Rambo Film Series Thread

[The Joker]

Great post, Silver.

Admittedly, Rambo III is the Rambo film I've watched the least amount of times, but I don't hate or dislike it.

One thing about the Rambo III poster for me, is that I can't help but think of the movie Twins whenever I see it. As I recall watching Twins several times before I ever got the opportunity to see Rambo III.

[thecolorsblend]

Granted, there's some careful use of editing and low-angle shots here, and Sly doesn't pull off the move as gracefully as someone like Van Damme or Scott Adkins would, but even so I think it's an impressive moment in the movie. Sly was in his forties when he shot Rambo III and had never really performed these kind of martial arts scenes before, and yet he was pushing himself to keep up with the changing trends in action cinema. I've always viewed Cobra as Sly's response to the success of The Terminator, and in a similar way I think the inclusion of these fights in Rambo III was him reacting to the rising popularity of Asian martial arts in American action cinema; and specifically the emergence of new stars like JCVD and Steven Seagal.

Interesting. I wouldn't have thought to put it quite like that. But that does seem to be the case. And it adds up. You could say that the first half of the Eighties was dominated by general action stars who placed an emphasis on fisticuffs, stunts, gun fights and stuff like that. This is home territory for Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kurt Russell, Charles Bronson, etc.

The back half of the decade saw the emergence of martial arts-oriented stars like you mention (and you could arguably throw Mel Gibson in to that list too by the time you get into the late Eighties). And Stallone has always wanted to keep up with modern trends. It's been forever since I've seen Cobra so I can't comment much there. But John Rambo is already a killing machine. I doubt he would've been taught those types of martial arts in the service. But considering how John had been living between the second and third movies, I can buy that he would've acquired those skills quickly.

Stuff like this increases my already high respect for Stallone.

[Silver Nemesis]

Great post, Silver.

Admittedly, Rambo III is the Rambo film I've watched the least amount of times, but I don't hate or dislike it.

One thing about the Rambo III poster for me, is that I can't help but think of the movie Twins whenever I see it. As I recall watching Twins several times before I ever got the opportunity to see Rambo III.

That Twins scene did pop into my head a couple of times while I was watching Rambo III the other night.

R3 is the weakest of the eighties trilogy, no question. Sly admits as much himself. It's like the Rocky V of the Rambo franchise, and some of the political aspects seem very dated now. But if you approach it as a mindless shoot 'em up that's very much a product of its time, then it's still a very enjoyable film. Sly's in his prime, there are some great locations, and the action scenes are impressive. Compared to the brilliance of First Blood, Rambo III is a guilty pleasure at best. But its over-the-top blend of pyrotechnics and real stunt work is still more engaging than most of the CG action being spewed out of mainstream Hollywood today.

I've always thought it would make a good double bill with Red Scorpion, which was released the same year. If Commando (1985) is Schwarzenegger's answer to Rambo, then Red Scorpion is Dolp Lundgren's. It's not a particularly good film, but it's got a similar premise about a one-man-army helping freedom fighters battle Soviets in the desert. It takes place in Africa instead of Afghanistan, and the hero is a Spetsnaz instead of a Green Beret. Other than that though, they're pretty similar. Neither of them is a good movie, but they're both entertaining

Another piece of trivia – supposedly one of the horses Stallone rides in Rambo III is the same stunt horse that Harrison Ford rode the following year in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Interesting. I wouldn't have thought to put it quite like that. But that does seem to be the case. And it adds up. You could say that the first half of the Eighties was dominated by general action stars who placed an emphasis on fisticuffs, stunts, gun fights and stuff like that. This is home territory for Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kurt Russell, Charles Bronson, etc.

The back half of the decade saw the emergence of martial arts-oriented stars like you mention (and you could arguably throw Mel Gibson in to that list too by the time you get into the late Eighties). And Stallone has always wanted to keep up with modern trends. It's been forever since I've seen Cobra so I can't comment much there. But John Rambo is already a killing machine. I doubt he would've been taught those types of martial arts in the service. But considering how John had been living between the second and third movies, I can buy that he would've acquired those skills quickly.

Stuff like this increases my already high respect for Stallone.

Gibson would definitely count. I recently found out that he's a practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and has ties to the Gracie family. Apparently he first started training with Rorion Gracie (who appeared in Lethal Weapon 3) back in 1987, while in more recent years he's been training with Rigan Machado.

Patrick Swayze was another western action star who began using martial arts in the late eighties/early nineties (Steel Dawn, Roadhouse, Point Break). Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Gary Daniels, Jeff Speakman, Don Wilson – all action stars who rose to prominence in the late eighties/early nineties, and all had backgrounds in martial arts. The eighties also saw Chuck Norris' movies increase in popularity. At the beginning of the decade it was all about boxing and big guns. Then Hong Kong action cinema starts to become more popular in the west, thanks in large to the movies of Jackie Chan. Hollywood begins to reflect this in the mid-to-late eighties with films like The Karate Kid trilogy, American Ninja, Big Trouble in Little China, No Retreat, No Surrender, Bloodsport, Best of the Best, Kickboxer, Bloodfist, etc. Sly was certainly aware of the trends emerging from Honk Kong cinema. Tango & Cash also includes some martial arts scenes and contains a direct homage to Jackie Chan's Police Story (1985).

The first western action star to really get to grips with the Honk Kong style was, in my opinion, Brandon Lee. He'd worked in Hong Kong when he starred in Legacy of Rage (1986), and a strong HK influence is evident in the way he combined martial arts, gunplay (particularly the use of dual pistols and shotguns instead of assault rifles) and vehicular stunts in movies like Rapid Fire (1992). The following fight scene might easily have come from a John Woo movie, right down to the sharp suits worn by the fighters. Lee was ahead of the curve.

Van Damme also helped popularise Asian-style action in western movies by bringing some well known Hong Kong New Wave directors to Hollywood: John Woo (Hard Target), Tsui Hark (Double Team) and Ringo Lam (Maximum Risk). By the late nineties it was quite common to see that balletic Honk Kong fusion of guns and martial arts in American action movies. The Matrix (1999) was the culmination of that trend. Rambo III has its place in the history of American action cinema as one of those transitional movies that marked a turning point in the genre. It's still got the big muscles and assault rifles that were typical of eighties western action movies, but it also displays an Asian influence that's looking ahead to the action cinema of the nineties.