Cheap Rambo Trilogy (Special Edition) (DVD) (Sylvester Stallone) Price

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Customer Reviews of Rambo Trilogy (Special Edition)

'First Blood' features some of the greatest moments of action-movie overacting ever caught on celluloid! The tense verbal sparring between Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna) and Sheriff Teasle (Brian Dennehy) regarding their efforts to capture Rambo are just plain dripping with hammy machismo! And Sly displays his acting range as Rambo reveals his softer side to the Colonel... it's so touching! It *sniff* gets me *sob* right here, y'know?

'First Blood' novelist David Morrell's commentary track features plenty of anecdotes regarding the production of the flick, and the notion of the RAMBO saga as a modern myth, a distinction that the STAR WARS trilogy's been credited with as well. But his main focus is on the differences between his novel and the movie, and other changes that were made. Probably the most notable change was making our lovable one-man army a more sympathetic character! Many of Morrell's bits of commentary are expanded upon in the documentary feature that's included with this disc.

Now on to 'First Blood Part II', featuring Johnny's return to Vietnam to pick up a few American POWs. This time he's been double-crossed, and he's going up against hundreds of Charlies and several Soviet troops with a super-sized winged doom-chopper and his only weaponry is a big knife, and a bow with explosive-tipped arrows. Needless to say, those Charlies & Soviets don't stand a chance! With the help of legendary writer/director James Cameron, Sly manages to script one of The Gipper's all-time movie faves!

Director George Cosmatos' commentary track is full of his memories of the making of part II, with quite a few anecdotes & behind-the-scenes comments. He really goes into detail for the first half of the movie, then kind of trails off and adds only a few things here & there in the second half. Also thrown onto this platter is a doc discussing how the second Rambo™ flick became a big sensation and lest its mark on American pop culture.

Then there's 'Rambo III'. If you thought our hero's previous hell-raisings were ridiculously implausible, you ain't seen nothin' yet! Speaking of raising hell, this particular outing reflected a happier era when the US was helping Afghanistan fight a war, instead of fighting against them (this matter is discussed further in the doc included on this particular disc). It's amazing the difference several years makes, hmm? Anyway, Johnny's out to rescue his mentor Col. Trautman from a Soviet stronghold in Afghanistan. With the aid of a few of the natives, Rambo manages to rescue the Colonel & then proceeds to take out the entire Soviet occupation force single-handedly. The climactic tank-versus-Doom-Chopper game of chicken is easily one of action cinema's most unbelievable scenes. It's a moment that's so incredibly over-the-top, I'm pretty sure it's the main reason there's never been any subsequent RAMBO flicks. I mean, how do you top the hero surviving a head-on tank/chopper collision? Simple answer: you can't!

Director Peter MacDonald's commentary track, much like Cosmatos' in II, features plenty of behind-the-scenes anecdotes and great & not-so-great memories. He also kinda trails off in the second half, with only the occasional thought here & there.

Also thrown in for good measure (and to grab a few more shekels from the fanboys) is a bonus disc sporting several featurettes and documentaries. The First Blood™: A Look Back and Rambo™ III: Full Circle featurettes are basically just glorified music videos; needless to say, I wasn't all that impressed with them. The Selling of a Hero mini-movie is pretty silly: the entire line of Rambo action figures from the late 80s makes up the cast, with the price of each bit o' plastic "rung up" as it makes its grand entrance. For you economics- and marketing-majors, the Rambo™-nomics short featuring all sorts'a charts and graphs tracking the financial success of each movie ought'a get ya excited.

And what's a special features platter for the Rambo™ trilogy without a few documentaries that relate to the movies' subject matter? You have your weapons manual (Suiting Up: Rambo™'s Survival Hardware), a behind-the-scenes look at special forces training (The Forging of Heroes), and the memoirs of a few Vietnam veterans (Voices From Within) to give the viewer a real-life look at the people and events that inspired the creation and evolution of our man Johnny. The saga is also given in-depth analysis-- some might say TOO in-depth-- with Guts and Glory (various pundits' musings on what made Rambo™ such a big 80s icon and how it influenced American pop culture), and An American Hero's Journey (expands upon First Blood™ author's feature commentary about Rambo™ as a modern-day mythological hero).

I found the sound and picture quality of the Special Edition discs to be pretty good; four out of five stars all around. I was kinda disappointed that the clarity and sound crispness didn't improve all that much from the regular-edition platters, but at least it didn't get worse. And to keep both sides of the Widescreen-versus-Pan-&-Scan debate pacified, all three movies are available in both their original aspect ratio AND the full-screen format. Can't we all just... get along?

'Late

ACTION MOVIES-80'S STYLE
When i was a boy,i sneakily hired the original First Blood on VHS...i also watched what was the start of the eighties action movie.I love all three of these movies as they symbolise all the entertainment i loved when i was a kid.
Stallone is great as Rambo and what he can't do in the acting department, he makes up for in the action. The original Movie has its moments but its parts two and three that really has the bulk of the action as Stallone personally re-fights Vietnam and then kicks the Russians out of Afghanistan personally.
Being from England,i can understand the feelings towards the character of Rambo by the American people in the eighties as he symbolised the American hero who defended his country with honour. I personally enjoyed watching Stallone wipe out the Russians without any remorse in the first sequel and fighting his own Vietnam battle and winning.
I already own this boxset. I had it imported from the U.S because in England, Rambo III is censored badly (as is Cliffhanger,another favourite stallone movie of mine)
Buy this now...Hollywood doesn't have the guts to make them like this anymore!!

what dts/5.1 sound
This a great package overall, much better than what is availible here in Australia but the dts/5.1 mix on the first two movies is non existent everything comes through the center channel you get more out of the channels on your surround system by watching them in two channel mix the third movies fine.