A Rambo Prequel Would Completely Miss the Point of the Original Movie

Although Sylvester Stallone has played many iconic action heroes over the course of his career, the character of John Rambo is a far more complex role than anything else he has ever done. Despite being hailed as one of the greatest action films ever made, First Blood is a deeply upsetting drama about a veteran who returned from the Vietnam War in the hope of being accepted, only to find himself reliving his previous trauma when he is hunted down by a particularly vindictive batch of law enforcement officers. Hollywood’s continued exploitation of First Blood has turned one of the most fiercely anti-war films of all time into a generic action franchise.

The announcement of a new prequel to First Blood is concerning for multiple reasons, as everything about Rambo’s “origin” is explained in the first film. Although Rambo himself gets involved in a lot of action-oriented scenarios, he is not a hero who intends to go down a path of vengeance; rather, he is a sensitive man who is denied the opportunity to know peace. There have already been several disappointing sequels that tarnished the first film’s legacy, but a new prequel to First Blood could be seen as an insult to everything that the first film represented.

The Rambo Sequels Lack the Themes of ‘First Blood’

The original First Blood was hailed for its accuracy, as it was inspired by a novel that was itself based on a real veteran. Given that the trauma of the Vietnam War was still present within many viewers’ minds when the film was released, First Blood helped to shed light on the experiences of veterans who had returned from war, and were not given the appropriate resources needed to deal with the physical and emotional hardships that they had endured. Although there were many protests about America’s involvement in the war itself, the blame was inappropriately placed on the men who had served, who, for the most part, were oblivious to the actual damage that America was causing. Rambo’s goal is to no longer be in a situation in which he must commit violence to stay alive, even though he has developed advanced fighting skills. A prequel would not have any insight into this storyline, as it is already explained perfectly in First Blood thanks to the subtlety of Stallone’s performance.

The sequels to First Blood changed the message, as they turned Rambo into a patriotic, jingoistic action hero who entered foreign nations with the intention of advancing American interests. Rambo: First Blood Part II feels like a literal piece of propaganda that would have been used to lure Rambo into Vietnam in the first place; it makes no sense that he would return to the place that caused him so much trauma, or that he would support a nation that essentially gave up on him. To put Rambo in a situation in which he would be seen as heroic and brave would be a contradiction of the emotions he feels in First Blood; while the John Rambo prequel is set to explore his heroism during the Vietnam War, the character in First Blood seems deeply regretful of everything that he did.

A grandiose prequel also suggests an extraordinary quality to Rambo, which doesn’t send the right message. One of the reasons that Rambo is such a great character is that he is ultimately a common man; while he has developed military skills that have made him lethal in combat, Rambo was never given a destiny that ensured he would go on to do great things, as the first film ends with him in prison. To imply that Rambo’s journey is a special one is disrespectful, as the character was used to develop sympathy for veterans from all walks of life. The lack of specificity is why First Blood is so dramatically compelling, as it is easy to imagine that any veteran could be placed in his shoes if they faced the same circumstances.

A Rambo Prequel Would Send the Wrong Message

An action-packed thriller set within the Vietnam War is an inappropriate idea for a prequel film, as First Blood was intended to show the moral and ethical failings of the conflict. It is very hard for a war film not to glorify the conflict in one way or another, and one of the reasons that First Blood works so well is that it is set entirely in America. Although the film’s director, Jalmari Helander, has proven himself to be an excellent orchestrator of action sequences with his film Sisu, it remains to be seen is he has the same capacity to examine the human condition that made the late great Ted Kotcheff’s work on the original film so effective.

A prequel also robs the original First Blood of its effectiveness, as the film works because of the ambiguity of what Rambo did when he was overseas; listening to Stallone slowly come to grips with the trauma that he endured is very powerful because the audience never gets to see it happen, leading them to draw their conclusions. As with most prequels, the John Rambo film will face the issue of audiences already knowing what’s going to happen. While none of the sequels to First Blood are very good, they at least kept the viewer in suspense because they were moving forward in the timeline.

It might be best for the Rambo franchise to be over, as those involved in the sequels have never shown any interest in doing anything radically different. While Creed was able to succeed as a sequel because Stallone returned to collaborate with a younger filmmaker, the casting of a new actor to play Rambo will put more pressure on his replacement to live up to expectations. There is certainly a possibility that Helander can make a compelling war film about an American veteran, but for the good of cinephiles everywhere, it would be best if it were an original story that had nothing to do with Rambo, First Blood, or Stallone.