First Blood / Rambo: First Blood Part II / Rambo III 4K UHDs (1982-1988)

[dallywhitty]

I've only seen the first two. I fell asleep watching Rambo 3...

[OA-5599]

Can't really say that I love any Rambo flick aside from First Blood. I enjoy parts of all of them, especially the Mi-24 Hind helicopter attack scene in Rambo III, but if I'm gonna watch a Nam POW rescue flick from the 1980s it's Uncommon Valor over Rambo: First Blood Part II every time.

[Atomic Salad]

1
3
2

When Rambo and Trautman got back from Afghanistan, they partnered up to buy a shrimping boat and achieved great financial success and lived quiet lives and never went on any more blood soaked adventures ever again. The end.

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

I fell asleep watching Rambo 3...

It has a great opening, but it really drags for me after the first 20 minutes.

[emmet otter]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

I've only seen the first two. I fell asleep watching Rambo 3...

Thats ok. I fell asleep on the 2nd one

My Rambos' in sequence

1st

1st

and 1st

[Yearbook]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

It has a great opening, but it really drags for me after the first 20 minutes.

The best parts of Rambo 3 are credibly recreated in Hot Shots Part Deux.

[Hardback247]

At this point, I don't know if the release of this new set is an "if" or a "when."

[Region_unlocked]

1,4,2,5,3

1. First Blood is a legit masterpiece and easily outclasses any other entry in the series by a wide margin. It's also the only film in the series that's as good as the book. It's got different goals than the book does, but it's spiritually on the same page.
2. Part II flattens Rambo into a rather generic uninteresting action man. He's sent to the exact camp he was tortured at and he doesn't seem all that fussed by it. PTSD is a defining element of the character in the first movie, but in this one he's just over it, I guess. The book (which is an adaptation, but not really. It's weird.) rectifies a lot of the issues and is much better. It's okay.
3. Three is boring. Rambo is further Flanderized. It's also aged poorly given the muhajidin eventually splintered into the taliban in real life. Part II has similar issues perpetuating the lie that the VC held POWs after the war that was used to scam grieving families of soldiers, but this one feels worse cause it's probo elements are so ever present and it's not even in service of a particularly interesting or well told story. The book is dramatically superior to the movie, even doing action more competently.
4. Rambo is much better. It's much more interested in Rambo as a character and it serves as a satisfying thematic ending to the series. First Blood starts with Rambo walking down a dirt road lost in search of a place where he belongs, 4 ends with Rambo walking down a dirt road approaching a home with his literal name on it. Finally finding his place in the world.
5. Last Blood is a generic geezer teaser that has Rambo's name slapped on it for some reason. It's not the worst, but it really doesn't do a great job at justifying it's existence either. At least it's not as boring as 3.

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

Can't wait for it to be a US retailer exclusive...

You are likely to be more correct than you knew when you posted the above. I bet it'll be exclusive in '25 on Lionsgate's new direct to consumer web site.

https://lionsgatelimited.com

[The Rider]

Originally Posted by Cliff

Ugh... Fine. This will be the only post I make and there will be no follow up because I no longer post/participate at Blu-ray.com. I was banned twice by some anonymous mod after refusing to play nice with people who clearly like to cause trouble. I don't need the aggravation and have spent the better part of two years deleting my posting history.

BUT... I'm the one working on the upcoming LG Rambo set and I'm the source of both Geoff's and PeterTHX's info. Here's everything I can tell you at this point in time and, again, there will be no follow up.

All five films with both the theatrical and extended cuts of Rambo and Last Blood (Last Blood will be the final cut that appeared on Amazon).

New Dolby Vision grading on 1-3 (Rambo III is particularly in need of correction as it's colors are not only off, but it's highlights are terribly clipped. We're fixing that.)

Rambo III's subtitles are also being corrected and, while they'll be player generated, they're designed to match the font and timing of the optical theatrical subs. One thing to note about Rambo III's subs is that a lot of what people THOUGHT was subtitled originally, WASN'T. This has led to a lot of confusion about various releases missing them and one of the Blu-ray releases actually ADDING them when they weren't there theatrically. We're fixing all that and if it was subtitled theatrically... it'll be subtitled on the UHD.

