Rambo - A Warrior's Journey

This was pure action adventure bliss for me!

LS has pulled off a remarkable feat in creative editing and storytelling, recrafting the original four Rambo features into an eight part 80's style television series!

The absolutely wonderful LS Network music/graphics/intros immediately set the tone for the viewer, I was immediately transported back in time to the Movie of Week specials of the late 1970s and early 80s. Brilliant work! I so want to subscribe to the LS Network!

As a fellow editor who has attempted to create some tv style edits too, I fully appreciate the complexity and time consuming work that went into the opening and closing credits. The end credits in particular are amazing and feel completely authentic. And I totally smiled like a 10 year old kid at the retro-Knight Rider style commercial breaks. Very cool LS!

As to the edits themselves, all work very well, though some play stronger than others. Surprisingly, Rambo 3, which I always viewed as the weakest entry in the franchise, seemed to play the strongest as a TV episode. Maybe simply because it is so over the top in 80s style action, it fit the concept the best. Though my favorite edit has to be episodes one and two, just because I LOVED the seamless inclusion of the Chuck Norris material. The edits of Rambo 2 and 4 are completely solid and held my bride and I completely engaged and entertained.

Of course watching a Last Survivor fan edit is just half the fun; listening to his commentaries are real hidden gems -- filled with interesting insights and facts, they are often better than many "professional" studio commentaries. So make sure you take the time to check them out too!

This is a ratings blockbuster! True Must See TV!

Congrats LS on another fantastic fun fan edit!

Thumbs UP!!!

Mission accomplished: the fourth Rambo movies are now a cool TV series.

Maybe this could even be seen as the "season zero" of the possible future true Rambo TV series that could maybe see the light of your TV screen in the upcoming years.
Anyway back to the review.

(side note: I did not watch it with the commentary on. But will sure do this one day)

Everything that makes a TV series fun to watch is there.
Interesting pre credits scenes that get you hooked, very nicely done opening credits, cliffhangers and pauses used when they needs to be. Nice to see all the little teasers for other fan edits at each pauses. I watched those edits two by two and by the end of the fourth evening evening I wanted more! It was a very intresting and cool way to revisit those movies.

Few remarks:
- The first movie flows very well separated in two episodes. Good work even if the opening confrontation with the sheriff is missing. To me it's a crucial part of the whole tension that makes the original movie works. But as a TV series I understand that opening "in media res" and explaining later what happened is the way to go. So no problem.

- The second movie felt somehow maybe a bit less engaging than the original as I remembered it. Maybe in part because of a scene that I felt was missing (but that was masterfully used in the episode 7 in a flashback. So everything is forgiven!)

- Rambo 3 is, to me, MUCH better in this TV series version than the original. Thank you for that (still not the best of those movies...) I only missed THE quote of the movie: "Well, surrounding them's out..." ;) Also the stupid lines about the blue light are gone and I understand that, but they always makes me laugh in the original, lol.

- The fourth movie is VERY violent and it felt that it was too much for a TV series. But well: out of the four it is the movie that is the more ABOUT violence, so it would have been difficult to cut most of the blood without removing what it's all about. The directing also felt more actual but it was not that jarring. In fact those two episodes felt the most engaging of them all. Maybe because the source is in fact a better movie than one could think when he's gonna see the third sequel of an old franchise. Some Cliffhangers and pauses where maybe just a bit less good than in the other episodes but just my feeling.

Technicaly I have nothing much to say, very good job on recropping the picture (tedious work!) and I the audio always felt well in place.

Another work from LastSurvivor to keep because of its rewatchable quality.

This review will be somewhat random and unorganized so...deal with it. First off, as always top notch DVD menu design from LastSurvivor. I know some people don't care too much about that stuff but I appreciate the little things (and its the little details that make this fanedit so awesome IMO!)

So right away the viewer gets an "LS Network" logo/intro/music (station identification?) going on and it is awesome. Fits the 80s vibe and good voiceover work by LastSurvivor.

Episodes 1

The opening montage was very well done and gets you up to speed. I hesitate to say whether or not I'd completely know what's going on if I was a viewer who'd never seen the Rambo movies (because of the action starting mid-chase) but you could make the argument that not all movies or tv shows unfold completely linearly and sometimes the audience doesn't have all the information right away. Anyway, over the course of the Episodes 1 and 2 the viewer gets the complete picture of what led up to Rambo's battle with the sheriff's department.

*Opening Credits Sequence! WOW! Just wow! Expertly done. I had a huge smile on my face as the music and sequence of images was playing. I definitely felt like I was watching a TV Show.

The transition to the TV Spots was cool maybe a wee bit hokey with the freeze frame zooming out into nothing but hey, it is kinda 80s-ish. And the bit of music that LS used with the transitions to the TV Spots worked well.

So, as faneditors I think we are all aware and hypervigilant of errors (maybe to a fault) but I'd be remiss if not to mention one technical flaw (keep in mind this did not ruin the viewing experience or take me out of the moment or anything) was there did seem to be a flash frame right around the 16 minute mark of the first episode right after David Caruso says "I knew there was something about that guy." Anyway, not a big deal and the remaining 99.9% of this edit was flawless from a technical perspective!

I like how the end credits were done as way as stills from different scenes throughout the episode. This along with the opening credits sequence were really well done and add to the feeling of watching a TV show.

