Monday, May 21, 2007

Peace Workers Suck

When watching 300, John Remy pointed out the irony of pacifist guys like us getting excited over the glorification of violence. I guess I'm all about the contradictions. In Hollywood action movies, people hardly ever have to face the physical and psychological results of their violence.

I remember watching First Blood without knowing what it was about. Though it eventually became a pretty serious action movie, at it's core it was about the alienation that returning veterans experienced in the decades following Vietnam. A better trailer would probably emphasize that, but they didn't make a better trailer than this.



The second movie? Well, the second movie wasn't so much about the alienated veteran. It was about the caricature of alienated special forces super-soldier. The trailer does a good job of capturing the tone of the movie and includes bits of the now-cliched Rambo preparation scene. You can't miss it: Rambo ties his boots. Rambo sharpens his knife. Rambo ties his makeshift sweatband. Etc. How did they manage to produce the trailer without including the "enemy soldier pauses in front of the mud wall... oh crap that's John Rambo!" scene?! That's just amazing restraint. Trailer for Rambo: First Blood Part 2



The third movie was just kind of sad. And the trailer does a wonderful job of capturing that. Interestingly, they dropped the association with the orginal "First Blood" title and went with "Rambo III."



And with all that in mind, here's one of the most graphically violent trailers that I've ever seen. It portrays peace workers as sad saps who don't understand the world. I might host a marathon viewing of all three previous movies before going out to see it. And only my guy friends would show up. And we'd have to eat a lot of meat before seeing it. And possibly lift weights. And do other man things.



When does this thing come out, anyway?

4 comments:

  1. I'm not sure if I've got anything to wear to a man-gathering. Perhaps the white, ribbed cotton tank-top or the red flannel shirt? Will there be public flatulence?

    Actually, finding it hard to picture you in a flannel shirt.

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  2. Where'd the flannel imagery come from?

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  3. "I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay!"

    Ain't nothing manlier than a lumberjack.

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  4. I don't have anything against flannel, it's just not for me. Some of my best friends are flannel. I love their music.

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