#Rambo First Blood part 2

[comicchannel]

Rambo First Blood Part II (Classic Video Game Appearance) - Neca Toys

Link para compra BR: https://amzn.to/4dp5Yoc

Buy here: https://amzn.to/4dgV5op

[guywithbeer]

RAMBO First Blood Part 2 cemented Sylvester Stallone's place as an action hero. Check out my quick review here.

#rambofirstbloodpart2 #sylvesterstallone #review #vietnamwar #thenam #rambo #firstblood #war #action #vietnam #adventure #thriller #military #pow #prisonerofwar #coldwar #russians

[avatarchai]

Watched First Blood recently and it became an instant favorite :)

[pixelcoast]

Rambo: First Blood - Part 2, Sega Master System

[steampunkforever]

Ok so back in the 70s/80s there was a Qanon-sized conspiracy that the Vietnamese hadn't given America back all its captured soldiers and was keeping some of them in jungle POW camps (just for fun I guess?) even after the Vietnam war officially ended. Though not an impossibility (see: that one Japanese soldier who only stopped fighting WWII in 1974) the general consensus at this point is that the foundation of this conspiracy theory was a coping mechanism for families who refused to accept the fact that their sons listed MIA were truly gone rather than any concrete evidence that the Viet Cong (literally just the Vietnamese government at this point in history) were secretly keeping GIs locked up in the 10-20 years after the war.

The reality is that when you send a generation of young men into a jungle-shaped meatgrinder, you're not going to recover or even confirm all of your dead. Even if those MIA soldiers survived the ambush/plane crash, they'd have essentially been dropped in the middle of a jungle with minimal survival equipment. Unfortunately, the very fact that these boys were drafted into a pointless war in the first place, combined with the treatment of the veterans that made it back, meant that public trust in the government was at an all time low--something that current events have proven to have bred the worst kind of conspiracy theories: the politically impactful ones.

Which is why even now the POW/MIA flag flies in front of many state and federal buildings, the equivalent of your governor unfurling a WWGOWGA banner in front of the statehouse. All this context is required to understand the events that formed Rambo: First Blood Part 2, the 1985 analog to a present day "Pizzagate: The Movie."

On a scale of one to "shred the local police station with a beltfed machine gun," Rambo in First Blood is not doing great at coping with Vietnam, but the movie delivers an elegant, tragic look at how society dealt with veterans of a war it never wanted. And so for the sequel, they brought in George Cosmatos, a director known for what Entertainment Weekly calls "Rock Em Sock Em" movies and whose son would go on to functionally kick off the Nic Cage Renaissance.

First Blood Part 2 lands on the "how well did you take losing the Vietnam war" scale somewhere between "denial through affirmation of nutjob conspiracies" and "going back and killing the russians because they're the REAL bad guys." Which is to say that it handles the transition from thoughtful first film to action icon second film a tad worse than Terminator 2, if only because Terminator 2 never involved plot points about rescuing Nam Vets who were secretly still being kept prisoner a decade after the war ended.

I can't hate on the film that much because you don't hire the corny 80s action director and expect him not to make a corny 80s action film, and the POW/MIA conspiracy functionally no longer matters outside of decorating the back of goateed boomers' Harley Davidson motorcycles. The action is corny and fun, and the pre-9/11 tinhat theories are more objects of curiosity than anything. Yet I would debate that this film doesn't carry on the reputation of the original the same way that Alien carries over to the more action oriented Aliens or Home Alone carries over to Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

Rambo: First Blood ends with John Rambo--disturbed special forces veteran who's take apart an entire town and humiliated state police, local sheriffs, and the national guard-- sobbing like a baby, lamenting bitterly the deaths of every single friend he had in his unit and his fate in a society that has discarded him as politically inconvenient. It's powerful, watching this mountain of muscle shaped into a killing machine fully break down and weep into the arms of his former commanding officer.

In Rambo 2 he ends the film by kicking the bad guy from Karate Kid in the crotch and then shooting up a bunch of computers. The difference between the films is clear.

