Rambo Film Series Thread

[thecolorsblend]

This is meant to be about anything/everything to do with Rambo, either the character, the film series or whatever else. Now, I realize a certain level of political commentary is woven into the movies and so it's kind of unavoidable. But at the same time, let's try keeping things reasonable with any discussion that might ensue.

What I tell myself is that I don't know if it's possible to save the world. But if it's possible to save the world, it's not my job to save the world. But if it's my job to save the world, I won't save the world by posting a bunch of stupid political bs on the Internet. And neither will you.

Anyway, so I rewatched First Blood tonight. The reason First Blood plays for me better than any of the sequels is because John has a pretty straight forward set of issues. He was plucked up out of nowhere, taught to fight and kill and survive, sent off into a pointless war that he wasn't allowed to win, got booed when he came home and then got abandoned as he tried reentering civilian life. One day, one too many people mouth off to him and he snaps.

Everything that happens in First Blood comes from those simple facts.

John is not presented as a hero so much as the product of a sick society with a fixation on war. John lashes out against a society that would turn men into killers and killers into useless pathetic drifters. The initial fight in the police station was obviously John getting triggered by the worst case of PTSD I've ever seen. But after that episode ends, he's back in his "right" mind. He knows what he's doing and he doesn't let up.

But at the same time, John isn't above showing mercy. He could've easily killed all of the deputies who pursued him into the woods. But he lets them go to prove a point. Teasle (Brian Dennehy) is ultimately the one who escalates the situation into a full blown crisis. John offers Teasle the last miniscule sliver of mercy he has left. And he utterly wastes it.

There's a school of thought that Vietnam was such a bizarre, insane, tragic episode in America's history that Americans needed a lot of years to process the full magnitude of its horror. Things like First Blood, Apocalypse Now and other things are symptoms of America trying (and arguably failing) to make sense of the nonsensical.

Me, well, as a Millennial, Vietnam doesn't have the same truck with me that it does previous generations. For that reason, I prefer to rise above the weeds a bit and process First Blood as a more general Man Against Society conflict. A very flawed and damaged man. First Blood plays for me for generally the same reason Falling Down does; they're both dense stories about a man at the end of his rope who finally gets pushed over the edge and lashes out. These are not heroic, honorable men. And yet, it's difficult to not have some kind of sympathy for them.

All of this is a long way of saying that First Blood has a heart and a purpose that the sequels just plain lack or, hell, don't even aspire to.

The older I get, the less use I seem to have for sequels. Not for the first time I find myself thinking that First Blood is better off as a one-and-done story rather than the opening salvo of an ongoing film series.

That's not to say that the sequels don't have merit. There are some good ideas going on there. But in First Blood, the bullets and the explosions come from a place of anger, conflict, disgust and, finally, personal vengeance. Whereas, in the sequels, the carnage is meant to be part of the marketing appeal. That's not a bad thing but it's also not really what First Blood was up to in showing John basically singlehandedly take down a small town all by himself.

Anyway.

[The Joker]

Since we're giving this another go, I'll just copy and paste my previous thoughts on the franchise prior to Last Blood. 

FIRST BLOOD: Poor guy came back from the Nam with PTSD where his buddies like Johnny got their legs blown off and could'nt ride in their Chevy 57, to returning to the states and have people spitting at him at the airport and calling him "baby killer" and all kinds of vile crap. He couldn't even get a job parking cars and then all he wanted was a meal but some king chit cop kept pushing him until he had to give them a war they couldn't believe.

RAMBO: First Blood Part 2: Rambo is now in incarceration doing hard labour, as a consequence being ripped to the bone, and gets called for a rescue mission involving forgotten POWs thanks to Col. Trautman, and to which the military didn't want to do. But he's tricked, abandoned and left to russians who electrocute him within an inch of his life. Luckily, Rambo gets a break, escapes, and witnesses his own Rambolina, the only person who sees Rambo as "not expendable", get killed right in front him him. Which, unfortunately for his enemies, provokes Rambo into going to absolute full beast mode. Culminating with shooting up the offices of a large Defense Contractor and bringing home POWs that the US refused to do anything about.

RAMBO 3: Rambo has basically given up on life and especially technology. He takes mortal kombat fights for a living but gives it all away to Tibetan monks, and is then called upon again when his mentor gets captured. After, he goes back to living as a recluse.

