First Blood
Sylvester Stallonehas been in a wide range of films throughout his career.
His most acclaimed franchise is theRockyseries, wherein he plays the titular Philadelphia boxer.
1976’sRockygave Stallone the chance to both write and act, and led to winning Best Picture at the Oscars.
Stallone’sRockylegacy lives on through theCreedmovies, the first of which earned him another Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
He is now the lead in the Paramount+ seriesTulsa King.
Stallone is a lot more than Rocky Balboa, however.
He has contributed his talents to franchises of varying quality over the years.
One such IP isThe Expendablesmovies, which have gotten mixed reviews throughout its four-film run.
Now, a movie from another one of Stallone’s key franchises gets reviewed by a Special Ops expert.
First Blood is an action-thriller film starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a Vietnam War veteran who drifts into Hope, Washington, in search of an old buddy. However, he is mistreated by the local sheriff, leading to a violent confrontation that sets off a chain of events, forcing Rambo to rely on his combat skills to survive.
This movie spawned multiple sequels, and as withCreed, theRambofranchise continued in the 21st century with two sequels.
These included the 2008 filmRamboand 2019’sRambo: Last Blood.
Keller begins by callingFirst Blooda “classic.”
Check out the full quote from Keller below:
Classic, I always wanted to be Rambo.
What kid didn’t?
Rambo First Blood is going off of a, like he’s an SF guy from Vietnam.
All this stuff would be 100% legit.
But are you getting a lot of it?
Like you might get one class.
Now some guys will actually train on this, on survival stuff, all the time.
John Rambo trained on that all the time.
He had done it in Vietnam for years and years.
Like that’s probably ingrained in his head.
Like, you’re done.
I mean cause he knows how to live in the woods, right?
So, 100%.
In this situation, he’s not wanting any trouble.
They push it upon him and now he has to use his skills.
I think most Special Ops guys getting out of the military do continue to do that in other organizations.
Or they do it, you know, create their own business doing it.
It’s kind of because for one you might miss it.
And for others, it’s just all you know.
Like if you go in the military at 17 years old.
So yes, that happens.
Even though the scenes might look a little bit hanky.
I mean I give it a 9.5, easy.
I mean it’s almost a full 10.
Keller also acknowledges, in brief, how influentialFirst Bloodwas as a film.
He begins his analysis by noting that he “always wanted to be Rambo” when he was younger.
This direct influence highlights the importance of the depiction of war in movies likeFirst Blood.
For some viewers, these are not just action movies, but formative pieces of media.
This heightened seriousness is reflected in the film’s rating.
In contrast,Rambo: Last Bloodgot just a 26% Popcornmeter.
