I've been hankering to revisit both of Stallone's most successful franchises, Rocky and Rambo, for quite some time. I'm intimately familiar with his pugilistic masterpiece, but amazingly I've only seen each of the Rambo films a single time each. Bart has only seen one film all the way through. That situation is simply untenable.
Thus we've begun to reexamine this bloody series starting with First Blood, which I remember as being easily the best movie in the series. When you think of Rambo, most people think of the character's second incarnation: a shirtless, headband clad uber-soldier cutting a swath of righteous destruction through an enemy jungle. (Either that or you think of this scene from UHF or most of Hot Shots Part Deux.) It's easy to forget that the first entry in the series is actually a harrowing nightmare of PTSD-fueled violence set in small town in Oregon, or that the film has quite a bit to say about society's mistreatment of military veterans.
But there's also a lot of Stallone being a total badass, so that's what audience chose to focus on.
In our latest episode, Bart and I discuss Rambo's gritty origins, determine whether Brian Dennehy is a complete dick and ponder whether or not Rambo should have died in the end as originally intended. We also chat about Matt Damon's imminent return to the Bourne franchise, speculate as to a future King Kong/Godzilla face off and discover Google's spectacularly unflattering celebrity profile pics.
Next Week: Rambo: First Blood Part II
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