Rambo Rampage

With "Rambo" coming out, I decided to check out the first Rambo's as I had never seen them. To say the least, I was in for a pleasant surprise. I do not know why I had never seen these or why they are rarely on TV, but they are well worth the infamy and hype surrounding the movies.

The series starts with "First Blood" (1982) (one of the reasons I had trouble finding this movie was that it is not actually called "Rambo" as I had thought). "First Blood" is a romp, but drastically different than what I had imagined.

Ex-green beret and Vietnam war hero John Rambo returns home to find that there is a small war in his own country with those dissenting about the U.S. involvement in the war. He is arrested on bogus reasons and beaten severely. He breaks free and escapes to the wilderness. He sets up jungle traps to take down the police. He quickly seeks his revenge by destroying the entire town with a side strapped M60.

It really was amazing and actually a pretty good action flick. Not a lot of back drop to Rambo's character and the series does little to develop him other than a semi-compassionate raging animal. There is also little explanation of what happens to Rambo between the movies.

Next, comes "First Blood II: Rambo" (1985). By now, the world is well aware of Rambo and everyone tunes in for this sequel. He is removed from prison on orders of a general who wants him to rescue American POW's in Vietnam.

This movie is more along the lines of what I thought Rambo was all about. A wild man in the jungle with a huge knife and awesome explosives. I was not disappointed. The action rages as he manages to hi-jack a helicopter to save his fellow countrymen from the Vietcong.

The ending to the initial trilogy was appropriately titled "Rambo III" (1988). This time around Rambo must rescue his general and friend from the Russians occupying Afghanistan. This movie has terrific action and Guinness Book of World Records labels it as the most violent movie ever made. It was awesome and the hanging of the Russian and then blowing him up with grenades was incredible.

All of these movies were made before I was born, so I missed out on the Rambo craze. But I tell you, that craze is back. The most recent "Rambo" is as extraordinary as the previous three. The action is terrific and the violence is the most disturbing thing I have ever seen.

Rambo mows down the entire Burmese army with a gun turret and the bodies just explode. It was extremely graphic and gory.

Rambo must rescue a group of missionaries from the Burmese army. He handily destroys anyone in a 50 mile radius. The action is great and even more violent than it's counterparts because of the improvement of special effects.

Certain trends were lacking, however, in "Rambo." He did have his bow, but he had no explosive arrows. His knife was machete forged of steel rather than the large hunting knife in the first three (that noticeably got bigger with each movie). He also did not run around with his shirt off. I guess that is because Stallone is 62 and not as ripped as he used to be. There were no scenes with him holstering a meant-to-be stationary gun.

Something strange to note about the Rambo series is his obsession of hammering. In each movie, he is hammering on something. Peculiar.

In this most recent Rambo, Stone proves he is a battle axe and he gets better with time. Though his movement and stunts is supremely limited in this one, he is still a huge bamf. He kills everything in site. Pretty stunning actually. The drama in this one is probably better than all but the first one.

To sum it up, Rambo is one of the greatest action series ever. The great thing about Stallone in these, is that he does not use the stupid Schwarzenegger quips and puns. It is just straight up murderous action. You have to love it. If anyone has not seen any of these movies, then get up and go see them. It will be awesome.