Topic: Rambo Blu-ray Collection

[Tom]

I am currently wondering, if I should buy this collection.
I only have seen parts of the first movie ages ago (at least 10 years). At the time I didn't like it that much, as I expected a different kind of movie.
Is it worth a blind buy for the price of 18 pounds?

[DJ Doena]

Part 1 is a very good critique of how war veterans have been treated.

Part 2 and 3 are no-brain action movies
Part 2 in Vietnam where he frees some MIAs and nearly wins the Vietnam War fifteen years later
Part 3 in Afghanistan with his good friends, the Mujahideen, against the evil Russians (What's that? Blue light. What does it do? It turns blue. )

Part 4 is a very explicit action movie but I liked it very much because it was very honest and it brought John's story full circle.


Stallone had written a monolog for John but cut it out again because it was "too much words for Rambo", but there is a deep truth in it:

I had a big speech in the movie and I cut it. He was speaking about how war is natural and peace is not. How war is the consequence of a bunch of men on top who start the war but it’s not really your war. It’s old men starting the war, young men doing the war and nobody wins. Everybody in the middle dies, and you think that God is going to make all that go away, just go home. But Rambo can’t talk like that! I can talk like that but not Rambo. So at the end, I went from that long speech to “Go Home.” Just “Go Home.”

[Najemikon]

Typically, while I was waffling, Karsten put it much better, but now I've typed it, you might as well have it! 

If you wanted a different sort of movie, it's worth knowing that the sequels bear little relation to the first (though I haven't seen part four yet). That said, I do think that First Blood is far better than the others. The plot is believable and relevant, the action a throwback to the 70s, and Rambo isn't the superpowered freak he becomes by part 3.

First Blood Part II loses a lot of realism in favour of brutal action, but as a pure action film, it works. James Cameron was involved in the screenplay and the leap from Alien to Aliens is not a bad way to think of it. Part II is hardly a masterpiece, though you'll enjoy it despite yourself. This is the film that made Rambo an icon (hence his name in front of the title) and inspired all parodies.

Part III: Rambo vs. The Russians. All of them it seems. There's a part 4 so its no spoiler to say he wins. Utterly ridiculous, but it does have curiosity value as he's helping Afghanistan's! Hmmmm... interesting double-bill with Charlie Wilson's War?   I think it was a case that they saw all the parodies and thought, sod it, lets just go ahead and make him a bloody cartoon character.

Part 4 has a lot of fans, it seems. Like his Rocky Balboa, Stallone tried to go back to the roots of the character and make him relevant again. Reviews seem poor, but I'd like to see it. Sounds like a strange mix of the first films plot and the second/thirds OTT action, hence the huge amount of gore and the bodycount is just massive!

Less than £20 for Blu's? I might take a chance myself.

EDIT: On Find DVD, Amazon are showing a 10 day wait (not sure if accurate). I prefer HMV anyway and they're definitely in stock. Cost a fair bit more though at 17.99, instead of Amazon's 17.98... 

[DJ Doena]

BTW: The first movie is based on the book "First Blood" (hence the title) and my US DVD contains an alternate ending that ends just like the book




Another side node. Originally it was planned to call the 4th installment "John Rambo" (just like "Rocky Balboa"). They decided to call it just "Rambo".

But in Germany the first movie was already called "Rambo" ("Rambo", "Rambo II: Der Auftrag" [engl.: "Rambo II: The Assignment"], "Rambo III") so here the fourth was actually called "John Rambo".

[Tom]

Part III: Rambo vs. The Russians.

Sounds like Rambo 3 is this franchise's "Rocky 4"?

Maybe I will take chance. Thanks for the feedbacks!

[DJ Doena]

Part III: Rambo vs. The Russians.

Sounds like Rambo 3 is this franchise's "Rocky 4"?

Maybe I will take chance. Thanks for the feedbacks!

I'd say it's worth it even when you like only part I and IV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjptQSfuTy8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3FecKcifTo

Additional bonus: Angel's Darla plays in the fourth movie.

[DJ Doena]

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[Najemikon]

 

Off-topic, but it reminds me anyway because you can always be relied on to post a link to such things; you once posted link to the Wikipedia article on the Uncanny Valley. I saw the 30 Rock episode last night where Frank explains it to Tracy as a reason his porno video game just can't work. Hilarious!

[DJ Doena]

Off-topic, but it reminds me anyway because you can always be relied on to post a link to such things;

I have a vast memory for unimportant things. I call it my "useless data memory". I only need to read or see something once and I will remember it. And Google is my accomplice to find these things again if needed.

you once posted link to the Wikipedia article on the Uncanny Valley. I saw the 30 Rock episode last night where Frank explains it to Tracy as a reason his porno video game just can't work. Hilarious!

This information has made into the article (it wasn't me though )

In the 2008 30 Rock episode "Succession", Frank Rossitano explains the uncanny valley concept, using a graph and Star Wars examples, to try to convince Tracy Jordan that his dream of creating a pornographic video game is impossible. He also references Polar Express.

[Najemikon]

Yeah, I knew it had been mentioned there, but I hadn't actually seen it, and it was very funny. Especially when Frank reads Tracy's notes on the game and sobs, "he's a genius!". And then destroys his porn collection in a rage because he devoted his whole life to it yet Tracy discovered the secret in one night...