Rambo – The Complete Collector’s Set + Rambo –
Extended Cut + Lock Up (Lionsgate
Blu-rays)
Picture:
B/B+/B Sound: B/B+/B- Extras: C+ Films: B/C/C/B-/C
So it
seems that everything old is new again and Sly Stallone has resurrected his
career with that same idea. After the
shocking success of Rocky Balboa,
Stallone must have realized that there was some fuel left in his old
franchises. After putting the ending on
the Rocky Series that Stallone felt
it deserved, he set his sights on the insanely popular Rambo franchise. Audiences
across the board were thrilled to see John Rambo hit the silver screen again,
but how successful a new sequel would be after over twenty years was up in the
air.
The set
being reviewed here contains all four Rambo
films, including First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III and Rambo. Also being reviewed
here is Rambo: Extended Cut (the
fourth film in the series) that includes additional footage that was not
previously released on Blu-ray or DVD.
Finally in this review is a film unrelated to the Rambo Series, but instead showcases Stallone doing what he does
best in the film Lock Up.
For those
who have never seen the film, First
Blood is a film that has ex-Green Beret John Rambo (Sly Stallone) finally
coming back home after Vietnam
to reintegrate into society. John Rambo
sets his sights on America’s
beautiful Pacific North West in order to reconnect with some old military
buddies. Plans go all too wrong for
Rambo when he is essentially kidnapped and tortured by the local sheriff Teasle
(played by Brian Dennehy), for reasons that center on Rambo being a “worthless
part of society.” Everything is done to
breakdown John Rambo’s spirit and leaves him with nothing. With nothing left but his fight or flight
response, Rambo goes into all out fight mode; turning into Rambo, the one man
army. Rambo manages to escape the grasp
of the local police on a dirt bike, but after the cops chase him down (with one
officer firing on Rambo and that officer losing his life) Sheriff Teasle
declares all out war on Rambo. Rambo’s
commanding officer (Richard Crenna) is brought in to talk both the sheriff and
Rambo down, but it seems all too late as it becomes Rambo versus the world (or
the National Guard) as this all out ‘trained killing machine’ has been turned
on and the off switch is broken.
Stallone
may be seen as a action hero (like that of The
Expendables) that is more about blowing things up then true substance, but
films like Rocky and First Blood prove that he is a smart
and holds more depth then he is given credit for. First Blood is a thrilling ride that shows a war veteran that was
lost in this world and when it seemed like he had nothing left, people took
even more. Sure, the film is a violent,
action-fest but it also has a deep layer of substance that should not be
overlooked. The Rambo Series as a whole is wonderful, with the first and last
installments being its shining moments; bookending the series in blood
splashing greatness.
Rambo: First Blood II and Rambo III were not the exciting creative force that the first film
was, but John Rambo had found an audience and they demanded more. First
Blood II destroys the serious nature of the first film, by having Colonel
Trautman (again Richard Crenna) busting the cop killing John Rambo out of
prison to aid in a secret military mission to rescue POWs that remain in
Vietnam. Rambo was sent in only to take
pictures and essentially come up with a plan of action, but the traumatized vet
takes it very personally (of course) and makes it his mission to free the
POWs. Some other freedom fighters and
characters are met along the way, but the big ‘plot twist’ comes when we find
out that the Russians are involved in this POW tale (Cold War anyone?). As the film develops Rambo loses those who he
has begun to care for, once again setting this fragile PTSD victim into a one
man war. Rambo III takes us to Afghanistan where Colonel Trautman
(again Richard Crenna) is on a mission to free the country of Soviet
Control. Trautman asks Rambo to help,
but he is a new man with Buddhist beliefs and refuses. Of course everything in Trautman’s plan goes
wrong and he is captured by the evil Russian Colonel Zaysen (Marc De Jonge);
cue John Rambo! Rambo steps on the scene
to save his former commander from the clutches of the evil Russians, again
forming a one man war. This time he does
have the help of the Mujahedeenian Rebels, but it is mostly Rambo doing the
heavy lifting.
