Sylvester Stallone cemented his place among the top ’80s action heroes when he starred as troubled Vietnam vet John Rambo in First Blood. The series has spawned five films (and an ill-conceived cartoon series):
First Blood (1982)
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
Rambo III – (1988)
Rambo – (2008)
Rambo: Last Blood – (2019)
First Blood is the most thought-provoking of the five films. In it, John Rambo is a veteran suffering from PTSD. He comes to a small town with a small-minded sheriff who tries to run the ex-soldier out of town. When Rambo refuses to leave, he is arrested. The situation escalates, and before long he is fighting a one-man war against the whole sheriff’s department and a battalion of the National Guard.
Rambo: First Blood Part II saw John recruited by the CIA to go back into Vietnam. The whole mission is a setup and Murdoch, the man in charge, is willing to sacrifice Rambo. This leads to the classic scene where John has been captured by the Russians and is tortured. He is allowed to radio headquarters long enough to say, “Murdoch…I’m coming to get you!”
Rambo III has been mired in controversy since its release. In the film, John heads to Afghanistan during the 1980s Soviet invasion to fight alongside the Mujahadeen. The film ups the action, and the amount of destruction John sends down on the Russian troops is colossal.
In 2008 we saw Stallone direct the fourth film in the franchise, simply called Rambo. In it, John leads a group of Christian missionaries into war-torn Burma. When the missionaries are captured, he must use all his skills to free them, personally taking out over 250 soldiers in the process.
Rambo: Last Blood was written by Stallone. An older Rambo heads to Mexico to rescue his friend’s daughter. When she is killed by the cartel, John wages a one-man war against them, eliminating the whole gang in the process.
You can watch every Rambo film on Amazon.