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First Blood
Underrated action flick with man of few words, Sly Stallone, as one man army John Rambo
First Blood was the start of a trilogy of action movies featuring one man killing machine John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone). Viewers will probably expect explosions, grunting violence, ridiculous combat scenes, rank dialogue. And that's just the best bits. Say it loud, say it proud First Blood is a pretty damn fine movie. Excellently paced, well acted - in true comic book action hero style - and superbly filmed. The beginning is disarmingly folksy and low key with John Rambo wandering through a small rural community in search of a fellow Vietnam vet. When he discovers his friend has died from cancer, possibly caused by agent orange gases, our hero is sad, wistful even - he's a man of few words. Then, he has the misfortune to drift into a backwater town where the Sheriff (Dennehy) doesn't take kindly to unkempt vagrants wandering through his streets. Even if they are ex Green Berets with congressional medals of honour. Who cares? "This is a boring town," the sheriff tells Rambo as he attempts to drive him out of it. "And I intend to keep it that way.". And that's when it all starts to get mad, before long Rambo is fighting off dozens of Nazi cops with his bare hands in between Nam flashbacks, out chasing a posse of police cars with just a wee moped, leaping 200 feet from a sheer cliff and laying to waste legions of armed men in an imaginative selection of styles, mainly involving sharpened twigs. Rambo rocks. What's more he's innocent - all he wanted was something hot to eat. Meanwhile, Rambo's old army boss Colonel Trautman (Cranna) turns up on the scene of the man hunt but his only advice is to get "plenty of body bags ready". Despite its posturing First Blood had a message that was pretty pertinent at the time of the movies release - namely the poor treatment of former American soldiers. The preposterous all out gung ho action masks the theme somewhat but it's all immensely daft and enjoyable. Stallone who had been going through a lull after the end of the Rocky franchise grunts his way through magnificently. Dennehy as the bullying cop is superb, while director Ted Kotcheff stages some marvellously over the top action scenes (why explode one car when you can blow up 20?). Sadly the terrible ending set the tone for some appalling sequels, but the first half hour alone is enough to make First Blood an action classic. Verdict If you see one Rambo movie see this one but get the body bags ready. |
