Bad Ass Movies of Bad Assness: Batman Begins and First Blood

 I was watching Hack The Movies the other day and it was the episode they just put out about Batman Begins and that got me thinking about how I haven't seen that movie in a few years. Every now and then I see it on Netflix, and I'll put it on the background but, I haven't sat down to actually watch the film in its entirety for probably 8-10 years. So I stopped watching the episode about 40 minutes in and busted out one of my massive books of loose disc movies and tv shows (I have a problem) and to my shock and delight...as if prophecy had foretold that one day I would need this...there was Batman Begins on Blu-Ray sitting in the first slot, in the first sleeve...in a book that has no alphabetical order it is pure madness and chaos inside. Right next to Batman Begins was Magic Mike, and below that was First Blood so with the Fates' blessing I popped Batman Begins into the Series X and,

Thank God I did. Such a fantastic fucking movie. I remember, in 2005, when this film first came out, I couldn't have been more excited. I was on the edge of my seat with anticipation in a mostly empty midnight screening of Batman Begins. It was me, a couple of my friends (it's been 20 years!) and a handful of other people in a gigantic movie theater. Warner Bros. had basically destroyed the house that Burton and Keaton had built. Batman wasn't a bankable name in Hollywood anymore. Sure, people flock to see superhero movies now, but, before the days of serialized storylines and 10-year contracts, superhero movies weren't as common. Summer blockbusters could be about anything! Convicts on an airplane; a guy in a tower on Christmas Eve in the wrong place at the wrong time; a bus that just can't slow down; or even lions attacking Val Kilmer in Africa--this list could go on and on. Nowadays if your film doesn't feature some sort of superhero doing superhero stuff...most likely people are going to wait for it to come to streaming. 

Batman Begins was the film that turned The Dark Knight's film career around and catapulted him back into the good graces of the cinematic viewing public. Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale teamed up to ground the superhero genre in a heightened state of realism; took on complex character studies that ask us questions about right and wrong/law and justice. What is justice vs. revenge/retaliation? They assembled an all-star cast that took the film seriously and worked well together to create a Gotham City that felt real, looked real, and felt lived in by the people on screen. 

The action is still awesome. In this film, Nolan shows us what the fights with Batman look like from the criminal perspective. To give you a sense of how fast and powerful Batman truly is, he films the action sequences in a way that is disorienting to the viewer. This is really the only gripe that I have with this film. The shaky cam sequences in films aren't always bad, but this is particularly hard to watch. It doesn't pop up a lot in the film. There is a lot of action and big, explosive set pieces, but a lot of the action centers around the Batmobile or moving very quickly on foot from one set to another. By the end of the film when Batman is fighting The League of Shadows and taking out criminals in the asylum you get a bit clearer action sequence with the hand-to-hand combat, but only later in the film. 

Batman Begins is the perfect summer film for me, but also just a great film all around. Batman Begins is a bad ass film.

Next up from the book...First Blood.

First Blood is the 1st Rambo film in a (5-film?) series that honestly should have just ended with the first film. How many times can I say first? First Blood, based on a book I've never read, is about John Rambo, a Vietnam green beret veteran that is walking through the states trying to get in touch with his old war buddies. In the opening of the film, he's trying to find his last friend. The last one alive. Only to be told that due to Agent Orange, his friend passed away a year ago to cancer. 

Just trying to get by, looking for something to eat, Rambo enters the small town of Hope only to get picked up by the sheriff, treated like an asshole, and then escorted out of town under the guise of "friendly advice." The cops soon arrest Rambo and due to him having been a prisoner of war, tortured in P.O.W. camps, his small time in their jail ends up triggering his PTSD and he kicks some cop ass, steals a motorcycle, and escapes out into the woods. 

First Blood is a riveting film from start to finish that is some of Sylvester Stallone's best work. It's dramatic, its action packed, and if his end speech doesn't move you to tears...you're a fucking monster. The story of his friend who's ripped apart by a shoe-shine bomb, only after telling you about how that friend had wanted to just go home and ride around the country in a red convertible with the top down. How could he drive when Rambo couldn't find his legs? He was holding his friend together, his guts in his hands, his blood all over Rambo's face. How could he drive without his legs? 

From start to finish First Blood is a solid action flick that features some very cool practical effects, lots of gunfire and explosions, car chases, helicopter chases, and did I mention the explosions? From the chase in the woods, to the survival in the forests, to the assault on the small town of Hope, First Blood will keep you on the edge of your seat. It'll also task you with educating yourself a little bit about The Vietnam War and the horrible treatment our soldiers received when returning home from the war. One of Sylvester Stallone's best films. 

First Blood is without a doubt, a very bad ass flick.