Stallone Explains the Final Scene in ‘Rambo: Last Blood’

If you saw Rambo: Last Blood this weekend, you may want to know what Sylvester Stallone meant by that final scene. If you have not seen the film yet, then you probably still want to avoid spoilers. But Stallone did discuss the final images of his latest Rambo film with Showbiz Cheat Sheet after the Los Angeles press conference for the film on Friday, September 13.

Rambo: Last Blood ends with Rambo sitting on the porch of his farmhouse. He’s wounded but the film leaves it ambiguous whether his wounds are fatal. Unless you stay through the credits and the recap of scenes from the previous films. Then you see Rambo stand up, get on his horse and ride off. 

The final scene may be in Rambo’s head

Sylvester Stallone revealed that he intended the last shot to be ambiguous. It doesn’t necessarily mean Rambo lived, and it doesn’t even necessarily mean it really happened. 

“I just thought it would be fun to [imply] like did he get away?” Stallone said. “I just did that literally as [in his] mind like because I didn’t know how that was going to be received, really.”

He still may die after ‘Last Blood’ fades to black

This could still be the final Rambo movie. It’s still ambiguous whether he survived his encounter with the human traffickers who kidnapped his niece (Yvette Monreal). He definitely served up justice to them, but it is up to the audience to decide what happens next. If they believe he died, at least he died on his own terms. 

“Yeah, would Rambo just die in the chair” Stallone asked. “It’s just my nature to keep going, just die in the woods alone rather than sitting [on the porch].”

If Rambo died, no one will ever find the body

Rambo survived four wars, including the Vietnam War, his war with the police force in First Blood, his return to Vietnam in First Blood Part II, his war against the Russian invaders of Afghanistan in Rambo III and his war against the Burmese militia in 2008’s Rambo. If he didn’t survive his war in Last Blood, he’s still going to disappear before he dies.

“I know if it was me I’d go, ‘Get out of there, man. Don’t let ‘em find you,’” Stallone said. “They’re not going to find me here.”

Even if he survived ‘Last Blood,’ what’s left of him?

Even if Rambo is victorious, he may be already too far gone. He defeated Hugo Martinez (Sergio Peris-Mancheta) by literally ripping his heart out. There’s no coming back from that kind of savagery.

“I think when there’s nothing left, when you’ve ripped out a man’s heart, my God, that’s not even a man anymore,” Stallone said. 

But once Hugo took Gabrielle (Monreal) away, Rambo had no humanity left to protect.

“When that is taken away, jeopardized, as an actor, phew, the rage I felt, I try to incorporate what other people would feel,” Stallone said. “Sometimes I don’t know where it comes from, but it’s severe.”