Warning: Spoilers for Alarum below!After his new movie, Alarum scored a bleak 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it might be time for Sylvester Stallone to return to a dependable franchise. Sadly for fans of Sly Stallone’s action movies, the last ten years have been slim pickings. Stallone hasn’t made a good action movie since Escape Plan, and Sly has been on a record run of duds since 2013. Expendables 4 was a critical and commercial disaster in 2023, while his Prime superhero flick Samaritan was quickly forgotten.

Stallone’s Escape Plan sequels and the STV thriller Backtrace also earned poor critical notices. His most successful movies in recent years have been Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and 3 and The Suicide Squad, but he only made cameos in the former series and was a voiceover in the latter. While the ending of Alarum might set up a potential sequel, the film’s critical panning and lack of buzz make that doubtful for now. He also pulled out of a Cliffhanger sequel, which was later retooled as a reboot.

Sylvester Stallone’s Alarum And Armor Both Scored 0% On Rotten Tomatoes

Stallone’s most recent action movies are among his worst

Stallone is having fun in Alarum, but the surrounding action/spy thriller is a visually drab slog. Any hope it might have redeemed his previous movie was also in vain, as both Alarum and Armor earned 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. While Armor is slightly better than its critical reception indicates, both are a long way from the star’s best efforts. Both movies are content to recycle better action flicks that came before them and are lacking in imagination and budget.

The various shootouts in Alarum are neutered by obvious CGI gunfire and squibs, while the editing is far too choppy. Stallone did what he could to elevate both films, but with the core issue being undercooked, derivative screenplays and tiny budgets, he can only do so much. Alarum’s response caps off a cycle of disappointing action films for the screen icon, with Expendables 4 only nabbing 14%, while Samaritan earned 38%.

Stallone Should Make One Final Rambo Movie To Redeem His Recent Streak Of Bad Action Movies

Rambo 6 could fix Stallone’s action slump

In 2023, Stallone revealed at a Toronto International Film Festival Q&A (via JoBlo.com ) that producers were still interested in making a new Rambo. The star, on the other hand, wasn’t as keen, quipping “What am I fighting? Arthritis?” He felt the character was pretty much “done,” following the events of Rambo: Last Blood. That 2019 outing closes with a badly wounded Rambo riding off on his horse from the battlefield that was once his family farm, leaving his fate ambiguous. It might be the time to give Rambo one last ride, however.

Unfortunately, Last Blood itself was a letdown too, and undid what was already a great finale for the character with the final scene of 2008’s Rambo. The fifth film was critically derided, with even First Blood author David Morrell – the creator of Rambo – voicing his dislike of the sequel. Rambo deserved a better final chapter, but Stallone still has the chance to bring the ex-soldier out of retirement for one final mission.

The types of action movies stars like Stallone and Schwarzenegger rose to fame are becoming rarer on the big screen. With Rambo 6, Stallone would at least get a guaranteed theatrical push, and a larger budget than the chintzy likes of Alarum. Stallone is still more than convincing when it comes to performing action too, and it would be nice to see him in a theatrical release where he’s the undisputed leading man after Expendables 4 and Alarum kept him on the sidelines.

Stallone Should Step Away From “Geezer Teaser” Productions

These low-budget STV movies are seriously lacking in quality control

A Los Angeles Times feature revealed that Armor was filmed in only nine days, with Stallone earning a reported $3.5 million for a single day of filming. That’s a very lucrative day’s work by any measure – and is all the more impressive considering how much screentime the filmmakers squeezed from it. Armor belongs to the “geezer teaser” subgenre, which involves nabbing a recognizable name (e.g. Stallone, Nicolas Cage, etc), paying them a lot of a day or two of work, and then selling it like they are the stars despite minimal screentime.

Stallone has partaken in a few of these projects in the last decade, including Alarum and his Escape Plan sequels. In his defense, he always appears engaged and never phones them in – but the surrounding films never meet him halfway. They’re uniformly mediocre to bad, and if Stallone wants to pull out of his current slump, he should avoid these “geezer teasers” altogether.

Stallone needs to redirect his focus to finding good material, and he still has some promising projects in development. There’s his long-mooted adaptation of the action/horror novel Hunter, where he plays a tracker chasing down a government created monster. There’s also the dystopian thriller Little America, set in a future where America has gone bankrupt and many have fled to “Little America” in China. Seeing Stallone pop up in another STV filler movie won’t do his RT rating any good, so he needs to put attention on promising scripts.

What Rambo 6 Could Be About

A new Rambo could take several directions

Rambo: Last Blood’s ending didn’t directly set up another movie – aside from the vague notion of John becoming a fugitive. Stallone later suggested Rambo could flee to a reservation since the character is of German and Native American heritage. He could hide out there until the smoke clears over the events of Last Blood, but there’s still a question over who or what Rambo would be fighting. If nothing else, it would open up John’s backstory some more.

Rambo 6 could also resurrect Stallone’s controversial attempt to turn Hunter into a sequel. He briefly attempted this with the fifth movie, but the concept of Rambo fighting an actual monster led to an online backlash and the star dropped the idea. If he’s having difficulties getting Hunter off the ground, wrapping up it up in Rambo packaging and using the beast as a metaphor for John’s dark side could have potential. Author David Morrell (via Flashback Files) also described how he and Stallone once worked on a “heartbreaking” idea for Rambo 5 that was rejected.

The year [Stallone] made CREED in Philadelphia, he called me one day. He wanted to make a final Rambo film. And for weeks we worked out a plot that was heartbreaking. This was a film festival movie, an award movie. I can’t talk about what the story was, but it was a perfect ending.

Stallone could return to Morrell’s concept, and give the soldier the send-off he deserves. Rambo is really the only viable franchise return Stallone can return to right now; he’s feuding with the producers of Rocky, while the failure the fourth movie killed The Expendables. A Rambo 6 that sticks the landing could redeem the last movie and the star’s run of bad luck at the movies – it’s certainly a better prospect than Alarum 2.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Times, Flashback Files