William Proudfoot (Bill Milner) and Lee Carter (Will Poulter) become friends and decide to make their own film “Son of Rambow” for the BBC film competition known as “ScreenTest”. Will being from a family whose religion bans them from participating in any of the technological progressions of society (i.e. watching television or listening to recorded music) he must hide his friendship with Lee Carter from his family, while attempting to make this film.

This independent film is directed by Garth Jennings, who I’m not easy to say I’m ready to be jumping at his projects after being so disappointed by his last film [“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” (2005)]. However, after seeing the trailer for this movie and being promised by many critics for a great film that would make all “Rambo” fans smile deep down inside, I decided to give it a shot, especially since I’ve recently been watching all the Rambo films for the first time myself.

This movie was actually first released in January of 2007 at Sundance, but it took so long to be released after being bought by Paramount Vantage since they had to deal with all of the copyright material from “Rambo : First Blood” which is featured in the film. So rejoice!!!

I loved the cartooned sequences in this movie, and I loved that the director used that to show us William’s imaginative nature. This made me feel like I was really being immersed in Will’s dreams about him going off to save Rambo [his father]. It made me smile and is definitely one of the things I watched this movie for. I love those child-like moments when all you can do is smile and know that it’s just innocent filmmaking, which I miss in today’s film industry, especially with the rise in popularity of these gritty realistic films, sometimes [excepting Pixar films].

I also loved how the director showed us how restrictive these religions can be. I personally am not a fan of these kinds of religions that restrict its members from experiencing life. It’s okay when someone has chosen for themselves, but when a child is born into this religion it is hard on him/her to grow up seeing everyone else experiencing all these taboos. However, at the same time the director made it very clear how ignorant William was about the wonder that modern technology, since you see him earlier getting booted from the classroom at school when they are about to watch a documentary, and he shows no envy towards his schoolmates, he actually prefers to be outside by himself where he can entertain himself with his imagination. This all changes when he actually saw Rambo in Lee Carter’s house.

One thing I definitely did not like is the character Didier Revol (Jules Sitruk). He is an exchange student from France who plays the heartthrob at the school. I thought his character was so stupid and annoying. And even though I can look past those things with most annoying characters in films, it becomes even more annoying since the director spent so much time following him without developing his character in any way that would make us feel anything but wastage. I would’ve preferred if we were introduced to him along with all the other exchange students, got a few shots of high school girls fainting, and then we see him want to be in the movie, him in the movie, and then he leaves with all the other exchange students. That would be so much better, but now in the movie in addition to what I have asked for above I have some nice [and they are visually nice] shots of him and his fanboys following him around the school and more teenage girls wanting him. It was a waste of film, could’ve spent more time showing us Lee Carter and Will Proudfoot making their trippy Rambo film, or maybe another cool dream sequence.

Overall, this movie is fun and a great take on the Rambo universe. I suggest it to anyone who likes Rambo films [even though you don’t need to have seen them to understand the stuff in here], and avid film viewers in general.

IMDB says 7.6/10

Rotten Tomatoes says 75%

I say 7.5/10