Re: Sequels make us forget how great the originals were
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Rocky was a movie about the American dream, written in the bicentennial year. Rocky wasn't meant to be an undiscovered great like the rest of the movies would have you believe. He was supposed to be a aging club boxer, a slow bruiser, somewhat talented but who had never lived up to what limited potential he had.
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Same thing with the Rambo series. Everyone thinks of a juiced up Rambo flipping and running around mowing down 80 baddies without being hit by a myriad of bullets.
But the first in the series, First Blood, was more drama than action, about a troubled Vietnam vet returning to the states and having difficulties fitting back in, while shedding light on the way in which war heros were treated after the war.
And he was supposed to die at the end, as he does in the book, but it was change, and all hell broke loose in the sequels.
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A few months ago I watched the trailer for John Rambo (IV) and was really impressed, even though I'd never seen a Rambo movie before. I promptly rented First Blood and had some problems with it. I doubt I'll like II and III much better when I watch them, but IV seriously looks like it could be quite good. Similar vibe to Rocky Balboa - way over-the-hill fighter/soldier is drawn back for one final round. The reason for him to go shooting up people again after 25 years seems plausible, and as he puts it, "when you're pushed...killing's as easy as breathing."
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