RAMBO (4): Back to the wilderness and obscurity. For all of Rambo's feats, he's just known as and used as a simple "boatman" and barely shown any respect. Even by the idealistic naive missionaries he saves, and in the process of the rescue mission, brutally rids Burma of its cruel military regime as only Rambo can. Which was absolutely outstanding!

And then there's the events of RAMBO: LAST BLOOD, and yeah, if anyone is deserving of good karma, it's John Rambo.

[The Laughing Fish]

First Blood will always remain the greatest in the whole series. You can appreciate the sequels for their mindless fun and exploitative gore, but the original is definitely a tale about how traumatised soldiers return home alienated and persecuted by modern society, but concludes by surviving and taking responsibility for their own actions.

I'm aware that the novel takes an even darker turn by having Rambo kill anyone in sight and ends by forcing Trautmann to kill him, but I think Stallone was quite spot on with his explanation that Rambo dying would've sent a terribly negative message to the veteran community. Plus, that ending would've only worked if Rambo had no restraint and got himself killed as an act of contrition. Although I'm still confused over why they filmed an alternative ending that was closer to the book's ending if they never wanted to go through that route, but they made the right decision anyway. Albeit thanks to the angry reactions from the test audience.

[Silver Nemesis]

The Rocky series will always be my favourite Stallone movies, but I do like First Blood a lot. It's not just a good eighties shoot-em-up; it's a legitimately good film. It draws upon Sly's strongest qualities as an action hero and an actor. He performs an impressive amount of his own stunt work (he famously broke several ribs during the scene where he falls through the tree branches), but he also puts the character's vulnerabilities on display with a raw emotion that few action stars could conjure. The final scene between him and Trautman is one of Sly's best.

First Blood is a violent film, to be sure, but it's also a film with a conscience. Only one character actually dies on screen, and even that was accidental. It's less a glorification of violence than an exploration of PTSD – a war movie set after the war has already ended, except in the protagonist's head. I like the Pacific Northwest setting, with the misty mountains and tall trees. It's not Christmassy the way the first two Die Hard films are, but it does take place around the Yuletide season, as evidenced by the decorations in the background of the police station and bar scenes.

I think of it as a good pre-Christmas film. The perfect thing to watch in late November or very early December, when you're starting to get excited about Christmas but the season hasn't quite started yet. It's a great Sly film to watch in winter along with Rocky IV and Cliffhanger. As far as pure eighties action movies go (i.e. eighties action movies without sci-fi or fantasy elements), I'd rank it just below Die Hard and above the first Lethal Weapon. It's a genuine classic and probably my favourite Stallone film outside of the Rocky franchise.

I'm not as enthusiastic about the sequels. Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rambo III are fun shoot-em-ups in a more conventional eighties tradition. They're not good films the way First Blood is, but they're very watchable and contain some entertaining action sequences. Rambo (2008) returns to the darker tone of the original and tries to engage with the war themes in a more serious manner. I don't love it, but I think it's a better conclusion to the series than Rambo III was. Overall I find it quite gruelling (particularly the scenes of violence against children) and don't enjoy it as much as the earlier films, but I do like the ending where John finally gets home. There was a nice sense of closure there.

The one movie in the series I really don't like is Last Blood, which to me just doesn't feel like a Rambo film. I thought it was an unnecessary protraction of the character's suffering that undermined the ending of Rambo '08. It moves away from the military themes of the earlier movies in favour of a vigilante story better suited to the Death Wish or Taken series. The action scenes were decent, but nothing we haven't seen before, and the main character just didn't feel like Rambo to me. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but something was missing. I've only seen it once, so perhaps I need to watch it again and give it another shot. But my initial reaction was disappointment. I prefer Rambo '08 as the final chapter in the saga.

Then again, I don't necessarily disagree with colors' point that First Blood should have been a standalone movie. It certainly shouldn't have been an animated series for kids.

It's a shame that the reputation of the sequels has impacted people's attitude towards the 1982 original, because it's a much better, more grounded and more heartfelt film than the ones that came after.

