Veteran star Sylvester Stallone and his biceps are back on the big screen for the fourth Rambo film, which sees the 61-year-old don khakis to play the action hero one last time.
  
He may be a good deal older and craggier than when he first starred as Vietnam veteran John Rambo, but this did not deter Stallone from plunging himself deep into the treacherous jungles of south-east Asia, where the film is set.

The movie, which was released in the US in January, has had mixed reviews, with Variety singling out its "unusually high body count" for criticism.

In the film, Rambo has become a pacifist recluse in Thailand who reluctantly helps guide a group of Christian missionaries to Burma by river.

When he hears of their capture by the Burmese army in the thick of a civil war, he steps in to help.

According to the film's publicity, "what follows is a descent into hell on earth".

Stallone is unrepentant about the film being described as "horrific and bloody", saying: "That's what war is. It's not gratuitous violence.

But the star, who also directed and wrote the film, said its exploits did not compare with what the people of Burma have to endure.

They are in the midst of a 60-year conflict between the ruling military and the Karen tribespeople, who want independence.

Stallone claims to have done "tons and tons" of research for the film. He worked with the Free Burma Rangers, uncovering what he calls "an unbelievable amount of material on the atrocities".

Denied permission to film in Burma, the movie was made in neighbouring Thailand - but the shoot was still dogged with trouble.

The crew also suffered physical hardships - many of them were "on saline drips during filming", he says, adding "everyone was getting bitten, everyone was getting sewn up".

Stallone himself ended up in hospital with a blue arm from a "giant haematoma" after landing on a cactus during one of his own stunts.

He decided to revive Rambo because "I thought that might be an interesting revisit for an entire generation. It's savage, and whoever's the bigger savage wins."

The actor, who lost 20kg for the role, is hoping to reap the success of the earlier Rambo films and, presumably, to avoid any more Razzie awards, having won eight over the years.

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