[alecsv]

[devileaterjaek]

Rambo: First Blood Part II (Master System)

[deadliestfishinthesea]

Love always comes back (like a boomerang) Pt. 2

How you meet Captain boomerang while working undercover for A.R.G.U.S. (and eventually fall for him)

Part 2.

the real story begins after this one (and the romance too)

1.400 words

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54019207/chapters/136825786#workskin

“King Shark showed promising signs of composure since he got admitted here. It's his first time outside.“ officer Cash walked up to her, staring out the window with a frown, „He shouldn't cause any problems.“

___________________________________________

The weather didn't change. Y/n squinted to see if it was raining or if she was just imagining it. It was hard to be sure when glass separated her from the outside. She took a sip of her coffee, but winced and put it down on the windowsill. Still too hot.

“Oh, please. Look at him.“ Y/n gestured with her hand, “If I didn't know any better I would think it's his first day of school.“

The shark was out in the yard, sat on a bench that was much too small for him and glancing at anyone who passed by him. He almost looked lost.

“When are you going to talk to him?“

“Tomorrow.“

“You think he's got potential?“

"It doesn't matter what I think. That's up to Waller.“ Cash hummed and nodded, but Y/n continued, „But yeah. He does.“

“Hmph, what about the Aussie?“

“What about him?“

“Waller already approved him, no? Oh, and didn't he save you in the yard the other day or something?“

“You could say. A fight broke out, I was in the middle of it, he took the fight away from my direction.“

Y/n still remembers it clear as day. They replaced the broken table by now but when she looks out at the yard she can still imagine Harkness slouched over the other prisoner, blood dripping from his nose and his knuckles. She doesn't exactly know how to feel about the whole situation, but maybe that's because she doesn’t let herself think about it too much. Every time she remembers herself in the medical facility at the foot of Boomerang's bed, she tries her best to think about something else.

He huffed out a laugh, “I'm just glad that other guy's in lockdown now. What was it, Rambo?“

“Rango.“

“Rango, right. And the others?“

“Well, there's the doctor gone rogue and the man who never misses. You tell me.“

Y/n read all of their files. Harley Quinn, Dead Shot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark. All deadly, all wanting to get out. She never saw Harley Quinn in person, only photographs, and she would lie if she said she wasn't curious to meet her. Out of all the convicts she was assigned to evaluate, she was most excited to meet another woman with a degree in psychology, even if this one was apparently insane. She saw Deadshot once, but remembered how he looked. And she was almost in awe when hearing stories about his shooting skills, because as hard as they were to believe, they were all true. King Shark is unlike anything she's seen before. She felt like she was reading a fantasy novel when researching about him and his origins, and it baffled her to see such a seemingly powerful creature sit all shy on a yard bench. And then there's Captain Boomerang. His records were insane. She was in a briefing about a month ago and she remembered Colonel Flag say over a call that it would take at least two reams of paper to print out his full rap sheet. And it wasn't exactly a lie. She nearly had a stroke when researching about his past. Among other crimes, the man had nearly a hundred counts of burglary to his name. Who robs a hundred fucking banks? He does, apparently.

Cash went to say something but both his and Y/n's comms lit up and a male voice spoke trough the radio.

“This is watcher-09. Report to the north wing, Mockingbird wants to see you.“

Suddenly her coffee was long forgotten. They both looked at each other in silence until Y/n spoke up.

“What's Waller doing here?“

.

The trip to the north wing was short. Cash pushed open a big door and walked into a large room filled with rows and rows of computers, with an enormous monitor covering the whole front wall. It was uncanny to see the room completely empty. Y/n followed him in and stopped next to the giant monitor, and in front of them stood Amanda Waller, holding a manila file in her hand. She dropped the file on a desk.

“Doctor, I'm afraid your time in Arkham is over, you're being relocated to Metropolis under Colonel Flag's command. Cash, I need all my convicts ready.“

“What happened?“ Cash inquired.

“Metropolis has been invaded. We are sending Task Force X on the field and there's no time for evaluation, either they're ready or they're not.“ she slid the file across the table to Cash.

“They are, ma'am .“ Y/n said and Waller looked at her.

“Did you talk to all of them?“

“No. Only Captain Boomerang. But I've done my research.“

Waller nodded, “You've given me no reason to doubt you so far, doctor.“

“Thank you, ma'am. When am I leaving?“

“Right now.“

___

Wind gushed around and picked up small debris as the helicopter lowered to the ground. The door opened and Y/n stepped out, clutching her rifle. A tall man with a mellow expression on his face walked up to her, shouting so he's heard over the loud whirring of the helicopter.

