From Garth Jennings, director of 2005’s underrated ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ comes this auspicious follow-up, a low-budget dramedy that takes a look at a youngsters’ amateur filmmaking effort following the indelible impression of ‘Rambo’.
A peculiar premise to be sure as ‘First Blood’ is a fine film, but as inspiration for some fatherless moppets? No matter, that’s the idea behind this enjoyable, lightweight pic that deserves points for just getting made. It does get unnecessarily heavy towards the climax but Jennings who wrote as well as directed strikes a pleasing tone throughout.
The year is 1983 and Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner) is an innocent, introverted and scrawny kid whose Plymouth Brethren (aka devoutly religious) upbringing shelters him from the bulk of pop culture including film, TV and music.
He has a run-in at school with the requisite bully Lee Carter (Will Poulter), a blonde trouble-maker who steals and lies with the best of them, and who convinces Will to assist him with making a film to enter into a BBC television short film contest.
Slowly becoming best friends, Will discovers a whole new life of freedom, and Lee discovers that not everybody is out to get him. Making a film called ‘Son of Rambow’, a sequel of sorts to ‘First Blood’ a film both kids become enraptured with (possibly because both fatherless kids see Rambo as some sort of dad surrogate), the new best buds get into a tiff over Will employing the services of a French foreign exchange student so cool, he sports his own posse.
That’s mostly the bulk of it with melodramatic subplots that include Will’s mother trying to exorcise his pop culture demons and Lee desperately trying to seek the approval of his indifferent, therefore abusive, older brother. It’s a film that’s aimed at younger audiences despite a somewhat unfair PG-13 rating and on that level, it succeeds.
Despite an early eighties setting and a film not recognizable to tweens (at least I hope not…), there’s plenty of life lessons here that transcend time and nationality that promote individuality and seeking out your own answers. Some of the drama is a bit overwrought but I felt myself moved towards the end and ultimately that’s all that matters.
The film is presented in a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer with special features that include an audio commentary from Garth Jennings, producer Nick Goldsmith, and stars Bill Milner and Will Poulter. A fun listen and the rare track that includes insights from the perspective of child actors, this is actually a recommended track.
A half-hour featurette ‘Making of Son of Rambow’ includes the usual behind-the-scenes footage and interviews. Next is ‘Aron’ the director’s original short film that inspired ‘Son of Rambow’ as well as a short amateur film that won a website contest.
Maybe not as successful as the best of its comedic-directed genre that includes ‘A Christmas Story’ and ‘The Sandlot’ or its dramatic-directed genre including ‘Stand by Me’ or Shane Meadows’ great ‘This is England’, it provides a well-made diversion for fans of those type of films.
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