I've got a few notes from my viewing of First Blood last night that I thought I'd share because... because I can.
Before the movie started, there was an interview with Sly himself. I didn't catch the entire interview but it was clear that it was produced for the latest Rambo movie. Sly's face looked like it had been frozen in carbonite. It didn't help that there were many, many closeups. He had some interesting things to say, mostly about Rambo and Burma but he did talk about the original ending to First Blood which saw Rambo die. This alternate ending was shown at the end of the film.
The film itself was good. The print looked good: I didn't notice much dirt, speckles, or associated wear and tear. It was overly dark. In some scenes in the woods, the actors's faces were obscured by the dark. I don't recall it looking that dark in the past. It really felt too dark. Other than that, the film looked in good shape.
The sound of the film has certainly suffered, not that, in itself, it's bad, but because movie sound has come so far since the film was made. The explosions have no power, the M60 sounds like a pea shooter, and the other guns sound even worse. It's no fault of the film, time has just left it behind in that regard. Maybe the sound can be remastered when the film gets remastered for hi-def.
It was hilarious to see a young David Caruso as a whiny deputy and Switek from Miami Vice (Michael Talbott) as another deputy.
The crowd (~ 50 people) was really into it which was fun. There was a great pop for Colonel Troutman's entrance. Troutman's got some great lines and they all got a good response, as did Rambo's rare bits of dialog.
Something I had forgotten: the song at the end of the film is one of the worst bits of audio tripe ever. It completely destroys the atmosphere of the film. It is brutally bad. It's worse than that. It is beyond words.
The alternate ending was just poorly done. It could have been very powerful but it's just not conceived properly. Rambo is trapped in the police station. Troutman is there. Rambo takes Troutman's gun and tells Troutman to kill him. He can't live like this. Troutman doesn't seem keen to do it so Rambo forces the issue and the gun goes off, down goes Rambo, end of story. It's weak.
What I would have done is have Troutman comfort Rambo, ease his pain, then put a bullet into the unsuspecting soldier's brain. To my mind, this is much stronger ending. Of course, for sheer b-movie bravado, Troutman could just walk up to Rambo, put a bullet in his brain, then lean down and whisper, "I'm still the best, John. I'm the best!" However,if I have to choose between the two actually filmed endings, the original non-dying ending is by far better, except for that hideous song.
A good time was had by all. As Troutman tells Rambo, "this mission is over."
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