“Y/n?“, he outstretched his hand, „I'm Colonel Rick Flag. They call you doc', right?“

She grabbed his hand and shook it, „That's me. What's the situation?“

“We're continuing travel on wheels. Anything that flies around here is an easy target.“

As they walked to a group of trucks the helicopter started leaving. They stood in the outskirts of Metropolis, surrounded by burnt down trees and collapsed buildings. She could see the outline of the city in the distance, and the giant alien ship hovering over the sky, its mechanical tentacles weaving through skyscrapers, and it seemed as though it engulfed the entire city. Her blood ran colder by the second, and she held her weapon tightly as she watched everything. Flag spoke again, not yelling this time.

“What's the situation in Arkham?“

“Waller's getting her Task Force ready.“

He was quiet for a second until they reached a truck. He turned to her, “So the circus is actually joining the defense?“

She nodded.

“And you're the one who picked them out?“ He looked at her pensively.

“Waller picked the members. I was just there to… provide extra precaution.“

“Make sure they're insane enough to do this, huh?“

“Aren't we all, Colonel?“ She smiled bitterly.

“Damn right. But that there's another type of crazy. Gotta make sure to keep 'em in line.“

“And how does Waller plan to do that?“

He was quiet for a second, searching for his words.

“You ever heard of a bomb injector?“

.

She sat in the back of the truck, relaxing into her seat as much as she could. So, it was finally happening, she thought. She wondered if the criminals would come out of this with their heads intact. Literally. In all honesty, she hoped they would. Even though she didn't have a direct say in it, Y/n was still involved in choosing the prisoners for the Task Force and sending them to their potential deaths.

A memory slipped into her head, then. Her in the medical facility, standing at the foot of Digger's bed, after he just saved her. Willingly. She thought about that often. He didn't have to step in, didn't have to earn bruises and stitches and isolation time just so she wouldn't be hit. But he did it anyway, and he didn't expect anything in return, either. That made her wonder. If he could do something selfless like that, could they all? Was there any good left in them? In him? But it didn't matter now. There's a chance she won't ever see him again, whether that be because of his death, or maybe even hers.

And she wasn't sure it if was from lack of sleep, or hundreds of destroyed homes, or maybe even because of the weather, but now she sat in the back of a truck leading to a dangerous combat zone, and she just regrets not thanking him properly.  

[gsirvitor]

Let's list all of James Cameron's movies and what they are based on.

Aliens, Alien 3 - Sequel to someone else's IP.

Terminator 1, 2, 3, Salvation, Genesis, Dark Fate - based on The Outer Limits, The Driver and Mad Max 2, despite this it was an Original Idea, though SkyNet is clearly inspired by AM from the short story I have no Mouth and I must Scream by Harlan Jay Ellison.

Titanic - based on real events.

Piranha II: The Spawning - based on a screenplay by Charles H. Eglee.

Rambo: First Blood Part II - Sequel to someone else's IP.

The Abyss - based on H. G. Wells' short story "In the Abyss," though Cameron denies this, claiming it to be an original idea.

The Muse - based on a screenplay written by Monica Johnson and Albert Brooks.

Solaris - based on the 1961 science fiction novel of the same name by Polish writer Stanisław Lem.

True Lies -  based on the 1991 French comedy film La Totale!.

Strange Days - Original Idea, biggest flop of his career.

Alita: Battle Angel - based on Yukito Kishiro's manga series Gunnm.

Avatar 1 & 2 - Alien Pocahontas, Original Idea Do Not Steal.

Now let's go over Tolkien's works, and what they're based on.

The Hobbit - based on the story of Bilbo Baggins a character he made up to act as the focal point of thrilling adventures he'd often make up and share with his children.

The Lord of the Rings - began as a personal exploration of his interests in philology, religion, particularly Roman Catholicism, fairy tales, as well as Norse and Celtic mythology, but the trilogy was also crucially influenced by the effects of his military service during World War I.

The Silmarillion - was influenced by many sources. A major influence was the Finnish epic Kalevala, especially the tale of Kullervo. Influence from Greek mythology is also apparent in the way that the island of Númenor recalls Atlantis, and the Valar borrow many attributes from the Olympian gods.

Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth - literally what the Director's cut of the LOTR wishes it could be, stories and essays ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring, and further relates events as told in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings.

