First Blood (1982)

Director: Ted Kotcheff

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Brian Dennehy, Richard Crenna

A veteran Green Beret is forced by a cruel Sheriff and his deputies to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.

Due to the success of the franchise, ‘First Blood’ is now known as ‘Rambo – First Blood’.

Sylvester Stallone stars as an ex-soldier avenging a handful of corrupt cops who mistreated him for no reason at all. And he certainly has the skills and experience to outwit them. Its hard to believe this film was made almost four decades ago. It still holds incredibly well and certainly stood the test of time.

I believe the action sequences and Stallone in the lead to be the selling point for this film. At the time, Stallone already gained worldwide recognition as Rocky Balbao in the ‘Rocky’ films. As for ‘First Blood’, I have a lot of issues with the film, but mainly with the lead character. He sure do cause way too much damage for a ‘responsible, innocent’ guy. His actions go way beyond what is called for. And he really ought to talk more.

If you’re looking for an action flick that doesn’t really care much for justifying character actions, and you’re a fan of Stallone, then this is definitely for you. I believe the message here is never to judge a book by its cover, figuratively speaking, off course. And it was quite fun seeing the tables turned. This film propelled Stallone to action superstar.

‘First Blood’ was a huge box office success, raking in $125 million on a $15 million budget.

Would I watch it again? I don’t think so.