Peacock is not often thought of as the best streaming service, but it has a library that’s nothing to sneeze at. If you have a subscription and are trying to find something that’s worth watching, you might find yourself scrolling through a lot of bad movies before you get to the good ones.
That’s why we recommend that you watch First Blood. This movie, which spawned the Rambo franchise, tells the story of a Vietnam special ops veteran who is abused by a local sheriff in the northwest, leading to an extended manhunt where we learn more about his tortured past. Here are three reasons to check it out:
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It’s one of Sylvester Stallone’s best movies
Sylvester Stallone has had a long action career. When all is said and done, he will be defined by his performances in the Rocky and Rambo franchises. First Blood is in the Rambo franchise and by far the most interesting.
While Stallone never fully transforms for a role, he leans heavily on the trauma in First Blood, telling a fairly grounded story of a veteran who feels left behind by his government. Stallone’s vulnerability is on full display in a way that he would try to hide down the road, and it proves that he was always a capable performer.
It’s a smart commentary on the nature of war
First Blood is not a movie about the front lines of battle, but it is a pretty excellent movie about what war does to the people who fight it. The Rambo franchise is fascinating in part because later installments turn the central character into an unrepentant badass, which is emphatically not what he is in the first movie.
Here, John Rambo is a man with unique skills, but one who feels like he was used and then thrown away by the government that turned him into a killing machine. It’s a heartbreaking movie and features a deeply vulnerable performance at its center.
It’s just as thrilling today as it ever has been
When you watch action movies from the ’80s, you might find that the action that felt thrilling at the time can feel dated today. That definitely isn’t the case with First Blood, though, which feels just as thrilling and perfectly paced as it ever did.
Part of that is because its story of a man fighting for his own survival in the woods is appropriately small, but part of it is because the movie doesn’t rely too heavily on gunfights or explosions. It has tense, exciting sequences, but they feel like the kinds of sequences that could be lifted right out of 1982 and right into 2025.
You can watch First Blood on Peacock.
