Rambo

I went to see this film opening weekend and felt that now I am blogging about anything and everything that I should share some thoughts on it.

I loved this film but I definitely knew what to expect before hand; I had been reading up on it for months before release, reading every review I could find.

To me the Rambo films can be split into two categories. There is 'First Blood' probably my favourite action movie ever. There is one death in this film. It is not about killing, it is about surviving. It is a slick action movie in which we discover John Rambo, a Vietnam veteran, who on coming back to America after the Vietnam war discovers he doesn't really have a place in society any more.

When he walks into the town of 'Hope' he is quickly driven out by the local Sheriff, who won't even allow him to eat anything there, just tells Rambo that the nearest truck-stop is 30 miles up the road.

Anyway one thing leads to the other and Rambo is arrested. Eventually, and we don't wait long, he cracks and through flashbacks we see the torment and pain he went through for his country. What he is going through now reminds him of this but we learn he dreams about this every night. It consumes his waking life too, he cannot get away from what he's seen, what he's done or how he has been treated.

Basically, Rambo fought for his Country to discover there is no place in it for him on his return.

What pursues is a film about survival as Rambo runs from the Police and hides up in the jagged Hills behind town. The Police mount a search mission but Rambo is always one step ahead.

By the time he is caught the carnage is complete. Many injured police officers, one dead officer, and a whole town is practically destroyed too.

The plot isn't the strongest but if you like the film, then read the book which was written in 1972 by David Morrell, for a different angle on the whole 'First Blood' story. It is fantastic.

The next two movies where not as much about stealth and survival as the first. These were two monster action movies where Rambo got the opportunity to kill, kill and kill. They were fun movies and it's always great to watch Rambo dish out the pain to those who deserve it but they totally lacked something that 'First Blood' brought to us. Soul.

Moving on to 'Rambo' we find him still living in Thailand and renting out a boat and catching snakes to make a living. A group of Christian missionaries want his help getting up river and eventually he offers to help.

They want to go into Burma. A country torn apart by civil war (yes, its really still happening and has been for 60 years.) What ensues here is not only one of the best action films ever made, its very gory and not the the weak of heart, but a return to form and the reminder of where Rambo came from. This film's John Rambo seems a lot more like the Rambo of old. The one from 'First Blood' not the two other sequels.

Whilst, yes the bodies mount up more then ever before, we learn a bit more about him and how even though he is now 60 he can do what he does.

It's a great movie. If you had to own any of these then own 'First Blood' and 'Rambo' you can forget the rest. They're great movies and yes I own them but to me 'Rambo' is the guy in parts 1 and 4 and not the one who appears in the middle who seems to be a comic version of himself as opposed to this Vietnam Vet we get in the others.