First Blood (1982)

An action/adventure masterpiece (tainted somewhat by two cartooney sequels)
Like the title blurb says, "First Blood" is an action/adventure masterpiece of the first order. It's easy to forget this in light of the two cartooney sequels that made a caricature of John Rambo: "Rambo: First Blood Part II" (1985) and "Rambo III" (1988).

Most people reading this know the plot: Vietnam vet John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) drifts into a Rocky Mounain town looking for a war buddy, only to learn that he died due to exposure to Agent Orange the summer before. The town's sheriff (Brian Dennehy) tries to steer Rambo out of town and ends up arresting him. Big mistake because Rambo is an ex-Green beret, a virtual one-man-army. He easily escapes into the local forests where he takes on both the police and the National Guard in jungle warfare. Before all is said and done he almost levels the entire town!

The picture was filmed in beautiful Hope and Golden Ears Provincial Park, British Columbia. Yes, it's drizzly and dreary with absolutely zero sunshine, but it's incredibly picturesque nevertheless. A wonderful place to commit suicide I'm sure.

Dennehy is perfect as the arrogant, pushy and intimidating sheriff. He essentially plays the same role in the Western "Silverado" (1985) albeit the character in that film is ten-times WORSE.

Stallone is physically in his prime here, although he's not as bulked-up as in the two sequels. In fact, he's almost skinny in "First Blood." His waist is obviously only about 27-28 inches and his chest isn't all that big, although his arms and shoulders are certainly impressive. Anyway, one good byproduct of seeing "First Blood" is that it'll inspire guys to get back in shape (or get in better shape).

Stallone sort of blows his initial lines talking to the black woman about his war buddy at the beginning, but aside from this he's outstanding in the role of Rambo. He doesn't have many lines; most of his acting is non-verbal. At the end Rambo finally screams out and lets out all his pent-up rage. This is a potent scene. He screams: "Over there (in Vietnam) I was in charge of million dollar equipment, over here I can't even hold a job PARKING CAAAARRRRRRSSSSS!!!!!"

I'm not normally into dvd commentaries and rarely blow the time to listen to them, but the one featured on the Special Edition dvd (the one with the red cover) by writer David Morrell is truly worthwhile. Morrell talks the entire 90-minute length of the film and offers a wealth of information, like the differences between the film and his novel, how the film set many precedents in the action/adventure film genre, the incredible way he came up with the name Rambo, the 3-Act story structure of films, etc. Make no mistake, David Morrell is a genius.

It doesn't matter how many times you've seen "First Blood." The film has such a captivating anointing you'll be spellbound from start to finish every time. If your a sucker for lost-in-the-woods/survival pictures "First Blood" is a must.

Best Transfer Yet----
Every time I have had to upgrade my video format be it VHS to Laserdisc to DVD to now Blu-ray, First Blood has always been my Litmus test.This is in my top three all time favorite movies and it always seems to be available when a new format emerges.The Blu-ray has the best transfer so far out of all the previous ones and I am very picky when I say this.This is a film that was filmed darkly as far as films go and the Blu-ray version has the best contrast and detail yet.Please check for yourself, you will not be disappointed.The only gripe here is when will we ever see the footage from the TV version make it to the light of day.But anyways check out this version, you will not be disappointed.

"I Didn't Come to Protect Rambo From You,I Came to Protect You From Rambo"-Colonel Trautman
In 1982 Sylvester Stallone releases yet another fantastic movie with "First Blood",the first in the Rambo series."First Blood" was inspired by David Morrell's epic novel of the same name.While it doesn't take entirely what is in the book and that many parts if not nearly each of them were written by Stallone himself.It is to notice that Stallone gave Rambo a more human perspective of the character than Morrell did.There have been three sequels that followed but whom all failed to reach the level of the first : "First Blood Part 2"(1985),"Rambo III"(1988) and the more recent "Rambo" in 2008.Decades latter and First Blood is still an amazing movie providing you both action and thrills.Stallone managed to bring two memorable franchises,Rocky And Rambo wich became some of America's most beloved movies.

In First Blood Stallone plays the role of John Rambo a Green Beret vet who went to Vietnam and was trained to kill.Rambo searches for the last of his comrades from the Green Berets days,and finds out he died from cancer a few years ago.He walks to a nearby town and is trown out of the town by Sheriff William Teasle.Rambo comes back and is "roughed up" by the cops who without knowing they had made a new powerfull ennnemy.John escapes and the police chases him.He then shows us how much of a killing machine he is by setting up traps and killing.That's when Colonel Samuel Trautman(who was initialy going to be played by Kirk Douglas and at the last minute it all changed)comes in.He claims to be the only one who can stop Rambo as he trained him and obeyed him.It turns out to be a terrific action movie full of suspense and at the same time full of drama and intense moments.Let me tell you if you enjoy movies with any of the mentionned above you are likely to love this movie.

The special features.It is known already that the movie itself is incredible as well as a must see classic.The features from previous releases are gone for the most part,and the commentaries by the "First Blood" novel creator David Morrell are not included anymore wich is a shame considering he talked about many things and gave lots of helpfull information.The alternate endings are still there including the ending when Rambo killed himself which was the original ending of the movie before it was changed because of bad reactions to the ending.There are many possibilities for audio and visual with the metascopes and others that let you wtahc the film in different ways.I wonder why they cutted the extras,they did the same for the Rocky remasters.My advice : if you have the older versions don't get these you won't get anything new.its not worth it.If you cans score one of these "Special Editions" then you might consider yourself to have gotten a great deal.Those "Ultimate Editions" aren't so ultimate after all.

"First Blood" stands as a classic and a must have.It does not suit everyone be advised so have to know a minimum on the movie before you actually rent and/or buy it.As mentionned above those editions aren't the best and the older editions are much better.Yet this one is easier to find and ainvailable nearly everywhere DVDs are sold which is pretty much the only advantage with these Ultimate editions.You can also save a lot by buying the "Ultimate Edition" boxed set of the first three Rambo.Overral,one of Stallone's crowning achievements and best work AND one of my favourite movies of all time.The best Rambo movie out of the four.You can't go wrong by picking this up if you are a fan of action movies and/or Sylvester Stalone,I liked both so this definatly worked for me.

NOTE: A few weeks prior to writting this review the fourth Rambo was released,"Rambo",in theatres January 25th 2008(I will get to that in another review).