QUICK REVIEW: First Blood

Howdy people of the internet, time for another film review and today I’m gonna be talking about First Blood; the first in the Rambo film series. I saw this for the first time maybe in 2008 or 2009 and I remember loving it, however, it’s been a good few years since I saw it last and after reading Anna’s review at Film Grimoire, I had to check this film out again.

The story can be described as the following:

“An ex-Green Beret named John Rambo is pursued into the mountains surrounding a small American town by a tyrannical Sheriff and his abusive deputies, forcing him to survive using his combat skills.”

I love the story as it was very engaging, dramatic and unexpected, plus it was a quintessential aspect of the film and was always at the forefront, rather than being a lazy part of the film like a lot of modern action films. This film was mainly about the personal and mental after effects of war, the complications that come with reintegrating into society, and how some prejudice and unpleasant behaviour can cause a great deal of unnecessary drama. The story is incredibly strong on an emotional level, from the beginning the tone is set with a melancholy/hard-hitting tone and as more details are revealed the drama only gets stronger, culminating in one hell of an ending.

The cast was also fabulous as well. Sylvester Stallone was just amazing as John Rambo. This character was a damaged, lonely, misunderstood and troubled individual with PTSD from the war, he only wanted to continue his life in peace, but some foolish people gave him problems and that’s when things got interesting. And as the film went on, you start to see what kind of beast Rambo really was as he’s aggressive, meticulous, creative and an expert in combat and weaponry and adapting to different environments. People forget that Stallone can actually act thanks to all of the action films he’s done in recent years, however, it is films like these that show how great he can be with the right material, those final moments of the film almost bring a tear to my eye because of how much emotion Stallone conveyed. Richard Crenna as Colonel Sam Trautman was also brilliant as well, he was a straight-talking, no-nonsense kind of guy who knew Rambo from the war and offered advice to the police on how to stop him, but was rarely acknowledged. Brian Dennehy gave a good  performance as Sheriff Will Teasle, here we had the definition of a prick, this guy was antagonistic, rude and overconfident, he had all the traits of a villain from the moment you met him and Dennehy played the part to a tee.

I also really liked the action, while he damage that Rambo caused was circumstantial and not intentional, his pursuers were either not aware of the difference or they didn’t care, regardless the authorities wanted him and Rambo wasn’t having it, so he went to town and left trail of chaos behind. Whether he was dispatching police in hand-to-hand combat, setting tramps in the woods, getting followed in car chases or just blowing stuff up, there was plenty of awesome and memorable sequences. Oh and the music Jerry Goldsmith’s score was so energetic, versatile and worked for all of the emotional points as well.

In conclusion First Blood is a brilliant action film that illustrated the damage of war and how one man can be a force to be reckoned with when pushed over the edge. The performances were great, the action was solid, I can not recommend this film enough as it has a lot of the best aspects that make action films worth watching.

Rating: 8.5/10

So have you seen First Blood and if so what did you think of it? Be sure to leave youre thoughts in the comment section below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