Sylvester Stallone has built his filmography on the back of action-packed films throughout his strong career, which began around 1970.<\/p>\n
While his first real hit was the iconic boxing movie Rocky, Stallone starred in what became one of the most popular action franchises of all time just six years later.<\/p>\n
In 1982, the very first Rambo film was released, and in many’s eyes, it’s not only the best of the entire series <\/a>but also one of the best action movies ever released in the genre.<\/p>\n It was First Blood<\/a>,<\/a> directed by Ted Kotcheff and based on David Morrell’s 1972 survival thriller novel. The film followed Stallone in the role of John Rambo, a retired Vietnam War veteran and former Green Beret.<\/p>\n “A drifting veteran must weaponize the wilderness to survive a relentless manhunt led by a small-town sheriff who pushed his fragile psyche past the point of no return,” the movie’s plot explains via IMDb.<\/a><\/p>\n The movie holds a strong 7.7 out of 10 rating on IMDb and carries an exceptional 86% on Rotten Tomatoes<\/a>.<\/p>\n t’s also been lauded by both MovieWeb<\/a> and ScreenRant<\/a> as one of the greatest action films ever.<\/p>\n “To call First Blood one of the most lauded action movies of all-time would be an understatement,” Archie Fenn of MovieWeb wrote.<\/a> “The movie kicked off a billion-dollar franchise, turned Stallone into a Hollywood icon, and has a legacy as one of the most influential action films of the 1980s.”<\/p>\n Stallone Calls First Blood Best Action Movie He’s Ever Done<\/p>\n In a recent 2026 interview with GQ, Stallone admitted that First Blood is the best action movie he’s ever made.<\/p>\n “Inadvertently, I’d consider [‘First Blood’] the best action film I’ve ever done,” Stallone said<\/a>. “And I think it might be one of the first, when you say ‘pure’ action films. You’ve had car chases. You’ve had gunfights. But I mean, it’s all action. You’re speaking with your body, your looks, your intentions, and the other characters are doing the dialogue. You are in action the whole time.”<\/p>\n What Followed First Blood in the Rambo Franchise?<\/p>\n While First Blood is regarded as the best of the entire series, the franchise continued all the way until 2019.<\/p>\n After First Blood, the studio released Rambo: First Blood Part II in 1985, which became another massively successful film that built off the original.<\/p>\n Three years later, Rambo III hit theaters in 1988 and was set during the Soviet-Afghan War. They didn’t release a fourth film until 2008, simply titled Rambo, before the final film, Rambo: Last Blood, arrived in 2019.<\/p>\n Related: ‘I Couldn’t Find Work’: One of Sylvester Stallone’s Best Movies Nearly Ended His Career<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published by Men’s Journal<\/a> on Aug 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Men’s Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sylvester Stallone has built his filmography on the back of action-packed films throughout his strong career, which began…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[23645,18,117,19,17,95115,327,36545],"class_list":["post-651513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-action-movies","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-john-rambo","tag-movies","tag-sylvester-stallone"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117142078464434108","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}