HTF REVIEW: "Rambo Trilogy" (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[Gary Kellerman]

Ron; I ran some action scenes on my 5 channel dynaquad circuit from Rambo 2 and 3 from two channel recordings. The only spot where I heard distinct "bullet whistling" in my surround channels is in the scene from Rambo 2 where Rambo is by the waterfalls and is being fired at by a Vietnamese officer with a machine gun. I am curious how that one particular scene came out on the DVD trilogy.

 

[John H Ross]

OH DEAR! :-(

If Artisan really have screwed up the Russian subtitles from Rambo III (similar to MGM's cock-ups on The Living Daylights and Octopussy) then they just lost a sale.

WHY oh WHY do these people continue to remove burned-in subtitles (bad enough!) only to "forget" to replace them with player generated captions!

I'm gonna hold onto my original discs and enjoy these films as they were shown in threatres.

I was really looking forward to this set too :-( :-(

John

 

[Aryn Leroux]

Martin Kove is best known for his work as karate instructor John Creese in the Karate Kid. I guess thats why it's always nice to see him die on film!

 

[Brett C]

Were the subtitles on Artisans earlier release? If so I'm going to hang onto my old boxset...

 

[John H Ross]

Were the subtitles on Artisans earlier release? If so I'm going to hang onto my old boxset...

Yes they were, and the transfers were pretty good too. I'm definitely going to hold onto my older discs until Artisan fixes the problem with this new... ummm... "special" (ahem) edition of Rambo III!

Hopefully - if they have ANY respect for the consumer - they'll delay the release of these discs and fix this problem before the market is flooded with faulty product. Fingers crossed!

John (who, unfortunately for Artisan, cannot speak Russian!)

 

[MichaelG]

I am only interested in the first movie myself, too bad this new version can be had all by itself . I guess that I have to keep the original release.

 

[Aryn Leroux]

MichaelG: you can purchase any of the new rambo se's without having to purchase the box set.

 

[Sean Oneil]

John.. you could always take some Russian language classes -LOL

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Another great review, Ron. I was wondering about the special goodies on this set, and what you've described sounds fantastic. I'm a big fan of the original First Blood and I consider the first sequel a mild "guilty pleasure". (The less said about the insipid Rambo 3, the better.)
Your review has got me thinking about buying this set. My bank account hates you.

 

[MichaelG]

Well, I see that First Blood SE is $12.99 at Best Buy, with new audio on these I might have to pick this up after all. It sounds like there is a new video transfer, the original release is pretty good, but if this is better then it would be worth it. I can give my current release to my mothers husband.

 

[John Stone]

I received my Rambo box set early last week and I, too, am extremely pleased. The transfers are nothing short of amazing considering their age and the DTS soundtracks are excellent. The documentaries and extra features are top-notch; I've already watched the powerful "Voices From Within" documentary twice. Even the packaging is impressive. Action fans will be absolutely thrilled with this set.
Thanks for the great review, as always, Ron.

 

[John H Ross]

The transfers are nothing short of amazing considering their age

Can you confirm that the Russian-English subtitles are indeed missing from Rambo III (as with Rocky IV)?

John

 

[SvenS]

I just watched the First Blood DVD and I must say that the audio did not seem that much better then the original (which I own). Outside of a few LFE outputs during the Gas station explosion and a couple of other short moments the audio seems quite similar to the original. I will have to see if there are any improvements on the other two but First Blood was only ever so slightly better then the original DVD.

 

[David Glenn]

Saw this posted at dvdtalk.com:

"I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but did anyone notice that a featurette listed on the back of the box called Those Who Wanted More is nowhere to been seen on the supplements disc? I don't know if it's a packaging error or anything, but if anyone knows any information about this, please feel free to tell me and the other people who own the trilogy."

Is this true? First the subtitles, now this.

 

[John H Ross]

Yuck. According to the review on DVDFile, Artisan have admitted there's a problem with Rambo III (missing Russian/English subtitles) but have no intention of a) recalling the set or b) replacing faulty discs.

So much for customer service. I despair!

John

 

[Stephen Pickard]

I have only so far viewed part two and I am very disappointed with the audio. The DTS and DD 5.1 tracks sound like they are spreads from a two-track Lt/ Rt printmaster, as I can detect cancelled dialog in the surrounds. I am sure there were 70mm prints made on Rambo 2 on it's original release and a discrete 6-track would have most likely have been made. I have no objection to a two-channel matrixed track, provided it has been aligned correctly, but this track has wow, and the music lacks the clarity you would get with a discrete track, which sounds 'collapsed' here.

I would be happy to hear from anybody with any information on this.

 

[Jim Peavy]

Just picked up the 2 disc SE Rambo II from Target for $5.99. $5.99! They have the 2 disc Rambo III for the same price. Will probably go back and get it sometime later this weekend.
Nothing says Easter weekend better than Rambo movies!

 

[Haden]

Huh? When did 2-disc versions come out? Last year's special editions of each film were only 1-disc each.

 

[Jim Peavy]

Hmmmmm. Not being familiar with the earlier SE's I don't know what to tell you. The first disc is the film in widescreen on one side and P&S on the other. The 2nd disc is the extras.

Perhaps they took the extras (from the 4th disc in the box set) that pertained to each film and included them on these latest 2 disc editions? Just a guess...

It doesn't say anywhere on the keepcase I bought (at least that I noticed) that it is in fact a 2 disc set; but it is.

 

[Haden]

This is the first I heard about it. Wonder when these were released. That 4th disc of extras was supposed to be exclusive to the box set, and if they are repackaging it with each film in individual 2-disc sets, then that's a surprise. What if someone purchases this new 2-disc release of both Rambo II and Rambo III? They end up with 2 of the same extras disc? That's kinda dumb.

But since you've purchased this new 2-disc Rambo:SE, can you tell us what the extras are on disc 2 so we can verify if it's just the 4th disc from the box set?