The philosophy of Rambo

This article by Spengler, from last April, is brilliant.  It sets out how The Lord of the Rings and the rest of the Middle Earth literature constitute Tolkein's attempt to form a Christian mythology that could replace Europe's pagan myths.  To undermine old pagan heroism by establishing its vulnerability to manipulation by evil.  The Lord of the Rings can then be seen as a direct attempt to rebut the Ring Cycle - Wagner's attempt to recreate old Northern European myth.

**Spoiler alert - this will give away Rambo's plot**

It might seem a bit absurd but I think that Rambo actually offers a pagan riposte.  A few comparisons...

The Lord of the Rings Hobbits The hobbits are the humble heroes. Despite being physically feeble they are victorious thanks to the fact they are not corrupted by the lure of the Ring, of power.	Rambo Christian aid workers Rambo has to rescue these guys.  Some of them suffer ugly deaths. They achieve very little and their horror at Rambo's brutality at the beginning of the film soon looks naive.  With their faith that good intentions are enough they walk straight into trouble.  Near the end one of them takes up arms (well, a rock) and brutally joins the pagan fold by slaying someone with it in a special moment .
Destroying the Ring In the Lord of the Rings the warriors, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli etc. recognise they cannot win. Victory doesn't come through valour in battle but through endurance and faith.	Killing Burmese soldiers In the end, if you want victory you've got to take it in battle. God won't come and save you; Rambo will.  This is made explicit at one point - "Are you bringing weapons?  No, of course not.  Then you're not changing anything."
Boromir Morally misguided but rock solid in a battle.  Winds up betraying his comrades and dying thanks to his moral failings.	Ex-SAS mercenary Bit of a selfish bastard who doesn't care about the lost aid workers and has to be threatened by Rocky to risk his neck for the others. However, he's on the right side and valiant in a fight and when briefly captured.  May survive (it's unclear if his wounds are mortal) but definitely doesn't fail his comrades like Boromir does.
Aragorn's coronation They all kneel before the hobbits.  Recognising that they, and not the warriors who did most of the fighting, as the real heroes.	The end of the climactic battle At first the woman from the group of aid workers embraces one of her original comrades.  However, she then turns around and sees the wounded Rambo and the other soldiers.  In a long bout of staring she realises that the warriors are the real heroes.

The logic underlying Rambo is intuitively persuasive in many ways. It is notable that the public liked Rambo (four stars) a lot more than the reviewer (two stars) on the BBC review page.  The pagan heroic ideal still has a purchase on us.  The promise of glory can be just as effective a motivation for self-sacrifice as the promise of the afterlife.  This has been put in more elevated terms before.  Where I have cited Rambo, Kagan cites Pericles:

During the war, even in its darkest moments, Pericles could count on a strong response when he reminded the people that they were right to love their city and even to risk their lives for it, because it was uniquely great, and because only by preserving and enhancing it could the ordinary man share in its glory and so achieve a degree of fame and immortality.