Given the increasingly over-the-top carnage of each successive film in the Rambo trilogy, it's somewhat surprising and contradictory to note that Jerry Goldsmith's work on the series' debut entry, First Blood, represents his most aggressive and foreboding score. An uneven but often suspenseful score dominated by pulsating synthesizers and eruptions of brass, First Blood works to Goldsmith's strengths and weaknesses alike. His mournful main theme succinctly captures the personal pride and anguish of Sylvester Stallone's protagonist, John Rambo, but as the psychological drama of the onscreen narrative breaks down in the face of sheer physical violence, so too does the music sacrifice complexity and nuance in favor of bombast and cacophony. ~ Jason Ankeny
