The director, George P. Cosmatos, gives this near-psychotic material -- a mixture of Catholic iconography and Soldier of Fortune pulp -- a veneer of professionalism, but the looniness is always there.

Reappraisal is not due.

So powerful and intoxicating is this kind of movie hero that when we see him operating in a flaw-riddled movie like ''Rambo'' we realize that heroic action can override almost any script.

…still fun to watch despite the head-spinning hypocrisy…