Episode 2
So some nice ADR work by LS's girlfriend. It was fresh in my mind from LS's initial post in his True Fanedit thread that he had thanked his better half for some ADR work. I also knew that Chuck Norris wasn't really Delmar Barry and that these scenes were from the MIA movies, but honestly had I not been familiar with the MIA movies and not know that Delmar Barry (although we never see him in First Blood, only his family) is supposed to be African-American, I wouldn't have batted an eye at that ADR. It worked perfectly IMO. I also did a quick check and turned on the commentary to hear what LS had to say about it.

Either way, nice job and that ADR along with the intercut footage and b&w flashback scenes in this episode and the previous episode, you get a nice fun addition to the story with the special appearance by Chuck Norris.

Episode 3
So I totally forgot that Martin Kove was in First Blood Part II. You could have had an epic crossover/side plot with the Karate Kid! AND Julia Nickson as Co, not sure how many remember the movie Sidekicks, but Chuck Norris was in that too, the possibilities to go absolutely insane were limitless (luckily LS is not as crazy as me ).

Episode 4
Lance Henriksen - Millenium lol! Awesome little fake teaser announcement (one of many by LS) during the LS Network introductions. Although, I sadly have to admit the earlier one concerning Stargate went over my head, I had to check the commentary to fill me in.

Episode 5
This episode had an excellent intro/pre-credits sequence.

Episode 6
I'll have to find out from other viewers but was I the only one who thought that little kid was annoying?! It's been awhile since I've seen Rambo III.

Episodes 7 and 8
Although the previous six episodes were great, good editing, good technical quality, excellent storytelling, I think these last two episodes were my favorite. I can't really put my finger on why but regardless this was entertaining.

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What more can I say? Excellent job all around, this was pure fun. Again, for me, it was the little things that pushed this edit over the top for me. I'm sure it took tons of time, planning and experimenting to cut down each movie into sets of 2 episodes that were ~40 minutes each. But the "LS Network", the opening credits sequence, the TV spots, all this stuff really added a ton to the experience, for me anyway.

Props to everyone who contributed all the TV Spots. They were all great (special mention goes to Adabisi for his Last of the Mo'ricans and Under Construction TV Spots!)

Lastly, I haven't watched the episodes with commentary just yet but plan on taking my time doing that (i expect a lot of moments where I go, "oh crap that was a cut right there!")

Excellent job LastSurvivor! This was more than worth the wait.

A pure 80's romp of action goodness... in TV format.

This edit definitely captures the essence of the 80's television genre.
I really loved watching all of these in this format, it worked quite well and felt like an old 80's TV show, that I would of watched back when I was growing up..... in the 80's... lol.

Episode 1 & 2, where by far my favorites of this edit though, I loved the addition of Chuck and the MIA scenes. It really added to the episodes. I had wished some of this, (and not necessarily MIA again), in some form would of come back up in later episodes but unfortunately it did not.

You can hear a few places in the audio where the music was inserted but quite frankly its not distracting at all and probably only because I know these movies so well.

Definitely recommended if your a Rambo fan, and/or a fan of the 80's TV action shows.

Also loved the LS logo – and the use of the old 80's HBO theme. Hahaha.. nice touch.

Overall this fanedit is another Last Survivor gem. A classic example of a fanedit remix, turning an action movie franchise into a mini-TV show. The first Movie-to-TV edit I’ve seen!

This is a hefty package, more than 10 hours of total content what with each Episode having a commentary. Brilliant man, brilliant. I listened to the first 2 and enjoyed them for the most part. They got a bit tedious but not unpleasantly. I may or may not ever listen to the rest, if I do I’ll edit my review.

The TV concept was hit and miss at times. I highly enjoyed the TV spots (slight bit more on those later) and the LS Network bumpers. But overall it felt a bit forced. That’s not the greatest way to explain it really. I mean with this type of fanedit you ARE forcing a round peg into a square hole, but I guess some of the edges were a little rough and the peg splintered a little.

The structure of the episodes were the biggest breakdowns in that regard. Was each disc supposed to be like a mini-season? Or like was this a “Summer Event” type of show? I know in the UK it’s common to do short 6 or so episode seasons. I think it could have worked better if each movie was broken up into three 25 minutes episodes. Or do a 40 minute pilot and the rest are 25 minutes. Who knows though if the episodic arcs would have been better that way.

Editing wise… holy hell LS puts a lot of attention to detail. Title sequences had me glued to the screen each time. Majority of the audio editing was seamless. Some edits bugged me but nothing major.

The added Chuck Norris as Delmar Berry scenes felt very unresolved. LS talked about this in the commentaries I listened to and I dig that it was mainly a fan service for himself and other Chuck fans. But it came across to me as a plot thread that was forgotten about. I may just be a moron with ADD and it could be brilliant to you.

I guess overall I’d say that the editor scored big on the finer details but the broad strokes were a little sloppy. If you’re a fan of Rambo and/or Last Survivor odds are you will enjoy this.

P.S. - TV Spots were fantastic, very fresh and full of energy. Oh how I wish we had made more. Highlights were Plan 2001 and Taxi Driver.

A/V quality – 10
Editing – 9 visual, 8 audio
Narrative – 7
Enjoyment – 8

Recommended drink: Sylvestor Stallone