Blu-ray Review: Rambo

A blood-soaked and gory good time

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Tuesday, May 27th 2008 at 2:12 PM

Back when Meet the Spartans narrowly edged out Rambo at the box-office I asked, "Seriously, did Fox just buy all the tickets?" Obviously this is sarcasm in an article headlined "America Proves Its Stupidity as 'Meet the Spartans' Wins Friday Box-Office," but as it turns out this may not be too far from the truth.

No, it wasn't Fox out there snatching up tickets for their own film, but according to a comment on the featurettes on the Rambo Blu-ray almost $2.5 million of the $18.7 million Meet the Spartans earned its opening weekend may be due to underage kids buying tickets to the PG-13 Spartans just to see the hard R-rated Rambo. Makes sense to me, and the world begins spinning again, as I had the chance to once again revisit what may be the best Rambo feature to date. It all really depends on your mood. Should it be a day for nostalgia, First Blood definitely rises to the top, but Rambo is a film that depicts the journey of one man's hell. No matter where he goes he can't seem to avoid ripping someone's throat out or sticking an arrow right through a bad guy's dome. Lucky for us, it was all caught on camera.

I am not sure if it is the high-definition video from the Blu-ray I watched or I just wasn't paying close enough attention in the theaters, but while I knew this film was bloody I didn't realize just how bloody it really is. As it is said in the featurettes by Editor Sean Albertson, this movie was submitted and they expected an NC-17 rating – they got an R and rolled with it. So, despite rumors that there may be a director's cut around the corner; according to the comments on this disc you got everything they intended to show you in this version. [ ... ]