All in
all, I find that the two sequels for their many short comings are enjoyable if
nothing else. Parts II and III are action
packed films that, whereas ridiculous as hell, manage to have fun with the
Rambo character, though they strip away much of what the character was meant to
be/stand for in the original.
Finally,
we have Rambo. Yes, Rambo.
Not Rambo IV, First Blood IV or Stallone’s Big Pay Day 2008, but Rambo.
As discussed previously on this site, it has become an odd trend for
films to simplify (or completely change) established film series titles;
ranging from Rocky to Diehard, it has all been tampered
with. Moving on, Rambo is a trip back into the life of former Green Beret John Rambo
after over 20years off the big screen.
Cutting to the chase, Rambo has
managed to revitalize a floundering series that was made into a joke in parts II and III. The original First Blood was overflowing with
action, drama and suspense and in turn made audiences love the film. Rambo has
John Rambo living a modest reclusive life in Thailand, where he catches snakes
and is a boatman for hire; wholly keeping to himself. Rambo’s life is thrown through a loop when a
group of Christian Missionaries (lead by Paul Schulze of Sopranos fame) decide
to get into a heap of trouble, in turn dragging Rambo along for the ride. The missionaries are captured and a group of
mercenaries are hired to recover the misguided bible bumpers. Rambo is begrudgingly convinced to help the
mercenaries on their mission, whether he and they like it or not.
Rambo is a thrilling end (?) to a series
that made Sly Stallone who he is today.
The film embodied the gritty, gory, action packed thrills of the
original while integrating a solid, believable storyline that holds the
audiences attention throughout. Rambo is certainly one of the most
violent and bloody films this reviewer has seen in a long time; full to the
brim with exploding body parts, ripped out throats and just a “bloody” good
time. Now Rambo: Extended Cut which is sold as a separate Blu-ray disc and
not in the box set (why I don’t know) contains about 8 minutes of additional
footage that adds little to the film.
Extreme Rambo film buffs may
find that those 8 minutes are amazing or awesomely add to the film, but the
common viewer the two versions are nearly identical. I find that Rambo was a wonderful way to end the series and it is time to let
John Rambo live his reclusive life in peace.
Rambo made up for the short
comings of the previous two sequels and comes full circle to resurrect the
greatness of the original.
The final
film reviewed here is Lock Up. Lock
Up is a 1989 Sly Stallone film that is often forgotten, but has its
moments. The story goes that Stallone
(as Frank Leone) is serving his last six months in prison and plans on doing so
quietly. Donald Sutherland (as Warden
Drumgoole) has other plans for Leone, swearing that he will serve long and hard
time well beyond 6months. It seems that
the warden is holding a grudge against Leone as he is the only inmate to have
ever escaped Treadmore Prison while Drumgoole was warden. Leone had only escaped Treadmore to visit his
dying mentor; who he had previously been denied access to. The film goes off on a journey of living hell
as Leone is subjected to both mental and physical torture under the order of
Warden Drumgoole. Leone is beaten,
thrown in the hole and mentally abused in order to get him to slip up and serve
more time. A chain of corruption is
exposed as plot twist after plot twist has the audience not asking will Leone
serve more time, but will he make it out alive?
Lock Up is not Stallone’s
best film, but is well constructed (though a bit over the top) and with the
likes of Donald Sutherland, Stallone and Tom Sizemore starring it turns out to
be a fun and interesting film.
The
technical features from Vietnam
to Burma
on this 4 disc Blu-ray Set are identical to the previous releases and Rambo: Extended Cut is the same as the
2008 release, with the exception of the 8 or so extended minutes of
footage. First Blood, Rambo II and Rambo III are all presented in 2.35 X 1
1080p High Definition that are nothing astonishing as they show their age with
degrees of debris and spottiness. There
is a nice amount of detail, solid blacks and color when compared to the many
DVD releases, but for Blu-ray Rambo
I-III deserves better. There are
degrees of softness throughout the first three films, but flesh tones are nice
and light/dark are adequately balanced.
