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So what I'd like to know is if the effect it really as devastating as depicted in the latest Rambo movie or if that is only Hollywood fiction?
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I guess you pretty much answered your original question with that question. Just like cars don't generally explode in mid-air when they drive off a cliff, and trucks won't explode when they crash into a car, and grenades don't create a fireball 50' in diameter, people will not vaporize when hit by a 50 BMG. That is "Hollywood hookum", as Pappy Boyington described it. While a hit from the 50 BMG would be devastating, FMJ bullets are designed to penetrate hard targets and do not transfer energy to soft tissue very efficiently. That said, if a 50 BMG round hits someone, better hope it does not hit a bone.
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Actually, the 50BMG was developed for the B-17 Bomber, P-47, and P-51 Fighters to penetrate the armor, at 800 meters, of the German FW-190 Fighter.
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I am not sure where that came from. The M2 entered service in 1921, the B17 entered service in 1938, the P51 entered service in 1941. Yes, the M2 was used to arm these aircraft, but it was already in service long before they were even thought of.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.50_BMG