Once in a while, an actor will portray a character this is so well suited to them that they become identified with that character from then on. Sylvester Stallone has been so fortunate as to have two such roles in his career (so far). While it was Rocky Balboa that made Sly a star, it was John Rambo that, deservedly or not, made him an icon. First there was 'First Blood', the story that introduced audiences to the loner, John Rambo, a burned out, disillusioned Vietnam vet that wanted nothing more than to be left alone only to find himself the object of wrongful persecution. The film became a success, due mainly with the public's fascination with the concept of a lone hero pitted against insurmountable odds. Following on the success of the first film came 'Rambo, First Blood Part II'. Though generally derided by critics for it's incredibly implausable story, audiences, none the less, made 'Rambo, First Blood Part II' a huge hit, thus assuring at least one more sequel. So, 'Rambo III' is announced and everyone (critics, that is) is set to savage it, only to discover that it turns out to be, possibly, the best of the three films. While no one is likely to mistake the Rambo films for great 'cinema', they provide more than their share of escapist entertainment and take their rightful place among the elite of the action genre.
All three films have now been released on laser disc from Live Home Video with new letterboxed transfers. A rather good letterboxed edition of 'First Blood' was released some time ago by Image. This reviewer chose not to replace the Image disc in his collection so this review will deal with only the sequels.
Simply put, the new transfers for 'Rambo, First Blood Part II' and 'Rambo III' are excellent. As in TH-Xcellent. Though none of the three discs carry the, now coveted, THX seal of approval, at least the second two are easily the equal of most of the discs that do. First, 'Rambo, First Blood Part II'. The first thing one notices when this disc spins up is the color. Really incredible color, deeply saturated without a trace of chroma noise. Then comes the clarity of the image. Absolutely smooth with excellent detail and sharpness combined with near perfect contrast and brightness makes this disc look more like film than video. Filmed in Panavision, this transfer has a ratio of about 2.25:1.
The transfer on 'Rambo III' is at least as good as 'Rambo, First Blood Part II', though colors are a bit more muted but the image is, if anything, even sharper and cleaner. The most noticable thing about this transfer is what isn't noticable. Video artifacts. There ain't none. Also a scope film using cameras and lenses from the Joe Dunton Co. (known as JDC Scope), the transferred ratio on 'Rambo III' is a bit over 2.40:1, indicating a small amount of overmatting, however, this reviewer found nothing objectionable.
The audio on 'Rambo, First Blood Part II' is very good, though lacking somewhat in the low end. There are a number of terrific directional effects and the surround track is very effective, providing as good an envelopement effect in the jungle scenes as I have heard. 'Rambo III', on the other hand, lacks nothing in the way of audio. This film contains enough explosions for two movies and the solid bass this soundtrack delivers is sure to make future demo material.
'Rambo, First Blood Part II' runs 95 minutes, with 'Rambo III' clocking in at 102. Both discs are chapter encoded with 18 and 16 chapters respectively. Retail price is $39.95 each. At this price, one would have hoped at least for the theatrical trailers but, alas, none were included.
A final comment. This reviewer has found in the past that a high quality presentation, while not making a film any better, can make it easier to watch. Whether it's the widescreen framing or the transfer quality or even a different attitude of the viewer, whatever the case, both these films seem better now than one remembers. Try them out for yourself.
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