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Rambo Trilogy (Special Edition)

Rambo Trilogy (Special Edition)

List Price: $39.98
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: 3.5 Stars for Longevity alone!
Review: "Back then I could fly a chopper, drive a tank, and handle million dollar machinery, now I can't hold down a job washing cars". So speaks a tearful John Rambo at the end of the first of these three memorable action flicks (although it could be a page from Ted Kotcheffs resume now). Embittered, lost and victimized by an uncaring donut munching hick sherrifs department, he goes on the rampage and is saved from a Bonnie and Clyde exit in the nick of time by Richard Crenna. For me this was the high point and best movie of the trilogy, it was fresh, raw and inventive and what followed in the next two installments was just all out testerone bathed indulgence. So why recommend the set? well it's kind of like cookies without milk if you don't, and they're a good value price. The reproduction is crisp, and the transition to DVD is tastefully graced with some nice extra's. In part two, Rambo is liberated from prison and dropped in to rescue MIA's from pinko commy subversive's (and some home grown double dealing)and then moves on to Afghanistan in part 3 to save the World from even more enemys of the free World. The acceptable twisted morality of the movies has always amazed me, in so far as the villians are painted as so heinous, as to justify ANY means to bring them to justice by our hero. As has been said many times by others, an overwhelming body count, lots of bare torso muscle flexing, die hard action, and enough ammo to make an arms dealer blush all add to the meld. More than a little outdated, but still a great homage to the action era of the 80's and early 90's, it STILL has good repeat viewability. Little grey matter needed to enjoy the fun, and ridiculously cliche ridden, but a great addition to any true action fans collection. Enjoy

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: All time classic film, one man's fight for justice
Review: Arguably the 3 best movies of all time. The 1st one is the best though, all set in a forest. Rambo picked on by the law. Greatest lines all time all the way through especially by Trautman: "Get the body bags ready" "Rambo's been trained to eat things that'd make a billygoat puke" The faced on the deputies in the forest as they're taken out one by one is terrific. Stallone plays the part very well, having that Bronson style stare. The 2nd one is more gory and has more action. Yet again, Trautman always dressed perfectly, not a bead of sweat steals the show. Great scene when Rambo threatens Murdock! The 3rd finishes off a great series of 1980s movies. Its a trilogy i'll want my kids to see.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A One Man War in a three film set
Review: Chances are you've heard of John Rambo. But, if you were living under a rock or born in the past couple years, you might not be aware of him. Rambo was an action adventure character that made his first appearance in this film, FIRST BLOOD and made two subsequent appearances in the RAMBO films. But, beyond his screen appearances, Rambo has become a part of the world's pop culture. From cartoons to video games or from playground activity to Presidential speeches, John is there.

The film FIRST BLOOD introduces John as a Viet Nam vet who has outlived everyone from his battalion. And after another empty reunion in the Pacific Northwest, Sherrif Will Teasle mistreats him. He is hassled and arrested by Teasle's men but when they unintentionally dig out Viet Nam memories, John escapes to the mountains. Everyone, including the National Guard pursues him but now they are on John's territory, all of his guerrilla warfare training is put to use. The only hope for the town comes with the arrival of Rambo's commanding officer, Colonel Samuel Trautman. What was once a peaceful little town quickly becomes a war zone. At the finale, John is taken off to high-security prison.

RAMBO FIRST BLOOD PART 2 opens with John serving his time as a high-risk prisoner. That is until Col Trautman offers him freedom in exchange for participation in a dangerous mission involving American POWs in Nam. He accepts and heads out with a cutting edge arsenal of personal destruction. And where he travels, destruction is nearby as John battles Vietcong soldiers, a Soviet commander and even US government bureaucracy. As the film ends, we see Rambo walking off to find himself in the Far East, turning his back on his commanding officer Trautman.

Years later, RAMBO III opens with Trautman finding John doing some handyman work at a Buddhist temple. The Colonel asks John to help him on a final mission to rescue some Afghani's held by the mean old Soviets. Rambo turns it down but when Trautman himself is captured during the attempt, John tells the monks he's gotta go. He teams with an Afghani tribe to free his friend and help the helpless.

The Special Edition DVD's included in this four disc set are filled with amazing transfers. The DTS can challenge even the best sound systems! Also, the widescreen video transfer is crisp and beautiful, capturing the Pacific Northwest, Vietnamese Jungles and Afghani Mountains. For those who cannot stand the "black bars" of widescreen films, a standard version is available on each disc as well. Each film has a new documentary looking at the Creation of Rambo, the Rambo Phenomenon and the Afghani conflict as well as running commentaries. Each disc is nicely loaded but the films are the obvious draw. A fourth disc is included in the box set that is filled with featurettes and other value added attractions. This Box set even makes the inferior third film a wise purchase as a workshop curiosity.