The History of Middle-earth - a legendarium based on everything he's written.

Mr. Cameron, you are but a babe, unable to even stand on the shoulders of a literary giant like Tolkien.

[brokehorrorfan]

Leviathan will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on February 20 via Kino Lorber. Directed by George P. Cosmatos (Rambo: First Blood Part II, Tombstone), the 1989 sci-fi/horror film includes reversible artwork.

David Webb Peoples (Blade Runner, 12 Monkeys) and Jeb Stuart (Die Hard, The Fugitive) wrote the script. Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays, Daniel Stern, Ernie Hudson, Michael Carmine, Lisa Eilbacher, and Héctor Elizondo star.

Leviathan has been newly restored in 4K from the 35mm interpositive with Dolby Vision/HDR and 5.1 surround and lossless 2.0 audio. Special features are listed below.

Disc 1 - 4K UHD:

Audio commentary by film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson (new)

Disc 2 - Blu-ray:

Audio commentary by film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson (new)

Leviathan: Monster Melting Pot - 2014 making-of featurette

Interview with actor Ernie Hudson

Interview with actor Hector Elizondo

Theatrical trailer

On the dark and forbidding ocean floor, the crew of a deep-sea mining rig discovers a sunken freighter that harbors a deadly secret: a genetic experiment gone horribly wrong. With a storm raging on the surface and no hope of rescue, the captain (Peter Weller) and his team are propelled into a spine-tingling battle for survival against the ultimate foe—a hideous monster that cannot die... and lives to kill.

Pre-order Leviathan.

[lampmanliveblogs]

Oh, what are you planning now Odalia? Momma Dalia?

Hm… if her job includes feeding the Owlbeast, then she’d know that Eda really isn’t the Owlbeast and… oh no.

Lilith! Lili! Lili! Lili! You’ve cut your hair! I love it!

And hold up, she’s un-puppet-fied? How??

Oh, okay. And tonight on ”If The Lampman had waited two more seconds…” he would have found out that The Collector was the one who turned Lilith and Eda back to normal. I was thinking that maybe if you could pry those forehead moons off… but nah, this is the domain of the Prince of Plastic, only he has that power.

And, uh… I guess the power of friendship made Hooty temporarily aware and able to communicate with Lilith. Unless he’s always aware because everyone who’s been turned into a puppet is always aware of everything going on around them but are unable to do anything.

Yeah, King’s right, don’t start with that ”real family” crap again Eda, I thought we had been over this? Luz can have two cool moms. And not only has King already claimed Luz as his big sister, Luz claimed Lilith as her cool aunt!

Also, um… Luz found a way back to the Demon Realm! Right back into the danger! Surprise! She’s not so much ”far, far away from this madness,” as she is ”headed straight into the madness.”

(headed. because she’s going to the head)

Right, right, everyone’s miserable this episode, I haven’t forgotten about that. Geez, can’t a (lamp)man be a little happy about Eda and Lilith being at least somewhat okay? Apparently not, because I have to be reminded that Willow is on the brink of breakdown, just like everyone else.

I am hiding my sadness behind annoyance and sarcasm.

Anyways, this is a pretty neat room Mattholomule and Jerbo has here. I like the spiders glowing with a soft pink light, it reminds me of that pink unicorn light strand I had hanging around one iteration of the Conspiracy Corner.

Ah, good ol’ Conspiracy Corner. One day I’m gonna put up a new one. I had to take the old one down when I moved office, and I never got around to putting it back up again. Mostly because the only wall I have that’s big enough to fit it AND let me get a good picture of it is right in front of my bed. And that’s where I’m gonna put that giant Rambo: First Blood part 2 poster my mom thought I should have.

[cipheramnesia]

I think the best movie title I've seen recently is Witch 2: The Other One. From a perspective of being very clear and direct, this is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum of Rambo: First Blood, Part 2.

[gijoe-forever]

From the G.I.Joe cartoon fan page on Facebook:

No, Joe fan... Your eyes are NOT deceiving you! The October Guard, G. I. Joe’s Russian counterpart, DID appear in the Marvel/Sunbow 1980’s era cartoon series, with liberties taken, of course (what did you expect faithfulness to the source material?). 😔

While the October Guard retained its 5 member team (for at least one episode), their looks are different, as is the line up.

