Fans of the original Rambo trilogy are in for a treat this month courtesy of Studiocanal which has re-released the three films on DVD, Blu-ray and, especially excitingly, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.
The saga of former Special Forces soldier John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) kicks off with the 1982 adaptation of David Morrell’s novel, First Blood in which he’s is brutalised by officers from a small town Sheriff’s department following his arrest for vagrancy.
None of the films merit being taken too seriously but, unlike its immediate sequels, Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rambo 3, First Blood largely succeeds in its effort to tell a story which has multiple levels of depth & emotion and avoids the simplistic good guys v bad guys trope, instead serving up a trio of highly flawed protagonists
First up we have Rambo and Brian Dennehy’s Sheriff Will Teasle who, through their initial facing off against one another and refusal to back down, share equal culpability for the events which bring mayhem and devastation to the small town of Hope, Washington.
For his part, Richard Crenna’s Colonel Sam Trautman, Rambo’s former commanding officer who is brought in to help end the stand-off, actually shows little interest in bringing his former subordinate in.
Instead he seems to revel in his protégé’s evasion of the cops and National Guard and, at times, is clearly rooting for him, not least when he fails to share his suspicions that Rambo is still alive despite the Guardsmen blowing up the cave he’s hiding in.
With Rambo largely silent throughout the film’s running time, the lion’s share of the best lines go to Trautman whose arrival alongside the bombastic: “God didn’t make Rambo, I made him!” sparks off a series of exchanges between him and Teasle that provides pretty much all of the most quotable lines.
It’s only at the end that Rambo finally has two sizeable segments of dialogue, both of which Stallone under-pins with a deep sense of tragedy and bewilderment.
Without wanting to detract from Director Ted Kotcheff’s contributions, much of the credit for the film’s approach belongs to Stallone’s rewriting of the script which makes Rambo more likeable than he is in the source material.
His contributions reportedly include ensuring the character doesn’t embark on an endless killing spree – despite the death counts in the later films, Rambo only causes the death of one person in First Blood, and even then it’s arguably unintended and indirect.
These considerations are largely lost in the second two films which shift the action to Vietnam and Afghanistan respectively, and by pitch Rambo against the Russians, and dropping the relative nuance of the first film in favour of increasingly cartoon-like action and cheap jingoism which would later be parodied by Hot Shots! Part Deux and Team America.
While the premise is still far more outlandish than in the original film where Rambo’s skillset clearly would give him an advantage over weekend soldiers and small town deputies, the first sequel still has one (little) toe in reality, with Rambo going up against a relatively small outpost of Vietnamese and Russian soldiers and in an environment he understands all too well.
But the third film makes no such concessions and instead pitches him against an army which is better equipped and far more numerous than anything seen in the previous entries, while indulging in a caricature of the Soviets which was already outdated at the of the film’s release.
The three films are being released separately rather than as a box set and, as mentioned above, are available on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.
They’ve had an “extensive restoration,” which is illustrated on the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray editions in an extra containing a selection of ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots.
Sadly there’s no presentation or dialogue accompanying the clips so, while the audience gets to see how some scenes have benefitted from the clean-up, there’s no context or discussion of the challenges encountered during the process.
However it’s clear both from the excellent picture quality on this release and the ‘before’ clips that there’s been extensive work to done to present the films in the best possible shape.
The most interesting and satisfying extra is ‘Rambo takes the ’80s’, a new documentary spanning all three releases in which David Morrell, production team members and a line-up off film writers and critics discuss the franchise’s legacy and impact.
A decent collection of extras, the restored picture quality and the pre-Christmas release date makes this collection a great gift idea for action flick and Stallone fans.
RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD Special Features:
- Rambo takes the ’80s Part 1
- Drawing First Blood – Making Of
- Alternate Ending
- Outtake (Humorous Ending)
- Deleted scene: Dream in Saigon
- Original Trailer
- Trailer
- How to Become Rambo Part 1
- The Restoration
- The Real Nam
- Forging Heroes
- Audio commentary by actor Sylvester Stallone
- Audio commentary by screenwriter David Morell
RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II Special Features:
- Rambo takes the ’80s: Part 2
- We get to Win This Time
- Action in the Jungle
- The Last American POW
- Sean Baker – Fulfilling a Dream
- Interview: Sylvester Stallone
- Interview: Richard Crenna
- Behind the Scenes
- The Restoration
- Original TV Spots
- Original Trailer
- How to Become Rambo Part 2
- George P Cosmatos audio commentary
RAMBO III Special Features:
- Rambo takes the ’80s: Part 3
- Full Circle
- A Hero’s Journey
- Rambo’s Survival Hardware
- Alternate Beginning
- Deleted Scenes
- Interview with Sylvester Stallone
- Afghanistan A Land In Crisis
- Guts and Glory
- Behind the Scenes
- The Restoration
- Trautman & Rambo
- How to Become Rambo Part 3
- Original Trailer
- Original TV spots
- Selling a Hero (Easteregg)
- Peter MacDonald (Director) Audio Commentary