Rambo III (1988) / Rambo (2008)
Within a two-year period, Sylvester Stallone wrote and directed super-sequels to his two most famous franchises — Rocky and Rambo. By all accounts, 2006's Rocky Balboa was by far the better film, a melancholy valedictory for what was, at least at first, a genuine American film hero.
John Rambo, on the other hand, is almost completely pointless in the 21st century. He already re-fought the Vietnam War, which was his sole purpose as a movie character (Do we get to win this time?" he asks in First Blood: Part Two). Embroiling him in a Burmese humanitarian rescue mission in the fourth installment was a nice try, but the timing of the film's release — amid international outrage over the junta's repression — was more luck than anything else. Although probably not for the Burmese.