Colonel Brekhov (voiced by Gregg Berger) looks significantly younger- in the comics, he looked like an army veteran, but still older looking than even General Hawk or even General Joe Colton in the comics, and both Hawk and Joe are a Brigadier and full General respectively. Remember, the October Guard are an elite unit, by rights, Brekhov, given his rank shouldn’t have looked that old in the comics. Odds are, they have the best equipment and priority over supplies)

Daina is now a brunnette, and not as young as in the comics, nor as hot.

Horror Show (Frank Welker) is one character that’s closest in look and attitude as in the Marvel Comics series. As there, he is not particularly intelligent (think Dreadnok level) and he is more comedy relief. In the cartoons, he has a rivalry with Gung-Ho, something never seen in the comics, though he is more derisive of Americans in Special Missions #20.*

The driver seems closest to Schrage, the East German infantryman seen in the comics (Stormavik sports the blue-and-white striped shirt of the Spetsnaz elite Airborne Troopers)**

The odd man out is the Chinese ‘cowboy’, Wong (voiced by Neil Ross) (who winds up paired with Snake-Eyes in this episode). Odd because the old USSR & Red China have split off ideologically (and fairly acrinomously) in the late ‘60s; there’s no way they’ll have mended fences.

The October Guard made at least 3 appearances in the cartoons:

1. “The Invaders”- the G. I. Joe Team and the October Guard join forces against a seeming alien threat, which Snake-Eyes outs as a Cobra fraud.***

2. “The Great Alaska Land Rush”- The October Guard are assigned to recover a symbolic grail that solidified the selling of Alaska to the United States by Russia in 1867. One of the few animated stories where the writers actually wrote a researched story, clearly influenced if not inspired by Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt novel Night Probe! ****. In this tale, the October Guard is called Red October*****.

3. Arise, Serpentor, Arise- The Joes & October Guard join up to prevent Cobra from getting the corpse of Russia’s Ivan the Terrible which Dr. Mindbender needs to complete Serpentor.+

The October Guard does not appear in the DIC series, though their later CO in the comics, Red Star, appears in a couple.

* Horror Show: “No argument! They are wrong, and we are right!”

Col. Brekhov: “You missed your true calling. You should have been a political commissar!”++

**They were the elite soldiers utterly decimated by John Rambo in the films Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rambo III in Vietnam and Afghanistan respectively.’

*** The episode was wasted in the way the reveal was made- in a scene more deserving to be seen in a Scooby-Doo story.

**** In Night Probe!, Adm. James Sandecker of the National Underwater and Marine Agency and Dirk Pitt are called in to recover the North American Treaty, a document signed near the start of World War I where Britain sold Canada to the United States.

James Bond guest stars. Sorta.

***** Possibly a nod to Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October.

+ Daina makes a cameo in the Transformers episode “Prime Objective” flying a fighter-bomber that’s captured by that episode’s true villain; a character that seems based after Kraven the Hunter. Colonel Brekhov seems to be the official Daina is talking to by radio at the start of the episode, and possibly the “Comrade Colonel!” a Russian soldier calls after when the fighter is later retrieved by the Autobots and left just outside the Kremlin.

++ One more thing, in both the comics and cartoons, the October Guard are spared having a Political Officer, the smarmy man who makes sure that a military unit remains ideologically loyal to Soviet Communist doctrine. In the novel The Hunt for Red October, Capt. Marko Ramius, the CO of the Red October, kills the ship’s Political Officer, Putin, to effect his plan to defect to the US.

NB: “The Invaders” was written by then Marvel G. I. Joe editor Denny O’Neil, best known for his work at DC as editor of Batman.

[iagoglez]

Músculos, caos y notas en los márgenes

El cacao era intragable para los europeos hasta que le añadieron azúcar. Eso, convertido en máxima, es lo que Netflix parece aplicar a buena parte de sus series documentales: hay una gran base, pero suavizada para que llegue a todos los públicos.

