Homefront is a 2013 adaptation of a novel, however earlier than turning into a Jason Statham automobile it virtually shaped the idea of a fourth Rambo movie.
Right here’s how Jason Statham’s 2013 action thriller Homefront was as soon as a script for Rambo 4. Rambo III from 1988 adopted on from the big success of the second movie and was, briefly, the costliest movie ever made. Sadly, an undercooked screenplay and forgettable action noticed the third entry obtain a lukewarm reception, and for a few years, it appeared the franchise was performed. It took over 20 years earlier than the character returned for the starkly titled Rambo, the place he helped rescue Christian missionaries in Burma.
Rambo was a shock hit, but it surely wasn’t the primary idea Sylvester Stallone thought of for the sequel. Varied ideas thrown round for the sequel embrace a script the place Rambo and his beforehand unmentioned sheriff brother work collectively to take down a gang of convicts throughout a hurricane in a small city, whereas Rambo: Borderline would later kind the idea for the fifth movie in 2019.
Borderline noticed Rambo head to Mexico to rescue a good friend’s kidnapped daughter whereas operating into an previous enemy from his previous.One other idea that was strongly thought of was Homefront, an adaptation of the Chuck Logan novel of the identical title. This screenplay was developed across the mid-2000s and would have picked up with Rambo as a father to a younger lady, and reveal he had turn into a DEA agent. He and his daughter would have moved to a small Louisiana city the place he quickly makes enemies of some native meth sellers. As soon as they uncover his previous, he and his daughter would turn into targets.
In fact, anybody who noticed the 2013 Jason Statham Homefront movie will know the way the story performs out.Whereas Homefront was a strong script, the difficulty with the Rambo 4 model is that it simply didn’t match the character. It will have been too massive a leap to see the nomadic Rambo of previous movies now being a retired DEA agent – particularly given the occasions of the unique movie – with a younger daughter. It felt just like the Rambo character was being compelled right into a story the place he didn’t belong, and given the occasions of the second and third movies, the risk from small-time meth sellers additionally felt a little bit small.
Stallone himself apparently felt the character wouldn’t have returned to America but, which is why he ultimately deserted the Homefront draft of Rambo 4. This screenplay acquired good notices within the trade, nonetheless, and after working with Jason Statham on The Expendables movies, he retooled his script for the action star.
It doesn’t sound like a lot modified from the Rambo draft to Homefront, and it could have been so simple as renaming the character. The eventual Homefront movie was an honest success with an excellent supporting forged – Frank Grillo, Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth, and many others – buts it’s not certainly one of Statham’s finest efforts both.