1-3 have all been given brand new Dolby Atmos mixes. Part II, in particular, has sounded terrible for 20 years. We found the original 70mm 6-track mag for Part II and that was the basis for the new Atmos mix. But each of the first three movies will include: Theatrical Stereo PCM, TrueHD 5.1 (the 2002 mixes for First Blood and Rambo III and the unaltered 70mm 6-track for Rambo II) and the new Atmos mixes. Rambo: First Blood Part II sounds INCREDIBLE now... both it's original 6 track mix and the new Atmos. It's night and day and probably the thing I'm most excited about with this set.

We're looking to include EVERYTHING that was ever created for any of the various Rambo releases (globally) in the special features department. We're also creating a few new bits and one of those is dedicated to the original Drew Struzan art.

This release has been my baby for over a year and I've been dedicated to making sure this gets produced from the perspective of a fan and the Ghostbusters set that Sony put out earlier this year has been the model for this all along. Packaging is likely to be more of a gatefold style, but we've also secured the original lobby cards for the first three films and I'm hoping to talk to the studio into also including preprinted case inserts that use all the "style A" artwork so you could migrate the set to traditional cases if desired.

Everyone is completely committed to making this the very best Rambo set ever released which is why we missed the First Blood 40th (which was the plan) to give ourselves enough time to get all the details right.


So... that's it and that's everything that'll be said for now.

Very sad that this was your last post. Perhaps you are still reading along or someone could pass on my observations and questions to you.

1. To what extent does the original color grading differ from the color grading of the 4K restorations at Eclair in Paris?

https://advanced-television.com/2018...k-restoration/

In general, the restorations contain too much teal and too much yellow in places. First Blood in particular is too warm in color. From my point of view, however, the entire grading doesn't need to be changed. Scene-specific adjustments should suffice.

Rambo: First Blood Part II is reminiscent of the restoration of The African Queen, which was carried out by a different studio. The cinematographer responsible for both films was Jack Cardiff.

The problem with the teal can be seen very well here in the fence and the guards' uniforms.

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&...184657&i=0&l=0

The framing is also not always right and is, for example, shifted too far to the left here, which can be seen very clearly on the right by the black line.

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&...184654&i=3&l=0

Rambo III looks very authentic in these shots.

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&...185405&i=4&l=0

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&...185404&i=5&l=0

Here you can clearly see that there is too much yellow.

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&...185402&i=7&l=0

2. Does Lionsgate work with the existing 4K masters from Studiocanal and adjust them, or is the entire post-production done from scratch?


3. Regarding the international bonus material, the old German DVD collections are a good reference.

https://www.ofdb.de/fassung/542,164150,Rambo/

https://www.ofdb.de/fassung/542,443280,Rambo/

https://www.ofdb.de/fassung/545,1641...l-Der-Auftrag/

https://www.ofdb.de/fassung/545,4596...l-Der-Auftrag/

https://www.ofdb.de/fassung/785,164161,Rambo-III/

https://www.ofdb.de/fassung/785,283020,Rambo-III/

Personally, I would love to see a featurette about Renato Casaro's work on the international posters.

[mikey horror]

Ugh. I cannot wait for this and my heart breaks a little more with every bump of this thread that does not have news of a release date.

[capricho]

Sorry, no new about the box set...

Are the Lionsgate and Studiocanal releases identical for First Blood? I'm thinking about buying the US Lionsgate.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by capricho

Sorry, no new about the box set...

Are the Lionsgate and Studiocanal releases identical for First Blood? I'm thinking about buying the US Lionsgate.

Don't. The StudioCanal encode is much betterer. Ditto Part II, especially Part II.

[capricho]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Don't. The StudioCanal encode is much betterer. Ditto Part II, especially Part II.

Thanks! Glad I asked. Studiocanal it is then.

[DanFan]

This has become the biggest c@ck tease in the history of the format.

[Telemachus]

Cliff will come through, burn some incense and trust

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by DanFan

This has become the biggest c@ck tease in the history of the format.

Is it going to come?

[Streamingsux]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Don't. The StudioCanal encode is much betterer. Ditto Part II, especially Part II.

Really. Glad I read this. Thank you.

Don't one or all of the Lionsgate releases also have a glitch or freezing up problem of some kind? Is this a thing or am I mistaken? And does it affect the included blu-rays or just the 4K discs?

[Guydowood]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Is it going to come?

In Cliff We Trust.

[mikey horror]

And another bump with no news. Ffs