[thecolorsblend]

The one movie in the series I really don't like is Last Blood, which to me just doesn't feel like a Rambo film. I thought it was an unnecessary protraction of the character's suffering that undermined the ending of Rambo '08. It moves away from the military themes of the earlier movies in favour of a vigilante story better suited to the Death Wish or Taken series. The action scenes were decent, but nothing we haven't seen before, and the main character just didn't feel like Rambo to me. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but something was missing. I've only seen it once, so perhaps I need to watch it again and give it another shot. But my initial reaction was disappointment. I prefer Rambo '08 as the final chapter in the saga.

My way of rationalizing Last Blood is as a Rambo Revenge Story. By the time of LB, I think John has basically found a way to function in broadly normie society with his various traumas. The Rambos of Rambo III or 2008 could never live the pseudo-domesticated life we see John live in LB. He has found a way to manage his issues well enough.

Still, it's a Rambo movie so you know things will go sideways before too long.

But when they do, I found myself comparing John's behaviors and tactics to First Blood. FB Rambo probably would've gone on the offensive from the start. He would've cut a bloody swath through an entire town until he found Gabriela and then returned home with her.

Obviously, Rambo doesn't do that here. Rather, he only goes on the offensive in revenge and only to lure the bad guys into his traps. He's got different motivations this time around, which I think shows how much he's changed since FB. He has some ability to turn it on and turn it off now. Is this more of a Death Wish or Taken kind of set up? Perhaps. But putting Rambo into that kind of milieu offers a good opportunity to explore a character we thought we knew from FB.

Of them all, I'm prepared to call LB the most worthwhile of the sequels because it shows the character actively trying to change (and frequently succeeding). In it's own way, it's a logical follow up to the end of FB, which showed John accepting responsibility for his actions. Now that he's capable of accepting responsibility, he can take the next steps in somewhat rebuilding his life.

[Silver Nemesis]

You've analysed the film in more depth than I have. I need to watch it again. I will do at some point. I just didn't enjoy it on my first viewing. But like I say, I've only seen it once. Maybe I'm missing something.

Before Last Blood took its current form, there was another Rambo V in development subtitled The Savage Hunt which would have been loosely adapted from the 1999 novel Hunter by James Byron Huggins. I've never read this book, but it sounds a bit like Predator. The story would have seen Rambo being hired to help hunt an inhuman monster that escapes from a lab. On the one hand, Rambo versus Predator sounds awesome. On the other, I think it would have deviated too far from the military/war foundation of the earlier movies. All of the Rambo films are inspired by real life conflicts: the first two films are obviously connected with the Vietnam War, Rambo III takes place against the backdrop of the Soviet–Afghan War, while Rambo '08 and Last Blood focus on atrocities committed by the Burmese military and Mexican drug cartels respectively. Having Rambo battle a sci-fi monster would have seemed lightweight after such heavy subject matter. The premise might work better as a comic book, or else a standalone movie unrelated to the Rambo series.

[The Dark Knight]

Of them all, I'm prepared to call LB the most worthwhile of the sequels because it shows the character actively trying to change (and frequently succeeding). In it's own way, it's a logical follow up to the end of FB, which showed John accepting responsibility for his actions. Now that he's capable of accepting responsibility, he can take the next steps in somewhat rebuilding his life.

Last Blood is a wonderful movie in its simplicity.

John says don't go to Mexico, or this will happen.
Said person goes to Mexico, and what John said will happen does happen.
John gets revenge.

John just wanted to live his life and be left alone. He's a violent man, but he doesn't want to be, as he knows this is an endless cycle. But through the actions of another his hand is forced, and the fight is literally brought to his doorstep. The place that was meant to be a sanctuary.

He wanted to move on. That gives his violence, no matter how satisfying to some viewers, an element of poignancy. He has to go back to that mental place before he can again move forward in some way.

[thecolorsblend]

The older I get, the less use I seem to have for sequels. Not for the first time I find myself thinking that First Blood is better off as a one-and-done story rather than the opening salvo of an ongoing film series.

I want to tangent off of this, if I may.

I have a rule. I never rent the same movie twice. If I'm ever tempted to rent a movie twice, obviously I enjoyed it so it's probably time to buy it. So, I just bought Taken.

