Rambo IV gets the green light (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

Yes, however even though today's action stars fight for different things in their films, there is still much to root for in their charactors and the films are still undeniably fun and often very exciting.

In the Bourn films, Damon plays a former assasin who just wants to be left alone, but they keep provoking him into action. In Speed Reeves played a cop who finds himself in one hell of a desperate situation along with a dozen or so civilians who are all trapped on a high velocity bomb. Speed is one of the fastest action thrillers ever produced, that generated a level of danger and excitment I didn't think possible in a movie.

Your right, Steve, in that todays action hero's are no longer larger than life, however they still possess other very accessable and very sympathetic traits that make you root for them to beat the bad guy's and get out of the situation, just like we all used to do, and still do, with Arnold, Sly, Chuck, Bruce and even Steven Segal, in his Under Siege days anyway.

Point is, a great action film is a great action film, no matter who the hero is. As long as it's exciting, well written, well produced and the hero is likable and sympathetic, bring on the explosions!

I think maybe I should clearify myself in regards to Rambo IV, when this does come out, I will actually probably like it because I liked the other films. My point is, though, that I just don't think the general public will embrace this charactor or type of film anymore. We in this thread will probably like it, as well as those who grew up with this kind of action film like myself and obviously Steve have, but will anyone else?

I guess we'll find out.

 

[SteveCallas]

Ok, I'll agree with that. Today's action movies can still be entertaining, but I prefer the 80's films. Now as to whether or not the general public will embrace the John Rambo character again, I think that is more a reflection on society than anything else. Today's youth want a hero to be a shit-talking "badass" with an attitude like the Steve Austin persona, mostly because they don't have any respect. They'd look at Balboa, Rambo, Ducth, McCoy, Matrix, etc., and probably make fun of them.

 

[CoreyII]

Hey John Williamson,

1.) First of all, Rambo has never taken on an entire country. In the first film he took out a bunch of local red-neck cops. In pt.2 while the Viet-Cong he took out may or may not have been part of the village, he used cunning and stealth to take each one out one by one. And if memory serves me he took out the bulk of the Viet-Cong with a heavily armed Huey Helicopter, a feat in my opinion is totally believable within the scope of the film. In Pt. 3 Rambo and Col. Trautman were able to hold off the Russian forces long enough for the Afghan rebels to arrive. Yeah it stretched the films credibility a bit but not by much, I bought it.

2.) You have to understand that the original movie sets everything up for the hero to do the impossible things he can do. Rambo is not just a regular joe like John McClaine,he is a soldier,and an elite one at that. Even among his fellow Green Beret's he was considered the best. Like Maverick in Top Gun, he is the best of the best. John McClain on the other hand is just a regular meat and potatoes, blue collar kind of guy. Rambo is borderline superhuman. Comparing Rambo to McCLaine is like comparing the Batman to Sherlock Holmes.

Anyway, hey John Williamson, you brought up some really interesting points in your various posts and I'd like to address them all, but for now I have to go, later, take it easy man.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Yeah, I think I was off with the whole 'country' angle, it's been at least 5 years since i've seen the film's and I guess I got my wires crossed somewhere. :b

But the original point still stands, action films require us the viewer to accept a lot of pretty crazy things on faith, to ask questions or analyze them too much ruins the illusion and deadens the magic.

One of, if not THE, reason that I love John McClain is that he's just an ordinary guy who is thrust into these desperate situations, one's where he is out-manned, out-gunned and in the case of the original out-SHOED, yet uses every bit of his police training and courage to out-maneuver and out-wit the threat, all the while just simply wishing he were someplace else relaxing. And as played by Bruce Willis, he's just my idea of pure cool.

As far as his taking on two threats on the same evening two years in a row followed by a third that pursued him a couple of years after that, I simply use my imagination and begin to build a mental picture of his charactor. Meaning that fate, for whatever reason, has chosen this poor man to be the saviour of three terrorist threats, who knows why, maybe he was a bad kid and this is his cosmic payback.

That's my thing, when I come accross things that may be questionable in a film, I simply use some imagination to figure out why it's happening, and if I can't, I just let it slide and chock it all up to good clean fun.