If the rumor mill is correct, we'll be seeing Rambo again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A One Man War in a three film set
Review: Chances are you've heard of John Rambo. But, if you were living under a rock or born in the past couple years, you might not be aware of him. Rambo was an action adventure character that made his first appearance in this film, FIRST BLOOD and made two subsequent appearances in the RAMBO films. But, beyond his screen appearances, Rambo has become a part of the world's pop culture. From cartoons to video games or from playground activity to Presidential speeches, John is there.

The film FIRST BLOOD introduces John as a Viet Nam vet who has outlived everyone from his battalion. And after another empty reunion in the Pacific Northwest, Sherrif Will Teasle mistreats him. He is hassled and arrested by Teasle's men but when they unintentionally dig out Viet Nam memories, John escapes to the mountains. Everyone, including the National Guard pursues him but now they are on John's territory, all of his guerrilla warfare training is put to use. The only hope for the town comes with the arrival of Rambo's commanding officer, Colonel Samuel Trautman. What was once a peaceful little town quickly becomes a war zone. At the finale, John is taken off to high-security prison.

RAMBO FIRST BLOOD PART 2 opens with John serving his time as a high-risk prisoner. That is until Col Trautman offers him freedom in exchange for participation in a dangerous mission involving American POWs in Nam. He accepts and heads out with a cutting edge arsenal of personal destruction. And where he travels, destruction is nearby as John battles Vietcong soldiers, a Soviet commander and even US government bureaucracy. As the film ends, we see Rambo walking off to find himself in the Far East, turning his back on his commanding officer Trautman.

Years later, RAMBO III opens with Trautman finding John doing some handyman work at a Buddhist temple. The Colonel asks John to help him on a final mission to rescue some Afghani's held by the mean old Soviets. Rambo turns it down but when Trautman himself is captured during the attempt, John tells the monks he's gotta go. He teams with an Afghani tribe to free his friend and help the helpless.

The Special Edition DVD's included in this four disc set are filled with amazing transfers. The DTS can challenge even the best sound systems! Also, the widescreen video transfer is crisp and beautiful, capturing the Pacific Northwest, Vietnamese Jungles and Afghani Mountains. For those who cannot stand the "black bars" of widescreen films, a standard version is available on each disc as well. Each film has a new documentary looking at the Creation of Rambo, the Rambo Phenomenon and the Afghani conflict as well as running commentaries. Each disc is nicely loaded but the films are the obvious draw. A fourth disc is included in the box set that is filled with featurettes and other value added attractions. This Box set even makes the inferior third film a wise purchase as a workshop curiosity.

If the rumor mill is correct, we'll be seeing Rambo again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The American Dream!
Review: He's back, M16's with attached Cruise Missile launchers blazing. Everyone's favourite kick-ass-bandanna wearing super hero/fashion guru is back in a fantastic box set of DVD's, digitally remastered to blow you AND the commies away in style whilst sticking to the original visions of the creator himself Ted Kotcheff. So now when John Rambo gets up close and personal, the improved sound effects mean you can too.
Despite the addition of cut scenes, the impeccably original story remains intact. Disgraced Vietnam Veteran John Rambo is court marshalled for a crime he didn't commit and wages a "one man war" against both his former employers and the numerous bad guys he comes upon. 68 explosions, 90,000 rounds and 100 individual gun shot wounds to our hero later and we find ourselves on a cliff-hanger that would make Stanley Kubrick brick himself in suspense. It's so tense that it makes his later film classic "Cliffhanger" look like a muscley guy striding up some snowy hill for 2 hours.
In an interview last year, Ted explained the crisis that the creatively exhausted writers faced for the eventual ending. He said: "Basically, the engineers were fresh out of blanks for the fake guns. This created a problem I had never thought I could face; ending a film without using a gun. Because of this, we created and filmed various endings and picked the one that worked best."
So for your pleasure and of course Rambo's, here are some of the endings you'll find on this DVD:

* Rambo is saved at the last minute from "The General" in his personal rocket Helicopter by his allies the Viet-Kong Nazis, who fire an ICBM, stolen from the Russians, at the helpless General. Our hero luckily jumps behind a barrel marked TNT and therefore survives the explosion and Nuclear fallout.

* Just before Rambo fires his semi-automatic cluster bomb launcher, he is abducted from behind by none other than Adolf Hitler himself who we find had framed his suicide and with the help of the Commies had lengthened his life-span. Our Hero is then imprisoned in Castle Von Volfenstien and is tested on constantly to find "80's action hero skin piercing bullets" but to no avail. Rambo fights them off barehandedly. This idea was not used as the production company were faced with a lawsuit from the makers of Wolfenstien 3D.

There is even a bonus music track by the European Wing of the Rambo fan club. The Association of Rambo Servicemen (Europe) or ARSE for short, sing the parody of Meat Loaf's "Rock and Roll Mercenaries." What more could we ask for?
So sit back, strap on your Bandanna that comes free in every set and enjoy the show....

