First Blood DVD > Reviews > Hard as nails

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Good
Soundtrack	Average

Advantages:	Good story and plenty of action
Disadvantages:	'God didn't make Rambo, I did'  -  what a line .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Rambo: First Blood (Film Only Review)

First Blood is unfortunately, one of those films whose legacy has been tainted by lesser sequels. In Rambo's case, First Blood parts 2 and 3 were so bad, it's a wonder the original film wasn't buried in a nuclear bomb-shelter and left to rot for ever more. Even the word 'Rambo' has become a by-word for muscle-bound, invincible freakiness and has entered the slang lexicon if not quite the Oxford dictionary. Ignoring the sequels to First Blood completely, this is a good, solid film and delivers action by the bullet-dented bucket load.

First Blood tells the tale of drifter John J. Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) as he attempts to visit an old friend who he served with during the Vietnam War. After being informed of his friends demise ('It was cancer, thanks to that Agent Orange stuff' he is told somewhat bitterly by the friends wife), he attempts to seek refuge in a small mountain town, inappropriately called 'Hope'. The sheriff of the town (played with gusto by an excellent Brian Dennehy), upon seeing the dirty combats, American flag and tousled features of Rambo takes umbrage and informs him to keep walking to the next diner, 30 or so miles down the road. He even drives him to the edge of town, telling him, amongst other things, to take a bath. Naturally, Rambo being Rambo (or is that Sly being Sly?) he immediately about-turns and heads back to town, determined to make a stand for doing no-wrong. Of course, the Sheriff doesn't agree and it's not long before Rambo is incarcerated in the police station basement, beaten with clubs and washed down with high-pressure hoses. Being a Vietnam vet, this is not treatment conducive to recovery from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and after a thrilling escape from police detention, Rambo heads to the hills with a band of small-town, inept troopers on his tail. What follows is a deadly game of cat and mouse as Rambo, surviving with only his wits and a serrated hunting knife for company, manages to barely stay one step ahead of his relentless pursuers, the memory of Vietnam all too fresh in his mind. In the eyes of the Sheriff, Rambo has to be eliminated - a view reinforced by the death of one of his loyal officers that he attributes to Rambo with single-minded prejudice (Rambo didn't do it, it was an accident).

It sounds mindless but in 1982, when First Blood was released, it had an awful lot to say about the treatment of war veterans by the general US populace- particularly those coming back from the horrors of the Vietnam War. They seemed to be shunned by polite American society, a footnote to an era of conflict that was perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be a massive defeat for the US. There have been any number of films that have dealt with this issue and yet it is still a hot-topic, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan providing a Vietnam hell for the noughty generation. Who is to say the flow of returning American soldiers from the Middle East aren't going to be treated in the same way?

John Rambo is not quite the invincible super-hero we're led to believe by the time First Blood Part 2 comes around. He's certainly 'hard' - his Green Beret training would force him to be - but alongside his skills of hunting wild boar with a knife, setting up deadly booby-traps, jumping from the top of cliffs and even self-surgery, there's a small element of vulnerability and pathos struggling to free itself from the confines of the macho image that Stallone plays him with. Certainly, it's a more rounded performance from Sly than many of his later films (Cobra or Lock Up anyone?) but, perhaps uncharitably, in Stallone's case, that's not saying much. The man can clearly act and it's a shame we never see him do so in most of his films. A lot has been said about Rambo's final monologue. Rambling (or should that be Ramboling?) and incoherent, he nevertheless tries to justify waging war against a small town with a heartfelt speech about his experiences in 'Nam. Stallone pulls this off better than some people give him credit for and it gives a glimpse into Rambo's motivation for doing what he's done.

Brian Dennehy gives the best performance in the film, playing the disgruntled, bigoted chief of police with relish. His police side-kicks amount to little more than small-town hicks however, bewildered by not only Rambo's ingenuity in evading them but their boss's relentlessness in pursuing what is essentially a charge of vagrancy. The late Richard Crenna's OTT portrayal of Rambo's ex-Army mentor, Colonel Troutman is a little cringeworthy in places ('God didn't make Rambo, I did' he proclaims with assured authority, moments before giving Rambo's position away to the now-employed-to-take-Rambo-out National Guard). He seems to see his 'creation' through war-tinted glasses and is convinced that even 200 heavily-armed National Guard soldiers can't kill Rambo. 'He can eat things that will make a billy-goat puke', is also another Troutman line, seconds before we see Rambo running scared from a large mob of rats. Doesn't quite fit somehow. Would the Army be really as arrogant as all that? Maybe they are.

For the failings in some of the characters, these are more than adequately made up with the action sequences. Filmed before the days of CGI, some of the set-pieces are edge-of the-seat stuff. Rambo's escape from the police station and subsequent thrilling motorcycle ride through busy streets, muddy paths and woodland is exciting and really sets the tone for the rest of the film. There are helicopters, car crashes, heavy guns and machinery and even a posse of dobermans let loose on Rambo's tail. At one point, Rambo leaps from the top of a cliff onto the relative safety of a tree (!) below with little more than a very deep cut to show for it. Apparently, Stallone himself filmed the last sequence of this stunt and broke three ribs in the process. That's dedication for you. The action is certainly outlandish, a little unbelievable in places but no less fun for it.

In conclusion, First Blood rates top-marks for action but falls down slightly with some of the characterizations. Dennehy gives a good account of himself, as does Stallone and this film really placed him as a bona-fida Hollywood action hero - a tag he struggles to escape from to this day. The film is a good adaption of David Morrells original novel and despite having a more up-beat ending than the book, it follows the plot closely. The political statements, as bluntly hammered home as they are, still ring true today and for that, the film doesn't lose any of its appeal. A rather more fundamental failing is the juxtaposition between the films anti-war message and it's glorification of mindless and needless violence - the two don't seem to sit comfortably well together. Even with this in mind though, it's still a damn fine film and well worth catching.

Whatever you do though, don't watch the sequels - they will taint your view of this first film forever more. Let's hope the upcoming John Rambo film (or Rambo 4 as it should be known) won't taint this legacy any further.

Rated 15. Interestingly, this film was the first to receive what was then the new 15 certificate rating from the BBFC. In Japan, 'Rambo' means 'violence', apparently.
Running Time: 94 minutes.