For those of you who have been following The Expendables, Ethelmae's Blog has been an invaluable source of information and nuggets of news. It's to all intents and purposes been the official blog of the movie.

And that gives Ethelmae direct access to Sylvester Stallone, to ask the kind of questions we wouldn't mind asking of him ourselves. Such as what on earth is going on with Rambo 5? The Predator angle to the story, that would have taken Rambo into the world of science fiction, has been dropped, and it's a far purer Rambo movie that we're going to get as a result.

To quote the blog:

"I just wasn't psyched about John Rambo going Predator like on me. So I told Sly that I was excited about him tackling the subject of the brutality women and children caught in the drug wars in Mexico face. He spoke passionately about shining the high beams on the situation. He said he is doing tons of research and the deeper he digs the more complex and dangerous the subject matter becomes. It was clear this story has struck a chord in him so I am expecting a lot of intensity."

Stallone also said that he expected the shoot to be a brutal one, far more so than The Expendables. The film is also set to be shot in the US, and could be before the cameras in the Spring. Furthemore, Stallone is looking to bring on a co-writer to help him with the script. Apparently, the script to The Expendables went through more than 100 drafts before the final shooting script was solidified. Yikes.

So in what shape is the Rambo 5 story now? "The real pull [is] towards the story of the horrendous violence inflicted on the women and girls caught in the Mexican drug war. It will have all of the trademarks of a Stallone film and the story will be provocative, revealing and totally kick ass."

Here's hoping. You can find the Ethalmae blog here.