'First Blood', the first movie, is the best of the three because it offers real motivations rather than just mindless action.
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In the world of home video, property rights change hands often. The now-defunct Carolco released the "Rambo" movies in theatres, usually via its distribution deal with Tri-Star (also basically defunct, too). When Carolco collapsed due to bad debt management, Artisan bought up the "Rambo" series. Artisan released the "Rambo" movies on DVD several times. The first wave had non-anamorphic widescreen transfers, and you could get the movies individually or in a box set. The second-wave discs were "special editions" with anamorphic widescreen transfers, Dolby Digital and DTS sound, and a lot of extras; again, you could get the movies individually or in a box set.
Late in 2003, Lions Gate bought Artisan. I once joked with a Lions Gate rep that his company should release "Terminator 2" yet again after Artisan´s seven trips to the well with that one movie alone. The joke´s on me as Lions Gate is re-releasing the "Rambo" series with unnecessary and inferior editions. The technical presentations of the movies are commendable, but the lack of audio options and the lack of substantive extras make you wonder who Lions Gate is trying to fool. Of the three new DVDs, "First Blood" is the least-infuriating since it offers a new audio commentary by Sylvester Stallone as well as a rarely-seen "suicide" ending. "Rambo" die-hards may want to get it alone instead of the Ultimate Edition box set, which is anything but "ultimate".
"First Blood", the first movie, is the best of the three because it offers real motivations rather than just mindless action. "Rambo: First Blood Part II" and "Rambo III" all have legitimate starting points (rescuing American MIAs still in Vietnam and helping the Afghans fight the Soviets, respectively), but they quickly turn into series of contrived and outrageous set pieces.
In "First Blood", John Rambo wanders through the Pacific Northwest, looking for members of his squad during the Vietnam War. A local town sheriff (Brian Dennehy) doesn´t like the way that Rambo looks, so he locks up the former Green Beret. Rough treatment by the guards causes Rambo to have flashbacks to being tortured by the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong, so he goes berserk. In Oregon´s mountain forests, Rambo fights a one-man war against the town police and the National Guard before his former commanding officer (Richard Crenna) talks him down.
"First Blood" makes good points about how Americans were mistaken in treating veterans of the Vietnam War badly. It´s one thing to be against a war, but it´s another thing to be against the soldiers who were sent there. It makes next to no sense for the sheriff and his deputies to gang up on Rambo, so his actions are understandable even if they´re unjustifiable. I even appreciated Rambo´s final monologue, in which he laments that he once commanded million-dollar tanks but now can´t even get a bite to eat because of hostile compatriots.
As mentioned earlier, "Rambo: First Blood Part II" and "Rambo III" are little more than excuses for the protagonist to take his anger out on Vietnamese and Soviet soldiers. The funny thing about these movies´ obvious Reagan-style approach to political problems is that everything is so over-the-top that the movies become ridiculous. I mean, in "Rambo III", why would someone in a helicopter keep flying close to the ground in order to run into a tank? Why not just fly above the tank and blow up your enemy from a safe distance?
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