Wrapping up our Rambo Retrospective, and since we did a review of the final movie Rambo: Last Blood last year, Ingrid and I wanted to wrap up this series and talk about our thoughts. Overall, Ingrid and I really enjoyed this franchise. We would rank them as such.
- First Blood (1982)
- Rambo (2008)
- Rambo: Last Blood (2019)
- Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
- Rambo III (1988)
But, overall, the only installments that really mattered to us were First Blood, Rambo and Rambo: Last Blood, with Rambo II only being necessary to bridge the gap between First Blood and Rambo.
In the first movie, John is being pushed around until his snaps and eventually turns himself in. Then, during Rambo II he goes to Nam and ends up staying there. From this film, the HOW is not important, only the fact he did it. Then in Rambo (2008), John is just broken and a shell of his former self until the rescue mission breaths new life into him, and he goes home. Then Last Blood makes it clear that, as Mafia III put it, Just because you’re home…doesn’t mean you’re back! And the war comes to him.
Those three movies tell a complete story that is such a tragedy! A Man who can’t catch a break. A man who has to constantly battle his demons, but always finds a way to release them. When you look at 1, 4 and 5, they present such a fascinating character piece on John Rambo, even more so than the character of Rocky Balboa in many ways, that you can’t help but feel pity for him. And even if you don’t get into character development, you’ll be entertained by the mindless action. I think I enjoyed it more for the character.
And that’s our Rambo Retrospective. Ingrid and I got two more franchises to watch and review soon so stay tuned!
