What started as a somber tale of the shattered, post Vietnam American psyche immediately does a 180 and becomes pure “America, Fuck Yeah!” cinema.
This is Part 2 of a 3 part series looking back at the Rambo films, as it shifted from a somber tale of the broken American spirit, to an era of bombastic American Exceptionalism Propaganda, to out-and-out post WOT horror show, all while reviewing the newest 4K boxset from Lionsgate!
This week we focus on Rambo as he shifts towards a new “Morning in America”; Reagan’s Rambo! We will be exploring Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rambo III, both released during the Reagan administration.
First Blood was a mostly slow, meditative film about the scars we carried as a nation after Vietnam, our national identity tarnished, our shame made manifest through the living ghosts of the war who wandered the land, looking for solace from a war who’s scars will never heal.
Man; what a drag! All that sad introspection! All that man weeping! Wouldn’t it be more badass if we took those 5 minutes Rambo had that M60, blowing up the town, and made a movie out of that? And also, we go back and win Vietnam this time?!
Thus; Rambo: First Blood Part II (introduced to us by a flaming title font) is born. Released in 1985, only a year after Reagan’s historic 49 state landslide win for re-election, First Blood Part II is exactly everything First Blood is not. Say good-bye to any sort of anti-war messaging; this time, war is just what the doctor ordered. Say good-bye to poe-faced, normal body Stallone; say hello to intensely ripped, darkly tanned, perfectly coiffed haired Stallone. Say goodbye to any sort of deeper characterizations; say hello to essentially cartoon character villains (and one incredibly racist love interest who speaks in broken English with no discernable accent).
First Blood Part II is arguably one of the most vile blockbusters of the decade (I’d say “action films”, but the Bronson Cannon films are…rough). A deeply jingoistic, violent and cruel affair that is essentially just “what if we went back to war with Vietnam, but this time; we win”. It is filled with borderline cartoon logic violence (Stallone and the bow? A pair made in dopey action movie heaven), villains that are either paper-thin or racist caricatures, and a plot that makes absolutely no sense (very funny to do the whole “the pansies in Washington are too afraid to do anything” smack dab in the middle of Reagan’s administration).
This is all to say; First Blood Part II is a totally ill-advised blast. It is so chronically dumb and wrong headed in its approach that you can’t not root for Stallone; be it when he mealy mouths his way through lines while also glamour posing, or when he’s tied to two different racks in two distinctly different homoerotic ways, or when he’s blowing up fools with his explosive bow and arrow set, or when he’s witness to one of the goofiest “I had one week until retirement” type deaths ever put to screen, or even how he is absolutely holding that RPG wrong on the theatrical poster. This movie is incredibly dumb, while still thinking it is saying something profound about veteran welfare, which makes it something to behold.
And, don’t worry, the hits keep coming; Rambo III, baby!
Released in 1988, Reagan’s last year in office, and at the height of Soviet’s quagmire in Afghanistan, Rambo III is the full “Saturday Morning Cartoons”-ification of the Rambo series*; at this point, there was a Rambo cartoon, Rambo toys, and even Rambo bubble gum. Rambo was an out and out superhero, a warrior of the people, and he was about to show those commies what’s what in the mountains of Afghanistan!
Nothing has really changed, quality wise, between First Blood Part II and Rambo III (well, Stallone got a better hair stylist). We are still introduced to a “broken” Rambo who is rocking an ungodly bod (he truly is a physical specimen here, my god), who is pulled back into a world a violence, only to discover he is just the absolute best at killing people.
This time though, Rambo is…charming? Witty? Doing bits? After 2 films of Rambo staying pretty consistently dour and down trodden, he’s got a whole lot of one-liners and comebacks here. It’s genuinely a bit jarring at times, watching a character who once weeped on the floor over his mutilated friend doing puns and shit.
There is also the added pitch black “hindsight” humor of it all, as the resistance fighters around Rambo can’t stop talking about how stupid it would be to try and invade Afghanistan, and how no invading army has a chance to defeat them. Turns out…they were right! Twice!
It’s hard, especially if you are doing these semi back-to-back, to not be a bit baffled by the changes this series makes. First Blood ends with Rambo sobbing about losing all of his friends, about how he feels like an outsider wherever he goes, about how nowhere feels like home anymore. Rambo III ends with Rambo taking out a helicopter by playing chicken with it with a tank. A distinct and overall bewildering shift in tone and themes.
Specs:
Once again, I must mention the boxset here. Genuinely one of the coolest I’ve ever seen. Reminds me quite a bit of those old Gundam model boxes you used to see in the ‘90s. Just an overall cool ass box.
Like First Blood, First Blood Part II and Rambo III are fantastic looking, the greens of Vietnam (Mexico) and the yellows of Afghanistan (Israel) really popping with a new Dolby Vision HDR grades. The audio is another sweet upgrade, both films getting Dolby Atmos mixes that really make sure you hear every last bullet and every last Stallone grunt.
Just like First Blood, both films are absolutely stacked with extras, from BTS footage, numerous featurettes, deleted and alternate scenes and trailers galore. There is hours of extra material here for the real Rambo-heads.
I don’t think there’s been a bigger shift in tone than between First Blood and these two films. A series that started out somber and meditative immediately became brash, violent and dumb as rocks. But, that’s kinda what America became in the ‘80s, you know? We would do anything to gain our confidence back, and in its own sort of meatheaded way, Rambo helped in that journey of self-discovery.
So, while both of these films are shorthand for “dumb jock action cinema”, I can’t help but still love them for all their dumb, ill-advised violent goofiness (probably helps that I was once a dumb jock as well…).
*Funny enough, I had long thought that Rambo III was PG-13. Low and behold, I was actually thinking of Robocop 3, another adult film series that slowly became scrubbed of its edges so as to be consumed by a younger audience, which is genuinely insane for both series.
