Delayed Reaction: First Blood

What I Guessed It Was About: John Rambo gets attacked by cops and is better at fighting back than they expected. There's some sort of speech at the end. It's the only thing that doesn't make this an Expendables prequel.

How I Came Into It: Rambo is ubiquitous. Even 30 years later, people remember the character (even if they don't realize why). He's an 80s icon and the ultimate symbol of the machismo action movies of that decade (Sorry Schwarzenegger). Like seeing the first Family Matters episode with Urkel, it's fun to see what started it all.

Why I Saw It: It's interesting that I just watched the Mad Max movies recently, because the same thing happened to that franchise that happened in this one. All the imagery that people think of from the franchise started with the second movie. Compared to The Road Warrior, Mad Max is pretty tame. The same goes for First Blood. Sure, it's a big action movie, but it's grounded in a lot of ways. [From what I understand], Rambo: First Blood Part 2 is when things get crazy. First Blood is almost quaint in the way that it's an escalation of a feud in a small town between the cops and a [highly skilled] veteran.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: I'm sorry, am I supposed to care when it gets to Rambo's speech at the end? I get that it's probably pulled from the book and that it differentiates the movie in a way that lets it stick out. I just don't care. God bless Stallone. I know he wasn't trying to be funny with that delivery, but it's a tough thing to pull off and it certainly played to none of his strengths.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend