Director Ted Kotcheff offers some stunning visuals, making First Blood not only a pleasure to watch but a study in directing.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 8, 2024

…Ted Kotcheff’s terse action thriller is a significant American film that changed culture and politics back in 1982, and still packs an 89 minute punch today…

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 1, 2023

Stallone brought intense physicality, obviously, but also hangdog vulnerability to a character who takes revenge on a cruel, unfeeling establishment and utters some of the most iconic lines in shoot’em’up history.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 24, 2022

Watchable if entirely preposterous...

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 23, 2022

An ambitious, bloody, talented but pulpy mess.

| Jun 21, 2022

Pushed-to-the-edge survivalist John Rambo raised the bar significantly for action heroes.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Sep 6, 2020

Considerably "less thoughtful than, say, Coming Home on a similar subject, First Blood so revels In sadism that Its high-minded pretenses are quickly washed away in blood -- first, last and always.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 12, 2020

The first and best of the franchise.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 22, 2019

While the sequels may have tarnished it's reputation, Rambo's original adventure is a great action-thriller and character study.

| Original Score: A- | Sep 17, 2019

The movie makes the protagonist into a new hero, which is why he doesn't die, although in the excellent original novel his defeat was precisely the message. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Aug 27, 2019

There's no trace of the Rambo that would become the symbol of American militaristic excess of the '80s in First Blood.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 19, 2018

First Blood is first and foremost an oft-overlooked war classic, spinning the focus and looking at the very real and painful fallout for those involved in such traumatic events.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 6, 2018

There's another appeal in Rambo. Simplicity. Successful action justifies all.

| Jan 8, 2018

As a combination survival and action film, 'First Blood' delivers enough excitement to please fans of this sort of thing, although it must settle logically for a less than wholly satisfying ending.

| Jan 4, 2018

The character of John Rambo is so identified with Stallone that it's amusing to note how many actors were considered for the role, including Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 13, 2012

a powerful, complex and captivating film that serves as a blockbuster action film and a serious drama

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 15, 2012

First and most popular Rambo; and yes, bloody.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 14, 2010

As befits a story of internal conflict, Ted Kotcheff lays out the action in an adroit style derived from Anthony Mann

| Feb 6, 2010

The darker tone, somber subtext, and generally non-exploitative violence allow viewers to enjoy the film not only as an action/thriller but as something with a degree of intelligence and substance.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 30, 2009

The entryway to the disturbed psychological headspace of a single man, one bent evermore on survival, instinct trumping all.

Full Review | Jun 14, 2008