As I've said elsewhere, I'm a mark for movies where one man goes to all lengths to do... something. Prove a point, get revenge, rescue his family, etc. The same essential values underlying my Batman fandom also speak to things like First Blood, Falling Down and, yes, Taken.

However, while I acknowledge that sequels to Taken exist, I have no real interest in ever seeing them. Happy tho I may be that Liam Neeson found an unlikely (and late) action franchise of his own, I've never been tempted to go beyond the first film.

In some ways, I wish I'd demonstrated similar foresight with Rambo. Yes, there are some classic and fan-favorite moments in the sequels. I believe it's Rambo III where John straps a grenade to some generic baddie and then ninja kicks him down a hole, where said baddie subsequently blows up while dangling from a spelunking cable. That really hits my Guy Genes. But does that moment justify Rambo III's existence? In my book, no. But ymmv.

Or let's get the other way with it. I enjoy Falling Down. But did I ever need or want a sequel where D-FENS somehow survives and goes on yet another rampage cutting yet another bloody swath through yet another part of Los Angeles? Not rly, no.

So I'm about to make a gigantic bowl of hot buttery popcorn with a cold glass of milk and rewatch Taken. And as I do, I will watch it with my headcanon being that the entire story begins and ends with that one movie and pretend like sequels don't exist.

PS- If you really want me to get controversial, ask me how supportive I am of The Empire Strikes Back's existence (in retrospect).

[The Dark Knight]

PS- If you really want me to get controversial, ask me how supportive I am of The Empire Strikes Back's existence (in retrospect).

Go for it.

[Silver Nemesis]

I re-watched Rambo III last night for the first time in ages, and I wanted to comment on a couple of things.

Firstly, Rambo III contains Sylvester Stallone's most dangerous hairstyle. Why is it his most dangerous hairstyle? Well, just look at the name of the hair stylist on the end credits.

The other thing I wanted to comment on was Rambo's use of martial arts. Up until Rambo III, Sly mostly used boxing as his primary form of screen fighting. You see him throw some kicks in First Blood and Cobra, and he uses some wrestling moves against Thunderlips in Rocky III, but Rambo III is the first of his films to prominently feature Asian martial arts. Several of his later movies would too, but Rambo III is where his interest in the subject seems to have begun. One of my favourite parts of the movie is the fight scene at the beginning. This feels more like a scene you'd expect from a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie than a typical eighties Stallone flick. I'd almost think it was included as a response to the success of Bloodsport (1988) earlier that same year, only I don't think that's possible since the two films were released just a few months apart. Coincidentally, Bloodsport screenwriter and frequent JCVD collaborator Sheldon Lettich co-wrote the screenplay for Rambo III with Stallone.

I used to think that the fighting style Stallone was using here was some form of Escrima, but apparently it's a Thai martial art called Krabi-Krabong. I'm pretty sure there's also some Muay Thai going on with the knee strikes and kicks. Both Krabi-Krabong and Muay Thai originated in Thailand, where this fight scene is meant to be taking place. It seems appropriate that Rambo would have studied the local martial arts during his time living there.

The opening fight scene from Rambo III was later spoofed in Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993) during a sequence which also parodies the final fight from the JCVD movie Kickboxer (1989). The fact the makers of Hot Shots combined scenes from these two movies into a single spoof suggests that I'm not the only person who saw a Van Damme influence on Rambo III. I love how Richard Crenna effectively reprised his role as Colonel Trautman for a feature length parody.

Sly later used Krabi-Krabong during his fight scene against Dave Lea in Demolition Man. The fight starts around the 1:00 mark in the following clip.

Getting back to Rambo III, the single most impressive fighting move Sly executes in that movie is the jumping spin kick he uses against Kourov during their fight outside the caves. As far as finishing moves go, this ranks alongside Rambo ripping out the bad guy's heart at the end of Last Blood. It's also another moment that feels more like something you'd expect from Van Damme than Stallone.

For years I assumed this kick was performed by a stunt double, but during a recent interview with YouTuber Viking Samurai, veteran Hollywood stuntman Steven Lambert confirmed that Sly actually performed the kick himself. Lambert tells a story about this in the following vid, from the 7:15 mark onwards.

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. I also feel that Rambo III, more than any other film in the series, paved the way for the character to appear in Mortal Kombat 11.

And yes, that is Stallone voicing him in the game.