 

[SteveCallas]

"it's been at least 5 years since i've seen the film's and I guess I got my wires crossed somewhere"

I'd say your in a good position to pick up the Special Editions from 2003. Same transfer as the new ones, DTS surround sound, and dirt cheap on Amazon. Who knows, you may want to purchase a knife afterwards.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I saw a used copy of the trilogy at my local Coconuts for $24.99, they've been just sitting there since forever so I may just pick this up today now that I have an inspiration to see the films again because of this thread.

They are the one's that were released in the metel slip box and the fold-out digipacks. What i'll probably do is call them during my lunch break today and ask a friend of mine who works there to pull it and put it aside for me and then pick it up after work.

I'll have to think about the knife, Steve. Although, I did buy an exact replica of Robocop's gun off of ebay, so it's not completely out of the question.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Well, I got it! I picked it up today after work and it's in just about perfect shape, all the discs are there and are all in pristine condition and the booklet is also there. The outer metel box has a couple of very minor scratches around the edges but nothing huge.

I'll probably watch all three this weekend, but i'm definitley going to sample some of them now as i've never heard them in DTS.

Thanks, Steve, for the suggestion.

 

[SteveCallas]

No problem. Part III really makes good use of the surrounds.

 

[Woo Jae]

I was surprised by just how good Rambo 1 worked and in some ways was better than 2. Rambo 2 was just plain out fun but Rambo 1 gave a lot of "character" to who John Rambo was. Rambo 3 was sorta meh. Decent but not as good as 1 and 2.

 

[Dennis Heller]

Wasn't "Rambo X" the movie about the Vietnam veteran/civil rights activist vowing to make his country love him as much as he loves it by any means necessary?

 

[Chris Atkins]

Where have we heard this before?

*COUGH* Rocky V *COUGH*

 

[SteveCallas]

I'll tell you what, Rocky V is my least favorite of the Rocky films, but every time I watch it, I grow to love it more. I can't help but laugh every time I hear

"It's the fittest of the survival"

But hopefully Rambo IV won't share too many similarities with Rocky V.

By the way, if you're reading, how did you enjoy the Rambo dvds John Williamson?

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Steve,
apologies for not posting much sooner. The dvd's were great! It's the best the films have ever looked and the DTS tracks were solid, and yes, Rambo III was the best audio wise.

I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but i've always sort of liked Rocky V. :b Seeing Rocky pummel that ungreatful muscle bound jerk off at the end made it all worth while. There are scenes that are just laughable, though, like his son going all bad and rebellious with his new tough Philly friends. I didn't buy that at all.

Also, this movie is sort of famous for featuring one of the most glaring continuity errors in cinema history! His son is about 6 when he's watching Rocky fight Drago on tv with his friends at the end of Rocky IV, then, even though Rocky and co. were only gone for a few weeks, his son miraculously ages almost a whole decade! Rocky must have gotten held up at the airport...for a loooooong time!

I love the song that plays over the end credits, though, I thinkit's called 'The Measure of a Man'.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Did the Rambo box set make you look into acquiring some new cutlery?

What I don't get is the hate everyone seems to have for the Rocky sequels. I figured everybody liked III, but I see it slammed all the time. Well, I pretty much like them all. Like Karate Kid III, Rambo V isn't a great movie, but it is watchable.

 

[Citizen87645]

And Julia Nickson was HOT!

 

[CoreyII]

Not only that, but when he decks that crooked Fight Promoter is good as well.

 

[Chris Atkins]

I like Rocky V okay, but not nearly as well as the first four. I was just pointing out that Sly was saying the same thing about Rambo IV that he was saying about Rocky V, i.e. "this one gets the character back to his roots."

 

[SteveCallas]

Greg_S_H, I love the Rocky sequels more than the original. Parts II, III, and IV are more entertaining, have better training sequences, and are much easier to watch over and over again. What I mean by that is when there is a Rocky Fest playing on tv, which seems to be about 6 times a year nowadays (this is a good thing), or when I feel like poppoing in a Rocky dvd, I will always choose to watch either II, II, or IV - and watch it several times.

It's kind of the inverse with Rambo. I can watch First Blood and First Blood Part II over and over again, but part III only once in a while. Hopefully part IV will be better than part III.

Karate Kid III is watchable, but The Next Karate Kid is unbearable.

 

[Trevor H]

Rambo 4, hell i'm still waiting for Over The Top 2

 

[Keith Paynter]

The heck with Rambo, give us more Judge Dredd!

"I am the law!!"