Hace unas semanas estrenaron “Músculos y caos: Una versión no autorizada de 'Gladiadores americanos'”. La serie, en su esencia, responde a esa necesidad tan pesada de una generación, la X, que parece llevar años reclamando su derecho a generar espacios de nostalgia. Sucedía en “The Toys That Made Us”, “The Films That Made Us” o en “High Score”: paseos por iconografía que encuentra su máxima expresión en los 80. Sin embargo, en todas estas series acontece algo peculiar: todas son, como mínimo, interesantes. Doblegarse a generar contenidos basados en la mitificación del pasado no es sencillo, y menos si no quieres abrir (demasiadas) heridas. “Músculos & Caos” expone de manera directa en el resumen de sus cinco episodios todas sus cartas: Una idea loca para producir un programa (1) consigue evolucionar con éxito y desmadre asociado al rumor del consumo de drogas (2), pero estos problemas se superan y se termina convirtiendo en un fenómeno mundial más lucrativo para una parte que para otra (3), lo que no impide que se cree una gran familia capaz de propiciar una evolución del formato que termina agotando a las protagonistas (4), y que deriva en un final acelerado por las malas decisiones de la productora (5).

Por desgracia, y con esto no quiero decir que no merezca la pena verla, cada vez que la serie va a tocar un tema espinoso pega un viraje de timón y consigue escaquearse. No la vi por la cosa esta de la nostalgia, sino por mi convencimiento acerca de todo lo que queda por rascar de una década fascinante. En serio, siempre lo diré: los 80 son más que synthpop, hamburguesas, superproducciones y la imposición definitiva de la cultura estadounidense. Los 80 es esa década que podría definir la primera aparición de John Rambo: dramón de tonos fríos y crítico con su sociedad neoliberal, que pasaría a ser todo lo contrario en su segundo capítulo. Acorralado (First Blood, 1980) se mantiene en el imaginario colectivo como el detonante del cine de action héroes: o sea, películas de mamporreros hipermusculados simplificando la existencia humana. Lo gracioso es que Stallone en esta primera interpretación del personaje no lucía tal rotundidad física. No digo que no estuviera en una excelente forma física, claro, pero es en Rambo (en realidad Rambo: First Blood Part II, lo de “Rambo II” no existe) cuando la historia arranca presentando, literalmente, un desfile de músculos.

Pero el accidente en la recepción de Acorralado como una película (solo) de acción ya había derivado en el éxito de los dos Conan en los años 82 y 84, y en el año 85 comienza el mejor momento de la WWF, esta pantuflada de señores hiperhormonados. Los 80 ya eran los años de los músculos y del fitness, y toda esa burricie consiguió algo tan complicado como que el carrerón de Jane Fonda quedar opacado por sus vídeos de aerobic.

Gladiadores Americanos surge de todo esto a finales de la década, estrenándose su primera temporada ya en el 89, el mismo año en que ve la luz el proyecto más personal de David Hasselhoff, Los Vigilantes de la Playa. Pero esa es otra historia y debe ser contada en otra ocasión El resumen de los capítulos en realidad ya sirve para saber qué se va a ver, pero lo interesante creo que se encuentra en aquello que no se cuenta. El primer punto sería que Gladiadores Americanos llega a la cultura norteamericana cuando la percepción de los héroes de masas iba a cambiar de manera peculiar: en el año 93 el propio Schwarzenegger se pegará una monumental hostia con El Último Gran Héroe (grandioso guion, por otro lado), el mismo año que triunfan el culo ridículo de Michael Douglas en Instinto Básico y, sobre todo, Parque Jurásico. Sí, las bolsas de músculos parecían no tener ya ese calado. Un segundo punto: ¿Por qué triunfa entonces Gladiadores Americanos? En la propia serie lo dejan claro: por la gente que concursaba, igual de musculada en su primera temporada, pero “más humana” a partir de la segunda. Ignoro si los responsables que hablan en el documental eran conscientes de lo que esto implicaba, pero en el fondo lo que hicieron, de manera muy inteligente, fue dar cabida en un escenario de fantasía a personas más o menos convencionales. Gente con excepcionales capacidades físicas, pero normal, no infraseres de gimnasio. Gladiadores Americanos coincide en el tiempo y el espacio con algo tan peculiar como el mandato de George Bush. Peculiar por único, boicoteado desde sus propias filas pese a tener elementos favorables, a ojos estadounidenses, como para asegurar una reelección. En España nos sigue sorprendiendo que El Hormiguero, Iker Jiménez o Ana Rosa puedan marcar corrientes de opinión relevantes, pero en EEUU la política siempre supo contaminar la cultura popular de la manera que más beneficiara al poder, y es en ese contexto en el que la apuesta por un espectáculo anabolizado de este calibre podría parecer segura. Pero no. El tercer punto ni se menciona en su plenitud: lo Gay. Porque, sí, Gladiadores Americanos tiene una estética marcadamente gay. El colorido, los trajes, las poses presentando a los y las gladiadores… Al contrario del wrestling y su aspiracional estética destinada a evocar los efluvios de un calzón sudado, Gladiadores Americanos trabajó el formato para reforzar un ambiente de brillibrilli de cardados pétreos y pulcra agresividad cordial: el afecto en el choque afectivo de dos cuerpos hipermusculados tras un asalto tenía tanto o más valor que la propia batalla. Curiosamente, en la serie no tienen reparos en desvelar un porcentaje considerable de lesbianas al tiempo que no se menciona la existencia de ningún luchador gay, algo probablemente imposible ya solo en términos porcentuales.