Xylophone.co.uk rating: 5/5 "An American Dream"


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Your worst nightmare
Review: I bought this at my local DVD store and this was the last one. I tried everywhere to find this. I enjoyed watching Rambo kicking A$$ all over. This guy is like a god figure. I heard all the hype when I was a kid in the 1980s but I didn't watched the Rambo series back then because I thought they were boring. But now that I own the movies I think different. I'm thinking of leaving my hair grow long like Rambo. LOL.

The bonus DVD is ok. But I get tedious about the talks of Vietnam and whatnot. I prefer widescreen than full screen. Overall I'm happy with the set. Thanks Artisan.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: do u know what action means?
Review: i have seen the rambo movies more than 200 times, and when my friends ask why? i ask them " have u seen rambo? " if the answer is no then i tell them "guys, then u don't know what action means, just watch these movies and u will understand what action movie is all about."

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good movie's...Not so good special feature's
Review: I really used to like the rambo movie's but was never what you'd call a HUGE fan.The first one was the best then i think they basically should have laid it to rest,cause it was a good classic.And no one really cared what happened to rambo after that.They just new he was upset and needed to start a new life,which would have been better.But all in all the other to movie's were'nt all that bad.The bone i have to pick is with some of the special feature's on the disc,there is to much Documentury material,about Vietnam,Afghanistan,etc.And also some lame elements about how they used mythological stories and images to come up with the charactar's and the movies.This is Rambo people,an X veteran of NAM,not Hercule's or Zeus,he seeks out and destroys enemies plain and simple.Just kinda ridiculous if you ask me.But not a bad box set if you just like the movie's,although interesting you can watch the History channel to hear about the Story's of war.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One classic, two others
Review: I'll admit it, I've got a soft spot for Sly Stallone. More than just a talented actor, I would call him a talented filmmaker since he has written or co-written so many of his films in addition to directing some.

The Rambo series is Stallone's second best (can't top Rocky!). Let me take a brief look at the films that comprise this trilogy.

First Blood: An all-time action classic, somehow underrated these days. This is a relentless piece of non-stop action that has served as a model for many other action pics. Some call John Rambo's "breakdown" scene laughable; I call it one of Stallone's finest acting moments. 5 Stars

Rambo: First Blood Part II: Totally different from the first one, this film was highly immitated due to it's overwhelming box-office success. Not nearly as effective as the first, it is more of a "guilty pleasure" as it consists primarily of Rambo blowing stuff up. 3 Stars

Rambo III: As Stallone's physique hardened, Rambo's personality softened. Sly has never been more chiseled, but he has turned Rambo into a nice guy who tosses off one-liners whenever given the chance. Still, there is more story here than in Part II (even if the topical story lost a lot of edge by the time the film hit theaters, as the Russians had pulled out of Afghanistan in real life). I prefer this to Part II, this movie went way over budget but the money is on the screen: the action sequences will leave you breathless. 3 1/2 Stars

This set is a bargain, and if special features are important to you (they aren't to me) you'll be pleased to have the 4th bonus disc which is exclusive to this set.

One important side note, unlike the previous DVD release, Rambo III does NOT include English subtitles for the Russian language that is spoken in some scenes. This is a significant error on Artisan's part, so consider yourself warned.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One classic, two others
Review: I'll admit it, I've got a soft spot for Sly Stallone. More than just a talented actor, I would call him a talented filmmaker since he has written or co-written so many of his films in addition to directing some.

The Rambo series is Stallone's second best (can't top Rocky!). Let me take a brief look at the films that comprise this trilogy.

First Blood: An all-time action classic, somehow underrated these days. This is a relentless piece of non-stop action that has served as a model for many other action pics. Some call John Rambo's "breakdown" scene laughable; I call it one of Stallone's finest acting moments. 5 Stars

Rambo: First Blood Part II: Totally different from the first one, this film was highly immitated due to it's overwhelming box-office success. Not nearly as effective as the first, it is more of a "guilty pleasure" as it consists primarily of Rambo blowing stuff up. 3 Stars

Rambo III: As Stallone's physique hardened, Rambo's personality softened. Sly has never been more chiseled, but he has turned Rambo into a nice guy who tosses off one-liners whenever given the chance. Still, there is more story here than in Part II (even if the topical story lost a lot of edge by the time the film hit theaters, as the Russians had pulled out of Afghanistan in real life). I prefer this to Part II, this movie went way over budget but the money is on the screen: the action sequences will leave you breathless. 3 1/2 Stars

This set is a bargain, and if special features are important to you (they aren't to me) you'll be pleased to have the 4th bonus disc which is exclusive to this set.

One important side note, unlike the previous DVD release, Rambo III does NOT include English subtitles for the Russian language that is spoken in some scenes. This is a significant error on Artisan's part, so consider yourself warned.


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