nightmares reflecting all of the people he has killed over the years. Rambo wakes up, thinking that he hears the voice of his friend, Sam Trautman, but it is only a one Reverand Arthur Marsh, who informs Rambo that the missionaries were to have returned two weeks ago, but have since gone missing, and Marsh requests that Rambo transport a group of mercenaries downriver and lead them to where he dropped them off, so they can rescue the missionaries. Rambo agrees to leave as soon as possible and after hastily forging a large machete, transports the mercenaries down the river to Burma.
Live for nothing or die for something[]
John Rambo slaughters the soldiers with his bow
In the morning, Rambo piloted the boat for the mercenaries to the Burmese border. The group complained and made fun of each other as they traveled day and night eventually, making it to Burma and meeting the guide and his sidekick Tha, one of the Karen rebels who knows the missionaries being captured by the Tatmadaw Army to be tortured or used as sex slaves as punishment for assisting the people. Rambo tries to come along and is seen grabbing a tube, but he backs off after Lewis orders him to stay, despite Schoolboy's protests. Lewis reprimands Schoolboy and tells Rambo that he is the "Boatman, he stays with the boat!". Rambo asserts meekly that he won't slow them down yet Lewis refuses to budge and Myint shows them the way to the ruin village that they have destroyed and committed the massacre on the village. When they come to the Village, the mercenary have not seen such a genocide like this before. The guide warned them that there are land mines around everywhere, as the army have setting traps if the rebels return to try to take the village again. Suddenly, an army convoy arrives with prisoners from a nearby village. The mercenaries hide from them as the soldiers throw armed land mines into a rice paddy and force the prisoners to run across it. Luckily nobody is killed but the army provokes with their weapons for them to return back or they will shoot all of them. Schoolboy attempts to fire on the soldiers but the other mercenaries protest, knowing that the rest of the battalion will come after them if this happens. The soldiers then start kicking the hostages and a soldier attempts to shoot one with his AKM. However, he was hit through the chest by an arrow. It is revealed that their savior is none other than Rambo, who followed the group. Rambo proceeds to massacre the entire group of soldiers, shooting them all with his bow in a matter of seconds with dead accuracy. Rambo then talks to Myint in Thai, asking how long it will be before the soldiers are reported missing, and Myint thanks him for his heroic actions. However, Lewis and Diaz are highly displeased, asserting that the army will hunt them down as a result. Lewis attempts to get the group to leave and abandoned the mission, but changes his mind, when Rambo holds an arrow to his eye, telling the mercenaries that war is what they're best at, and they should go rescue the missionaries in a brief, inspirational speech. The mercenaries finally accepted and headed to the Tatmadaw base camp late at night to rescue the missionaries.
The Rescue Mission[]
During at the night, they successfully pass through the checkpoint of the Tatmadaw military camp without being noticed. Inside there, Rambo tells
the mercenaries to drop off the truck one by one when it's safe so nobody sees them all get out at once. They have only a fifteen minute window to rescue the missionaries, before the sun rises. They all agree to take out the sentries of the camp and meet back at the guard tower. All of the mercenaries rescue the missionaries, and En-Joo winds up killing a Tatmadaw soldier after discovering him. Rambo discovers that Sarah is missing and goes to look for her while the other mercenaries round up the missionaries. He goes through the brush to avoid the soldiers who are leaving from their makeshift brothel where they force Karen women to strip and sees Major Tint fondle a boy and close the door, where he molests him. Rambo wants to do something but is unable to otherwise he would give himself away. Rambo eventually comes to Lieutenant Aye's hut where he keeps Sarah. Rambo sees an intoxicated Aye grab Sarah and drag her inside the hut, intending to rape her. But before he can do so, Rambo suddenly appears behind him and rips his throat right out of his neck with his bare hands, dropping his lifeless corpse to the floor and cutting Sarah's bonds. The two then flee to the tower to meet with the others, who have left. They are caught by two patrol guards who attempt to execute them. Rambo jumps on Sarah to save her but before they are killed by the guards, the guards are both shot to death by a suppressed sniper rifle. Schoolboy, who stayed behind to wait for Rambo and Sarah, escorts them out of the camp.
Claymore bombing[]
Rambo runs from the explosion.
Rambo spots an unexploded British "Grand Slam" bomb from World War II and asks Schoolboy for the Claymore. Schoolboy tosses it to him and Rambo rips off a piece of Sarah Miller's blouse. Rambo runs off to the bomb's location and strings up the Claymore with a trip wire underneath the bomb. He places the piece of Sarah's shirt on it and covers the equipment with leaves before fleeing. The Tatmadaw arrive and the dogs sniff out the piece of Sarah's shirt. The Tatmadaw think that someone is hiding under the leaves and brush them away, pulling the trip wire in the process. This sets off the Claymore, which detonates the six thousand pounds of explosive in the "Grand Slam" bomb in the process, killing at least eight soldiers in a gigantic explosion.
Machine gun massacre[]
The machine gunner fails to notice Rambo sneaking up behind him...
It looks like the mercenaries and the missioanaries are goners, but Rambo sneaks up stealthily behind the gunner of a vehicle-mounted Browning M2 Aircraft heavy machine gun before decapitating him with his mini-machete and commandeers the machine gun with a heat shield and muzzle brake mounted on the back of a vehicle, using it to blow the driver of the Jeep to bloody shreds and then kill almost everyone in Tint's battalion. He continues to fire for nearly six minutes, and it's a wonder that the barrel doesn't melt, as the intense heat from such a high fluctuation of gases from the cartridges would require frequent barrel changing. By attacking the soldiers, the rest of the army is distracted and the mercenaries escape and get weapons. Rambo fires the gun empty, and during this time gets shot in the shoulder. Rambo cries out in pain, but the Karen Rebels arrive and he also realizes that a truck full of arriving soldiers is also approaching. Rambo gets back up, ignores the pain and reloads the machine gun with another belt of .50 BMG links, cocking it and using the machine gun to blast the truck to pieces, slaughtering the soldiers. Rambo then turns the machine gun on a Tatmadaw river patrol boat, which is using both a flamethrower and a machine
Rambo prepares to mulch the battalion from the hill.
gun to fire on the civillians from the shore. Rambo uses the remainder of the bullets to destroy the boat, punching huge holes through the metal walls of the cabin and blowing through the sailor's chests. After Schoolboy helps Rambo by shooting the last machine gunner in the head with a Barrett M82 sniper rifle and Myint uses an AT4 rocket launcher to destroy the ship, Rambo stops firing and sees Major Tint trying to run from his defeat. Rambo jumps off the truck and then kills Tint with his machete by means of disembowelment.
Rambo Goes Home[]
Rambo sees his father's rusted mailbox.
Encouraged by Sarah's words, Rambo decides to go back to his hometown back in America, Bowie, Arizona. Walking along a lonely, rural highway on a hot summer day, he finally comes across his father's rusted mailbox at his horse farm. Rambo looks back at the road, hesitant to proceed, but then keeps walking, having finally moved on with his life and at peace with himself.