El cuarto, y último, punto, y el más relevante, es netamente político, algo que en realidad no se esconde en la serie (es una de las claves) pero que jamás se llega a mencionar de manera directa: la necesidad de la defensa sindical. El contexto es importante: empiezan bajo mínimos en la primera temporada para intentar sacar adelante el proyecto y se someten a un ritmo descomunal durante las dos siguientes al tiempo que el programa se convierte en un éxito. Es en ese momento, cuando está claro que la productora está consiguiendo grandes ingresos cuando llega el gran y ridículo giro del guion: varios de sus protagonistas exigen una subida salarial, pero el productor, Samueld Goldwyn Jr, se niega, los despide sin pensárselo, y provoca con una serie de reemplazos que marcan el principio del fin del programa. En un escenario de fantasía puedes tener muchos elementos relevantes: edificaciones, luces, colores… Hasta personas. Los Gladiadores Americanos eran parte de ese escenario que se había convertido en el gran éxito del formato: ese espacio al que gente de a pie podía acceder para sentirse en un mundo diferente al suyo. Esa situación a la que accedían muy pocas personas, pero que permitía a millones proyectar sus deseos de tener esa inmensa fortuna. Ni siquiera importaba lo que pagaran a las personas concursantes, algo de lo que a veces solo eran conscientes al terminar: el premio era estar. La proyección tal vez sea la gran emoción de las personas que habitamos el planeta a partir de los años 50. De una transmisión cultural que primera era oral se pasa a la escrita, y, muchos siglos después, a la cinematografía, una nueva gramática capaz de representar aquello solo se había podido imaginar. Pero es en realidad a partir del auge de la televisión cuando la necesidad de rellenar espacios banaliza y desvirtúa la intencionalidad del relato, algo que termina de desmadrarse con el vídeo, y, finalmente, los contenidos de internet. Esa proyección de la emoción deja de responder a un orden: ya no se puede controlar a partir de los deseos de guionistas, el público la desarrolla como le viene en gana. En el caso de Gladiadores Americanos, ese público establece una conexión con el equipo original, capaz de transmitir a través de las pantallas una familiaridad y un compadreo que queda excelentemente retratado en el cuarto capítulo de la serie, en el que narran su gira por el país con un espectáculo en directo que les obliga a pasar innumerables junt@s haciendo… Bueno, pues esas cosas que se hacen cuando se pasa mucho tiempo junt@s. A “Músculos y Caos” le falta el arrojo de exponer una conclusión evidente: el programa muere por la avaricia de una productora que no quiere reconocer ni los méritos ni los derechos de quienes le dieron la gloria. A “Músculos y Caos” le falta el arrojo de exponer otra conclusión evidente: en los EEUU a día de hoy se ha normalizado el ocultamiento de la importancia de la lucha por los derechos de las personas trabajadoras, y solo por eso fueron capaces de hacer un documental de cinto episodios en el que no reflejan claramente este hecho. A pesar de todo, “Músculos y Caos” es una serie que merece la pena ver, porque este mensaje, en el fondo, queda perfectamente claro, aunque no lo digan, de la misma manera en que son capaces de recrear un fascinante ambiente de libertad extremo, ese que solo se puede dar en una familia disfuncional que se enorgullece de serlo. Conseguir que sientas cariño y respeto por sacos de músculos no parecía sencillo. Bola extra: John McTiernan dirigió a Schwarzenegger en 1987 en Depredador, pero al año siguiente hizo La Jungla de Cristal, y fue uno de los responsables de la elección de Bruce Willis como protagonista para poder reírse del arquetipo de héroe de acción. Cuando en 1993 estrenó ese gran fracaso de Schwarzenegger, El Último Gran Heroe, McTiernan jugó con una historia que se desarrollaba a partir de una idea muy concreta: el poder de los espectadores para ser felices al proyectarse sobre historias ajenas. Bueno, en este caso de manera literal, pero es que era una película.

