REEL CRITICS:

Sylvester Stallone adds gory special effects from modern horror flicks to his latest entry in the “Rambo” series.

But even as the violence moves up to a new level, he becomes more reserved and silent than ever. Stallone has a total of about five minutes of actual dialogue in the film’s 93-minute running time. Mostly he waits, looks and listens to the tragic events unfolding around him waiting for the opportunity to kill all the bad guys he can.

Rambo runs a boat for hire in Thailand. Christian missionaries wanting to help suffering peasants pay him to take them to a neighboring war-torn nation. Too dumb to heed Rambo’s warnings, they end up in a warlord’s hellhole prison camp. The action really gets going when Rambo leads a band of mercenaries into the jungle to rescue the misguided fools.

There are excellent special effects and tension-filled moments. But murder and mayhem ensue as most of the killings are caused by .50-caliber machine guns and sniper rifles that literally blow apart the heads and bodies of victims. There are plenty of slower bloody deaths by machetes, knives and arrows. If you like mindless violence and a high carnage count, this film’s for you.

Alba seeing you never in this subpar remake

“The Eye” is an unsatisfying remake of a pretty good Hong Kong horror film about a woman whose eyes start to play tricks on her after receiving corneal transplants.

Sidney Wells is — what else — a saintly and stunning young woman, and an accomplished concert violinist. She’s also apparently quite wealthy, judging by her posh downtown apartment.

Sidney sails though surgery with ease, looking radiant and beautiful, if a little bloodshot.

But no sooner are the bandages off than she starts to have bad dreams and visions.

Is her mind merely adjusting to the sensory overload? Her rehabilitation therapist (Alessandro Nivola) is skeptical when Sidney tells him she now sees dead people.

Perhaps Sidney is just looking for attention. “You’re not special anymore,” he smirks. Perhaps his agent will tell him the same thing when he sees this film.

But Sidney’s still a hottie, so he winds up driving her to Mexico so she can learn about her transplant donor.

And hey, he’s even bilingual! What a handy guy to have around.

Alba proves it takes more than a pretty face to make a good scary movie.

“The Eye” has one or two “gotcha” moments in its repertoire, but the bleary-eyed plot is just way too familiar. Watching this movie is only slightly more heart-stopping than putting on my mascara in the car.

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company.