Review of First Blood (1982) by Kevin D — 01 Aug 2010
Implausible and borderline ridiculous anti-war action flick. It's a decent movie and decent entertainment, it was well intended, and it works pretty well as a Vietnam metaphor. Stallone's Rambo represented Vietnam ("Just leave him alone.
" "He's a highly skilled guerrilla fighter."). The film followed John Rambo, a former expert soldier from Vietnam, that had been having trouble in his return from action. A local town's cop did not want Rambo in his city to have a simple bite to eat, so he drove Rambo out of the city.
When Rambo tried going back to the town, the cop warned Rambo not to go back, but Rambo did not listen. Fast forward and Rambo was breaking out of jail and fighting off a city's worth of cops and national guard soldiers Terminator 2 style (trying not to kill them).
Rambo was Nam ( a one man army) and the cops were the United States (a massive army that was lost in guerrilla warfare). I really found it astounding how well Rambo knew the city more than the cops and how he could fall hundreds of feet off of a cliff as well as suffering other injuries without getting seriously hurt.
Numerous other plot holes ripped the movie apart. In addition, there are lots of unnecessary and ludicrous explosions. But let's face it, most people watching this movie won't really care about plot holes.
Most people watch First Blood to see good action and a good role from Stallone. This is Stallone's best performance ever. He's sympathetic and damaged. The ending was powerfully acted by Sly. The action is pretty good and a lot of Rambo's traps for the cops were really clever and cool.
This is an alright movie that does its job as an action movie. It drags along at times, but at other points it's really good. This is basically a horror movie from the perspective of the bad guy, except here he's good.
We watch as Rambo has his way with causing havoc and destruction on a small town cop force. In a humorous note, it was funny seeing a young David Caruso in an early role.
This review of First Blood (1982) was written by Kevin D on 01 Aug 2010.
First Blood has generally received very positive reviews.
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