This is something of a tough review to write, because it’s not one review, but rather four at once.  One of them I actually did last night.  See, the folks out at Lions Gate, still feeling their Stallone action frenzy ahead of the release of The Expendables, and thus, they sent me a copy of the massive array of action joy that is the Rambo Complete Collector’s Set to review.  Fully four Rambo movies on one set of Blu-ray discs, complete with a menu of twenty different extras.

All four Rambo movies in one handy package, including First Blood, in which we’re introduced to John Rambo as he goes to a small town to find an old friend and runs afoul of the law, ending with him getting revenge in the grandest Rambo tradition as the cops discover why Rambo was the wrong guy to mess with.  First Blood Part Two sends Rambo off to the wilds of Vietnam to have him go hunting for lost POWs.  When Rambo takes the mission into his own hands, that’s when everything gets explosive.  Rambo III sends Rambo off after his mentor and best friend Colonel Trautman, and naturally, Rambo’s not going to let anything come between him and getting the Colonel back safe and sound.  And as you saw last night, Rambo sends Rambo back to Burma to save a group of captured missionaries.

Back in the eighties, when these were coming out, Rambo was regarded as a symbol of American strength and resolve on the grandest of geopolitical scales.  For every evil Communist and spineless bureaucrat Rambo blew away, a little piece of our national honor grew proud and strong.

And now, Rambo’s just a chunk of history.  A little bit of memory from a bygone era.  Rambo’s almost a cartoon character now, a big musclebound mushmouth who can almost be understood with the gratuitous use of subtitling.

That having been said, there’s nothing really wrong with the Rambo Complete Collector’s Set.  It’s four decent-quality action movies all in one pack, ready to launch to destructive life before our very eyes.  Guns, bombs, malicious Asians–most everything you could ever hope to want from an action movie.  It’s really one of the better action franchises out there, easily the Friday the 13th of action.  It’s a classic, nothing but.

Thus, the Screenhead Ten Scale gives the Rambo Complete Collector’s Set an eight out of ten for packing four movies worth of value into one handy box set.