An action-packed slog

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

First Blood is such a great drama film with many underlying themes that to classify it as a typical Stallone action flick would be doing it injustice of the highest order. The film opens with a Vietnam vet returning home and not just feeling ostracized but also profiled and harassed in a small town, led by an evil sheriff and his henchmen. There are themes of post war stress disorder, loneliness, betrayal and hurt under the umbrella of the overall action machismo. That is not to say there isn't any action sequences- they are present albeit low-key. Stallone is quite good (considering he wasn't even the first or second choice) and shows his thespian skills here. The cinematography is very good and the locations (British Columbia) combine great montages of the scenery as well as the small town. First Blood is a great watch. It is well above and beyond an action film.

First blood came out in 1982, 10 years after the book it's loosely based on and while the basic premise stays the same the book and movie are very different. in the book Rambo is portrayed as a psychopathic Vietnam veteran with post traumatic stress disorder who isn't afraid to kill his enemies and even some civilians. His nemesis Will Teasle in the book is a tragic Korean War veteran who pursues Rambo for revenge on killing his foster father. The movie however flips they're roles in the story in the film John Rambo (not named John in the book) is a victim of misunderstanding and abuse. Ten years after the war he is still suffering nightmares from it and is portrayed as a tragic hero who only wants to survive. the sheriff is also very different and instead of a sympathetic man who is also suffering from PTSD, he is a vindictive monster who hates Rambo instantly. At first Teasle is portrayed as a kind man who seems well respected but when Rambo asks him if he could get something to eat, we see his true nature which leads to the war. Things go from bad to worse when Teasle learn Rambo was a hero in the Vietnam war and wrongly assumes that Rambo murdered his friend Art Galt when it was only an accident. I say he hates Rambo for his veteran status because while it was never stated Teasle still is a veteran as there are war medals in his office. As an audience we sympathize and side with Rambo since he did nothing wrong and was arrested for looking like a vagrant and even though the other policemen probably knew he was innocent they decided to harass and abuse the hero until he snaps and suddenly it's like he's back in Vietnam, fighting a war he never wanted but was forced into Rambo barely gets out at the end when his friend Sam Trautman played by the late Richard Crenna talks him out of killing teasle and if i said i didn't want to see Teasle die for his cruelty and hypocrisy, I would be lying but if he did kill Teasle, Rambo would have died. Honestly i have no gripes about the movie i think it's one of the cases where the cliche that states the book is always better than the movie is proven wrong. Before i get to my final thoughts on this film i just want to say that i think that the scariest aspect of this move is it's brutal honesty, realism, and how it's still relevant today. I say realism because the characters are portrayed like real people. Rambo isn't a buffed up action hero who can take on a whole army killing them all while barley breaking a sweat. He's a tragic hero who just wants to be accepted in society, and with police killing and harassing innocent people everywhere now more than ever, we can relate to John Rambo and that is why he's sympathetic. this movie is well ahead of it's time, making the police the villains was a very risky move and even though Rambo's fighting people who are usually depicted as lawful authority we see early on that is anything but true. In the trailer the narrator says: "they knew he was innocent and they didn't give a damn," which is a perfect way to describe police brutality. It was Sylvester Stallone's idea to make Rambo sympathetic and while other actors wanted Rambo to be the villain like in the book and Teasle to be portrayed as the hero instead. An idea that i think is out of the question since as it is First blood is one of my favorite movies of all time. Long live John Rambo.

First blood is certainly one of the classic action movies of all time.Character of John Rambo is actually very interesting as a war veteran,who has terrible traumas from war.That fact actually explains his pain as well as his skills.Rambo isn't all muscles and skills,he actually has reasons why is he like that.That is a big plus for this movie,because most of the 1980s action movies didn't have that type of hero.

Vietnam veteran John J. Rambo was only hoping to visit an old war buddy but when he gets to his home he learnt that he died the year before from cancer caused by Agent Orange used in the war. He walks on to the nearest town, just hoping to get something to eat before moving on. Here he is stopped by the local sheriff, Walt Teasel. He doesn't want drifters like Rambo in his town so drives him out of town. Rambo turns to walk back into town and is promptly arrested and once in custody he is mistreated by some of the deputies. This causes him to have flashbacks of the torture he experienced in Vietnam. He then fights back and escapes, steals a trail bike and heads to the wooded mountains outside town. Teasel and his deputies give chase but it is soon apparent that they have bitten off far more they can chew; one deputy tries to shoot Rambo from a helicopter but falls to his death after Rambo throws a rock at it. The rest are picked off one by one; not killed but incapacitated. Eventually State Police and the National Guard are called in. At this point Rambo's former C.O. Col Trautman arrives and cautions against continuing the chase unless they want a war that they have no chance of winning.Given that this film has a reputation for being overly violent one might be surprised that only one character died… perhaps those criticising it had just read the book which contains far more deaths. There are other scenes of violence though; the way Rambo is treated is definitely 'police brutality' and the way the deals with the pursuing deputies is shocking at times. This film is an impressive action film but it also has a message about the treatment of Vietnam veterans and police attitudes to people they don't feel fit in with the sort of people they want in their town. This message is pretty obvious without being too heavy handed. Sylvester Stallone is on great form as Rambo to such an extent that it is impossible to imagine anybody else in the role. Brian Dennehy is also impressive as Sheriff Walt Teasle; the character could easily have been a pantomime villain but Dennehy's performance makes him human. There is also a fun performance from Richard Crenna as Col Trautman and solid performances from the rest of the cast. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to anybody wanting a solid action film that packs lots of great moments into its short run time.