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Movie Review | London Has Fallen (Najafi, 2016)

Despite being released a few months before the 2016 election, this feels like it could be a key cinematic text of the Trump era, in that it essentially has the same politics of films that defined the Bush and Reagan eras, but is substantially lower rent and less glamorous. As this movie argues, when it comes down to it, all of America's allies are entirely useless in a crisis situation, and only when America takes matters into its own hands (personified in a key moment by the President himself picking up a gun to off a terrorist, which is immediately met with a quip about coming out of the closet) can it defeat the legions of swarthy foreigners who hate it for its freedoms.

At one point the hero, secret service agent and presidential bodyguard played by Gerard Butler says that from hereon out, they must assume that everybody they run into is an "asshole terrorist", at which point the movie graduates from eyeing every brown extra suspiciously to gleefully gunning them down. There's no covering of the ass with a guy from said demographic in the control room. Torture in American movies has become depressingly commonplace, to the point that the Rambo series, whose hero suffered PTSD from being tortured during the Vietnam War, and which previously only featured torture to highlight its villains' sadism, has in its fifth installment turned around on the subject to the point that the hero wholeheartedly employs it without remorse. But there is a certain boldness in this movie's depiction of torture, which the hero repeatedly employs but admits serves no real tactical purpose. After he twists his knife into an opponent for an agonizing length of time (or maybe he was choking him out, apologies if I got my torture scenes confused), the President asks him, "Was that really necessary?" To which he responds, without missing a beat, "No." All of this is punctuated by endless speechifying by the hero about the greatness of the American empire as he brutally kills any number of terrorists. "You know what you assholes don't get? We're not a fucking building! We're not a fucking flag! We're not just one man! Assholes like you have been trying to kill us for a long fucking time. But you know what? A thousand years from now, we'll still fucking be here!"

The fact that the movie offers no apology or no bet hedging with its politics is interesting to reconcile with the fact that the director, Babak Najafi, was born in Iran and whose family was separated and fled to Sweden as a result of the Iran-Iraq War. If one wanted to, they could read this movie as a sly satire of this kind of action movie, and certain choices, like when the movie dissolves from the dust cloud in the aftermath of a drone strike to the flags on the presidential motorcade, can support that reading. But I do think we need to be wary of reducing artists down to biographical or demographic details, which can carry its own kind of condescension, especially when we don't have much else to go off in the way of their work. It's perfectly possible that Najafi took this on as a journeyman, or sympathizes with the views expressed by the movie.

I mentioned earlier how low rent this feels. Rambo: First Blood Part II and Bad Boys 2 looked like they had sizable budgets. The Delta Force, whose brand of racism this likely takes most after, benefited immensely from location shooting (and let its villain be an actual character rendered with an actual performance by the great Robert Forster, who has about a minute of screentime here). This depicts London with a number of totally unconvincing establishing shots and otherwise keeps the lighting dim and the settings nondescript to hide the fact that it was shot in Bulgaria. And while a budget of $60 million these days only gets you so far, the big special effects sequences here look like something out of an Asylum movie. (What should be cool enough helicopter shit to save this movie ends up being irreparably lame as a result.) But at the same time, there are stretches of strong B-movie craft, like the shot that trails the smoke grenade, or the digitally enhanced long take, which understands that the power of such sequences is less about feigned technical virtuosity than in navigating the geography from the hero's perspective and building forward momentum. And it does spend its approximately hour and a half runtime letting its hero brutally kills bad guys at a steady pace.

So if I had to summarize this movie, it's like a sloppily wrapped, extremely greasy cheeseburger that makes you feel like you're inching closer to the grave but also kinda, sorta hits the spot, served by a racist McDonald's employee who's making everybody uncomfortable by not shutting the fuck up about their awful views.

[admiralgiggles]

“To survive a war, you gotta become war. - Rambo: First Blood Part II ”

- Gremlins 2: The New Batch

*The Office fans know …