Rambo is a landmark character ready for a reboot.
It's kind of crazy to think about how we've had so many sequels, but some properties haven't been touched. The original Rambo movie was about a guy dealing with PTSD from the war in Vietnam taking on an entire corrupt police department. Unfortunately, these topics are still relevant today, as the United States deals with police corruption all over, and the end of an almost two-decade-long conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.
All of this must be on Quentin Tarantino's mind, because on the recent The Big Ticket podcast, he mentioned that if he has his way, he would redo Rambo: First Blood, adapting David Morrell’s 1972 novel straight on, and he would get Adam Driver to star.
“When David O. Russell talked about doing The Fighter, he was over himself and over being the auteur,” Tarantino said. “He just wanted to make a good movie that people are going to enjoy. There was something really refreshing about him saying that, and that perspective. If I just wanted to make a good movie, that I knew would be good, I would take David Morrell’s novel for First Blood and do the novel. Not the movie that was made out of First Blood. I would do the novel.”
Tarantino went on to say, “Kurt Russell would play the sheriff, and [Adam Driver] would play Rambo. Every time I read it, the dialogue is so fantastic in the David Morrell novel that you’re reading it out loud. It would be so good. But now I want to do more than that. But if it was just about to make a good movie, that’s out there.”
This is a fun take, and I wish Tarantino did finish his auteur period of filmmaking and just make genre movies for the rest of his life. It would be a legendary move. But I also like the way he sees how to redo this classic tale. I am a fan of the first Stallone adaptation, but I have to admit, seeing an actual vet like Driver take the role would be incredibly interesting and meta. And I'd watch Kurt Russell paint a room, he's so charismatic.
Where do you stand on this? We know Tarantino probably won't direct the Rambo reboot, but I wonder if he would consider producing after he finishes his directing career. It seems like he loves coming up with big ideas—and imagine getting notes on your script from Quentin Tarantino!
Let us know what you think in the comments.
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3 Comments
I think Tarantino is a master in directing and has a unique style so it would be interesting if he directs the Rambo reboot.
August 6, 2021 at 4:27AM
No, I don't think the world wants, or is waiting for a "Rambo" reboot! "Rambo" is so much of its time and I think any remake risks feeling like a camp, knowing, parody of the original. As if Stallone hadn't done enough of that himself with his successive sequels! The world needs fresh ideas, not rehashes of genres that had already been flogged to death. This is why we must have no more "Alien" movies, and ideally, no more Marvel movies. "Rambo" for a new generation? No, I think "Rambo" is very un-21st Century, and would feel like a joke to today's younger audience, not born when the originals came out. Not everything demands re-making - and certainly not "Rambo!"
August 12, 2021 at 8:54AM
"Rambo" was not Morrell's First Blood. I read the book several years before Stallone's pathetic movie and was so disappointed with what he had done with it. No one died (except the guy falling out of the helicopter) and Rambo lived to do sequels (which I never bothered watching). At the time I read it I was thinking of Ernest Borgnine as the sheriff and perhaps Timothy Bottoms as Rambo. Now I wouldn't know who would be suitable but Rambo needs to be some weedy-looking character (so I can see Tarantino's choice of Adam Driver) not buffed up like Stallone was. The original story is about two military men pitting their knowledge/tactics (Korean War vs Vietnam War) in a cat and mouse scenario. It was endless blood and gore from a man who was highly trained and just wanted to be left alone.
August 14, 2021 at 12:52AM