One line review: An entertaining action series that seems to hit all the cliches, but somehow doesn’t abuse them.
Movie Title: First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III
Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Brian Dennehy, Bill McKinney, Jack Starrett, Michael Talbott, Chris Mulkey, John McLiam, Alf Humphreys, David Caruso, Charles Napier, Steven Berkoff, Julia Nickson, Martin Kove, George Cheung, Andy Wood, William Ghent, Voyo Goric, Dana Lee, Baoan Coleman, Steve Williams, Kurtwood Smith, Spiros Focás, Sasson Gabai, Doudi Shoua, Randy Raney, Marcus Gilbert, Alon Aboutboul, Mahmoud Assadollahi
Director: Ted Kotcheff, George P. Cosmatos, Peter MacDonald
Year: 1982, 1985, 1988
Genre: Action / Adventure
Method of Viewing: DVD
Location of Viewing: Home
Viewing with: No One
Rotten Tomatoes: 86% – The film that introduced John Rambo is a gripping survival adventure with an emotional ending that’s downright moving. Jerry Goldsmith contributes an excellent musical score.
29% – Far from credible, but a terrific, cheer-out-loud action film nevertheless. Immediately and deservedly made Stallone’s John Rambo a great individualistic screen hero to rival Eastwood’s Dirty Harry.
36% – Always at ground zero in the chaos is Rambo — gloriously, inhumanly impervious to fear and danger — whose character is inhabited by Stallone with messianic intensity.
My rating: **
My assessment (the first 101 words at least): What a strange jump from movie to movie for a trilogy. Despite the fact that the critics rate Rambo so high and it’s sequels so low, I found myself liking all of the movies about equally, although always for different reasons. However, overall I’m not terribly impressed by the series. First Blood starts with an impressive plot, but I don’t enjoy the nearly silent Rambo who ends up giving a dramatic yet completely impossible to understand final speech at the end. Rambo II and III have some decent action, but are ultimately forgettable. There’s some decent action, but not much else.
Posted by ytoabn 
