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In an age where Hollywood blockbusters mainly consist of remakes, sequels, mediocre comedies, action films focused more on computer-generated effects than more genuine effects, and horror films relying more on jump scares than suspense, I personally side with older films, particularly those released a couple of decades ago. When someone is asked about their favorite movie, many people's favorites will have been made in the 1980s, including Star Wars Episode V, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, and Die Hard. For me, one of my favorite films is the 1982 release First Blood, starring Sylvester Stallone. This movie was the first and most critically acclaimed film in the series, as the following sequels and remakes have met with negative critical reception, mostly because they focused more on how many objects can be blown up within the running time than of a coherent plot or a cast of interesting characters. From reading the general consensus at the Rotten Tomatoes review for First Blood, the critics involved share my sentiment that it is a “much darker, more sensitive film than the sequels it spawned” ("First Blood (Rambo: First Blood) - Rotten Tomatoes").
I only saw the movie once from a DVD rental at a Blockbuster store before it went out of business, but it left a lasting impression on me. As I remember, the film opens with Rambo, a Vietnam War hero who won the Congressional Medal of Honor, walking to the small town of Hope after finding out that a friend of his has died of cancer due to exposure to the wartime herbicide known as Agent Orange. He returns home only to find that he's being mistreated by the sheriff, later getting arrested. Meanwhile, we see that Rambo was tortured in a Vietnamese prisoner of war (POW) camp, and he ...
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...he body count and amount of gore only increases with each sequel (Mueller).
Anti-heroes similar to John Rambo are prevalent in all sorts of mythology, and ancient Greek mythology is no exception. One great example is Achilles: of course, he has his ever-famous heel, which is his main flaw
Works Cited
"First Blood (Rambo: First Blood) - Rotten Tomatoes." Rotten Tomatoes. Fixster. Web. 6 Apr 2014. .
Mueller, John. "Dead and deader - Los Angeles Times." Los Angeles Times 20 Jan 2008, n. pag. Print. .
"Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) - Synopsis." Internet Movie Database. Amazon, n.d. Web. 6 Apr 2014.
Wales, George. "50 Greatest Movie Antiheroes | TotalFilm." TotalFilm: The Modern Guide to Movies. Future Publishing Limited, 26 Dec 2011. Web. 6 Apr 2014.
Brubaker. Dir. Stuart Rosenberg. Perf. Robert Redford, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Alexander ,Murray Hamilton, David Keith, Morgan Freeman. Twentieth Century Fox, 1980. Film.
Jennings, Dana. "They’re ... They’re Still Alive!" The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
Rambo: First Blood is a 1982 action film that follows John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) as he deals with life after the Vietnam War and the difficulties he must deal with. John Rambo was a war hero who had even received a medal of honor for his acts of heroism during the war. When wandering the highways of America, he reaches the town of Hope, Washington. Once he arrives he meets the town sheriff named Will Teasel who insults him. Upset, Rambo continues to head into town to get something to eat. Teasel, Frustrated with Rambo’s attitude towards him, arrests him for vagrancy. Rambo then escapes the jail during while he is being cleaned and is on the run from the law. The Vietnam War had a great impact on many soldiers just like Rambo, both physically and emotionally. There are many factors that determined the outcome of the Vietnam War. The factor that was shown in Rambo: First Blood was the morale of the soldiers. Some soldiers didn’t even know what they were fighting for. John Rambo did all he could for his country to win for a war he didn’t even understand and people told hi...
The Bloody Aleutians. Directed by Michael Prentice. 2001. Centennial, CO: Jones Entertainment Goup, 2001. DVD.
...ttle between feuding families, a young boy named Buck is shot and his corpse is found floating in the river. Huck's companion, Jim, shows the deep welts of a whipping he's been subjected to. During a mob scene, a shooting and a stabbing occur. Repetitive risky behavior
As Good as it Gets. Dir. James L. Brooks. Perf. Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba
Gladiator. Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. Dreamworks L.L.C and Universal Studios, 2000. DVD.
There Will Be Blood. Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson. Perf. Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Ciarán Hinds. Miramax, 2007. DVD.
- Achilles, was also brought to ruin by his pride. For example, he was too
Jack The Giant Slayer. Dir. Bryan Singer. Perf. Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Ewan McGregor, and Stanley Tucci. New Line Cinema, 2013. DVD.
The movie There Will Be Blood was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson who was also the screen writer for the movie. The movie was based on a novel by Upton Sinclair. The movie was released on December 26, 2007. The two main actors in the movie are Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview and Paul Dano as Eli Sunday (“There Will Be Blood”). The movie was about an oilman and his son searching for land that might have oil on it, so that they can buy the land and drill for oil to make themselves rich. This movie is recommended for viewers over the age of 17 who would be more interested in a slower moving drama rather than an action movie or comedy. The main topic of the movie seems to be about how too much power can corrupt people.
The Greeks also had their share of icons and heroes. They admired Jason and his quest for the golden fleece, and Perseus, the killer of Medusa, but their finest heroes come from Homer’s Iliad: Hector and Achilles. Hector was the best warrior in Troy and the son of Priam, the king of Troy. Achilles was the great warrior of the Greek army and killed Hector. The Greek citizens, siding with their own nationality, declared the Greek warrior Achilles the hero of the Trojan War, but since ancient Greece no longer exists an unbiased view of the Ilia...
In the introduction of the Essential Illiad given by Sheila Murnaghan, Achilles is labeled as “the greatest of the Greek heroes”. In classic mythology a hero is a person of great strength and courage celebrated for bold exploits and is often the offspring of a mortal and a god. Achilles was the greatest fighter among the Greeks or Trojans and feared no man in battle. He was also the offspring of a mortal and a god so by classic mythology definition, Achilles was indeed a hero. A hero is defined by the present day Websters Dictionary as: “one who inspires through manners and actions; an individual who leads through personal example and accomplishments requiring bravery, skill, determination, and other admirable qualities.” Achilles, in no manner, fits this definition. By contemporary standards, he is instead a pathetic villain. Aside from being a kidnapper, rapist and murderer, Achilles proves to be emotionally weak, selfish, and malicious. Many times throughout the Illiad, Achilles is also referred to as “godlike”. The gods of Greek mythology were subject to the same emotions and character flaws as humans, and though privileged to some foresight, the gods had similar mental capacities as humans. What really set the gods apart were their powers (controlling the elements, changing their appearance, etc.), great strength, and immortality. Because of his great strength and apparent invincibility, it is easy to see why Achilles would...
An anti-hero is the protagonist of a story who lacks some attributes almost always present in a hero, such as selflessness and mercy. Where the hero will save the antagonist at the end of the story if such an opportunity presents itself, the anti-hero will most likely leave his or her foe to rot and choose to forgo saving the life of an enemy. The anti-hero might go as far as to hasten the humiliation or death of said enemy to further her or his own agenda. In Euripides’ play, Medea, Medea shows aspects of an anti-hero in how she deals with her problems, such as manipulating others to save her own skin, cursing those who have wronged her and destroying them, and scarcely ever displaying heroic characteristics such as mercy and sympathy; even as she takes Jason’s only hope for solace away.
Overall, it has been seen that Achilles meets the major requirements of a tragic hero. He is more admirable than the average person. He also has a fatal flaw that leads to his own undoing. However, unlike the normal tragic hero, Achilles is able to address his own flaw and prevent his downfall from spiralling to the point where his life ends tragically. Ultimately, Achilles is an almost-tragic hero who saves himself from tragedy. Ultimately, The Iliad is an almost-tragedy with hope, where the audience can see the tragic ending that had been narrowly avoided.