The sound on the first three films is a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio that
projects well and uses all of the speakers, but lacks the ‘oomph’ that one would
expect from a Rambo collection as
bass is somewhat weak. The dialogue
comes through clearly and overall can be called excellent, well balanced and
without distortion.
Rambo (coming 20 years later) fairs much
better than the first 3 films and has much more immersive picture and
sound. The picture and sound on Rambo (in the collector’s set) and Rambo: Extended Cut are identical,
except (once again) for the few added scenes.
The picture is presented in a 2.35 X 1 1080P AVC encoded High Definition
Widescreen that intentionally holds a gritty, sun bleached quality. Outside of the intended styling the picture
is crisp, clean and clear with solid blacks and vibrant colors (when they
appear) that capture the fourth installment well. The sound is very well done in its DTS-HD 7.1
Master Audio that brings the ‘boom’ that the first three films lacked on
Blu-ray. The viewer constantly feels
surrounded in the jungle and when the action hits the speakers ignite to give a
fully immersive film experience.
In terms
of extras we are treated to over 20 explosive bonus features. For First
Blood the audience receives a full audio commentary from Sly Stallone as
well as a second from writer David Morrell (who wrote the book the film was
based on). Both Stallone and Morrell
commentaries are pretty interesting and though they slow down at times they
manage to divulge a fair bit of information to keep the track lively.
Also on First Blood there are a few deleted
scenes, an alternates *gasp* suicide ending and an interesting featurette
entitled “Drawing First Blood” that is a 22minute retrospective into the making
of the film. Rambo II features a commentary from director George Cosmatos that
is interesting, but not as good as the one featured on the first film. Also on this disc is a featurette entitled
“This Time We Get to Win” that for 20minutes discusses much of the filming
process and trivia not found anywhere else.
Rambo III has a commentary
track from director Peter MacDonald that is very interesting as he discusses the
many conditions they were forced to shoot in on top of working with American
helicopter pilots (it is no surprise they shot the film mostly in Arizona and
NOT Afghanistan). Also for Rambo III are some deleted scenes as
well as an alternate opening and two alternate endings (one is a blooper). Like parts 1 and 2 Rambo III has a ‘making of’ featurette entitled Afghanistan:
Land in Crisis. Finally, Rambo features the same plethora of
extras that were released on the last Blu-ray; including but not limited to
audio commentaries and featurettes. The
featurettes include It’s a Long Road: Resurrection of an Icon; Score to Settle:
Music of Rambo; A Hero’s Welcome: Release and Reaction; Legacy of Despair: The
Real Struggle to Burma;
Art of War: Completing Rambo. There are some deleted scenes. Rambo:
Extended Cut features a featurette entitled “Rambo: To Hell and Back”
Director’s Production Diary, as well as ~8 minutes of additional footage that
neither adds nor detracts from the film.
Lock Up has a similar picture quality as
the first three Rambo films, but the
sound is a bit worse. The picture is
presented in a 1.85 X 1 spherical Panavision transfer that is very crisp, clean
and clear with solid black and the occasional explosion of color in a very dark
film. The sound is a 5.1 DTS-HD Master
Audio that has its moments but for the most part falls flat as the bass is
weak, weak, weak even as the sound does deliver a fair bit of ambient noise to
give a quality prison atmosphere. The
dialogue is crisp and clean as it projects from the front.
Extras on
Lock Up include a few brief segments
including “Making of Lock Up,” Sylvester Stallone Profile, a Behind the Scenes
featurette and Theatrical Trailer. The
extras are adequate, but nothing amazing.
After
this long winded review I can say that there is no reason to upgrade your Rambo Collection if you already own it
on Blu-ray, but if you don’t this is the thinner set to pick up. Lock
Up is an interesting film that delivers a heavy dose of Sly doing what he
does best, being an action star.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
