Rambo: 10 Ways The Sequels Completely Tainted The Brilliant Original

The “Rambo” franchise has a strange and interesting story. When everything started with “First Blood”, it was a dark drama about the sufferings of a Vietnam war veteran. However, from Rambo. Starting with “First Blood, Part II”, Rambo turned into a militant icon that the audience knows and loves. Despite the fact that the sequels are certainly interesting and iconic, they did almost the same as the debut full-length film Rambo. Despite all the fun and nostalgia embodied in the sequels of John Rambo, they undoubtedly destroyed some things that symbolized the classic war film by Sylvester Stallone.

10. Everything About Rambo: The Force Of Freedom

Rambo was a victim of his own popularity, which led to the baffling Saturday morning cartoon Rambo: The Force of Freedom. Styled after G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and aired after First Blood Part II, this cartoon had Rambo and Col. Trautman leading a paramilitary force of scrappy heroes in the fight against General Warhawk’s evil forces of S.A.V.A.G.E. By virtue of being a kids’ show, The Force Of Freedom was a child-friendly depiction of armed conflict that came with a toy line. Rambo dispatched bad guys using non-lethal techniques, nobody died, and a moral lesson was preached at least once per episode. The Force Of Freedom is everything that First Blood is not, but it’s still entertainingly bad and cheesy.

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9. Rambo’s Enemies Became Caricatures

While they may not be the nicest people around, Teasle and company aren’t disposable bad guys. Teasle (it is hinted that he is an avid Korean War veteran) is a power-drunk lawman whose comeback is thanks to Rambo. In some ways, First Blood can be seen as a blow to corruption in law enforcement, which is more widespread than anyone realizes. Rambo’s next enemies lack this humanity and nuance, being simplistic caricatures of crime and evil whose bloody deaths audiences could enjoy without feeling an ounce of guilt. For example, the next two Rambo films had cartoonishly evil soldiers, John Rambo’s Major Tint was a one-dimensional monster, and Last Blood had a generic drug cartel.

8. Rambo 2 Turned Rambo Into A Memetic One-Man Army

In First Blood, Rambo was on equal terms with his pursuers. Even though he was a former Green Beret and an expert in all forms of combat, Rambo was still defeated by some small town cops. This gave the film tension and stakes, as even Rambo could lose to unremarkable men with guns. Meanwhile, Rambo: First Blood Part II features such a dramatic tonal shift that it’s hard to believe it’s a sequel to a solid thriller. Here Rambo became an unstoppable force of nature who killed entire battalions, endured all kinds of torture and succeeded in war. This carried over into subsequent films and pop culture, with Rambo evolving from an efficient survivalist to a boy’s M60-wielding power fantasy.

7. The Sequels Became A Celebration Of Violence

Despite being a film about the vengeful journey of a Vietnam War veteran, First Blood represents a non-violence narrative. Sheriff Teasle and his men took sadistic pleasure in torturing the defenseless Rambo, and he responded with force. Even then, Rambo tried not to kill anyone, and his only murder was an accident. As cool as it looked, it caused chaos and destruction. In the sequels, Rambo made the excuse that he didn’t want to kill, but in the end he is vindicated by returning to the method of using guns. The sequels not only glorified Rambo’s relapses, but also showed it in a cool way. In contrast to the overt brutality of First Blood, the sequels portrayed Rambo’s carnage as a spectacle, which went against the themes of the original.

6. Rambo 2 Valorized The Vietnam War

First Blood Part II is notorious for portraying the Vietnam War in a positive light, essentially saying that the US has nothing to be ashamed of. Returning to Vietnam to prove the truth of a long-debunked theory about stranded American prisoners of war and communist massacres, Rambo took cinematic revenge for America’s wounded pride. This is a far cry from First Blood and today’s understanding of the Vietnam War (and war in general). Then and now it was like an abstract destructive force that left behind only victims, not heroes and villains.

5. The Sequels Featured Offensive Stereotypes

One of the greatest strengths of First Blood was that it was populated with multi-layered human characters. Rambo was a tortured army veteran, Teasle and his men were bullies with fatal insecurities, and so on. The same cannot be said about the sequels, which turned Rambo into a one-dimensional farce that fought exclusively against broad national stereotypes. The least offensive example were the Russians, who were cliche killers at worst. The worst cases occurred in First Blood Part II and Last Blood. Here, Rambo fought aggressively stereotypical Vietnamese and Mexican villains, respectively. The few sympathetic foreigners (such as Ko Bao in First Blood Part II) were exoticized while everyone else was demonized and shot in the face.

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4. The Sequels Sided With Controversial Figures

To be topical, the sequels featured Rambo fighting those deemed by headlines to be the bad guys while allying himself with the designated heroes. As a result, the movies portrayed certain militants heroically before they became controversial figures. In their defense, the filmmakers could never have predicted these turns for the worse, but the franchise aged terribly and suffered in hindsight. For example, Rambo III was dedicated to the Mujahideen before their involvement in the September 11 terror attacks. More recently, John Rambo sided with anti-junta Myanmar sentiments before the reformists were accused of committing atrocities worse than the junta’s. Meanwhile, First Blood Part II and Last Blood aligned politically with far-right reactionaries and ideologies. First Blood never had this problem since it was set in the U.S. and dealt with homegrown angst.

3. Rambo Lost His Humanity And Vulnerability

Along with The Terminator or John McClane, Rambo set the template for what would become the modern action hero. He’s a stoic man of action who gets caught in the wrong place and time, but he’s prepared to dispense bloody justice on America’s enemies. While strains of these were present in First Blood, the sequels ramped them up to ridiculous degrees. To turn Rambo into the embodiment of masculinity and patriotism, the sequels either toned down or excised his humanity and vulnerability. Gone was the Rambo who broke down in tears when remembering his beloved brothers in arms. Now, he was a stone-cold avatar of vengeance who memorialized the fallen through brutal murder and explosions.

2. Col. Trautman Never Got Any Closure

Colonel Samuel Troutman was Rambo’s mentor and father figure, and the heart of First Blood. Arriving just in time to rescue Teasle’s men from Rambo’s warpath, Trautman did everything he could to bring Rambo out peacefully. If First Blood had been left as is, Trautman’s redemptive arc to save the man he inadvertently doomed to shell-shocked soldiering would have been completed. Instead, it is pulled back unnecessarily. First Blood Part II perhaps does Troutman the greatest disservice, as it begins when he essentially forces a recovering Rambo to relive past traumas by sending him back to Vietnam. Richard Crenna’s death before John Rambo left Troutman in limbo, and he was killed off-screen without proper closure after his rescue in Rambo III.

1. Rambo Never Got His Peace

All Rambo wanted was peace. Unfortunately, he was forced to fight wherever he was. This constant denial and rejection drove Rambo over the edge, and if not for Trautman, he would have collapsed forever. If it had been a standalone film, First Blood would have provided Rambo with bittersweet peace as he, a soldier, finally came to terms with the futility of war. Because of their mere existence, the sequels destroyed every safe haven that Rambo had found. They all start with Rambo relaxing peacefully before being pulled back into war. Through no fault of his own, Rambo became a superfluous character. What was once Rambo’s tragedy has become routine, and his sullen self-pity and war ruminations that follow him around have become more obligatory than heartbreaking.