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Fresh (32)
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DVD (31)
The darker tone, somber subtext, and generally non-exploitative violence allow viewers to enjoy the film not only as an action/thriller but as something with a degree of intelligence and substance.
This action film hangs on an interesting reversal, taking the crazed-killer-in-the-woods theme from Friday the 13th and turning it inside out-- the psychopath is now our hero, a maladjusted ex-Green Beret played by Sylvester Stallone.
Director Ted Kotcheff has all sorts of trouble with this mess, aside from credibility.
Sylvester Stallone is one of the great physical actors in the movies, with a gift for throwing himself so fearlessly into an action scene that we can't understand why somebody doesn't really get hurt.
First Blood is ragged and flashy; it ought to be a big success with audiences that value action for its own sake.
First and most popular Rambo; and yes, bloody.
As befits a story of internal conflict, Ted Kotcheff lays out the action in an adroit style derived from Anthony Mann
The entryway to the disturbed psychological headspace of a single man, one bent evermore on survival, instinct trumping all.
...does get loonier as it goes along, yet for a while it's actually a mournful and sobering action-movie treatment of postwar stress.
One of the all time most kick ass movie.
...First Blood primarily comes off as a relatively tame survivalism flick...
An effective, if outlandish, picture that exists merely for its big-screen thrills.
The film is just too somber and preachy.
The film that introduced John Rambo is a gripping survival adventure with an emotional ending that's downright moving. Jerry Goldsmith contributes an excellent musical score.
As a Stallone vehicle this is sleek, slick and not unexciting, but crassly castrates the David Morrell novel on which it is based.
Stallone's dogged tale of survival seems so fresh you'd swear it was made last week . . . except for the sad truth that they don't make 'em like that anymore.
Rambo defeats the United States!!! The reason there shouldn't be sequels.
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