&quot;first blood&quot; was a semi-serious film about the trauma one suffers in combat, even when you are the one doing the killing, and about the alienation that Vietnam vets felt when returning to a population who blamed them for the war and generally treated them like used-up human garbage.<p>I mean, Stallone really hammed his way through in a way that wasn&#x27;t really appropriate, if you ask me, for the tone that I got from David Morrel&#x27;s book, but he did his best.  The sequels were pure &#x27;80s action movie, and can be enjoyed (or not)  on that basis... but what I&#x27;m saying is that &#x27;first blood&#x27; stands on it&#x27;s own as a (perhaps clumsy) piece of protest art;  It really makes the &quot;go usa&quot; aspect of the third installment seem really out of place, and from an artistic perspective, the &quot;Rambo&quot; would be taken rather more seriously if it ended at &#x27;first blood&#x27;<p>I still haven&#x27;t seen the fourth installment.