Deconstructing Story - Edge of Darkness

The Premise

When Homicide detective Thomas Craven's daughter is gunned down outside his home the one thing he still holds precious has been taken from him. In hunting for her killer he discovers his daughter had a secret life as an activist - trying to expose a cover-up at a government contracted weapons manufacturer. As Craven begins to understand why she died a government agent is dispatched to clean up the mess.

The Appeal

In creating story there are few that resonate more than those with primal themes. There isn't much more primal than a father avenging the murder of his daughter. Likewise few do primal better than Mel Gibson.

Box Office

In 2010 Edge opened average and quickly fell off despite being highly anticipated. Worldwide takings of $81million barely covered the production budget of $80million.

Mel Gibson had not headlined a movie in eight years when Edge was released and hasn't headed a major production since (2013). He had directed two brutal movies though : the commercially successful Passion of Christ and the very violent but excellent Apocalypto. Passion had changed many peoples perceptions of Gibson away from a action movie star to someone with a religious agenda. His subsequent drunken and anti-semantic views further disengaged his core audience.

Trivia

Edge of Darkness was originally a British mini-TV series in 1985. Both the series and this movie (2010) were directed by Martin Campbell.

The role of Jedburgh was originally cast with Robert De Niro but he left after the script moved away from conspiracy thriller to revenge thriller. Ray Winstone was cast in his place. It is a small but significant role.

The original music score was composed around the movie originally being conspiracy based, which didn't suit the revised revenge theme. When the original conductor declined to re-compose the Lord of the Ring's Howard Shore was hired.

Disclaimer: Deconstructing Edge of Darkness means the whole plot will be revealed.

Full Synopsis (743 words)

Edge of Darkness is a thriller set in modern day America against a backdrop of three bodies floating to the surface of a lake next to a Nuclear Storage Facility.

Thomas Craven is a detective with a pedantic nature. He lives alone and is estranged from his daughter. His key relationship through the story is with his daughter who he loves so much he has driven her away. Her death seven minutes into the movie is the catalyst for everything Craven does. Her presence is retained throughout in Craven's mind.

Jedburgh is a government fixer who's job is to extradite solutions to national security threats. Craven's attempts to discover why his daughter died bring him into contention with Jedburgh. The two men have a common moral and bond despite Jedburgh being a constant threat.

The movie opens with a strong image of Craven dotting over his happy and loved daughter as a young child. Switching to the modern day and his grown daughter has made the 100 mile trip to see her father in Boston. Their strong bond is immediately re-established and we see there is still only one woman in Craven's life - his daughter. Emma though is ill, vomiting and suffering from nose bleeds. As they leave for the hospital a man wearing a ski-mask calls out 'Craven' and shoots Emma. She dies in Craven's arms.

Detectives work on the assumption Craven was the target. A disconnected call to Emma's mobile sends Craven in a different direction.

Haunted and comforted by his daughter's memory, a theme played to the very end, Craven unexpectedly finds a gun while sorting her things. He traces it back to her boyfriend who worked with Emma at Northmoor nuclear facility. The boyfriend won't talk in fear of  his life. In Emma's apartment Craven realises her laptop has been stolen and she has equipment for detecting radiation that goes wild when near a sample of her hair.

Craven is confronted by Jedburgh. The two men form a bond as Jedburgh reveals Emma was flagged as a terrorist for contravening security at Northmoor by working with activists. When Emma's boyfriend relents he confirms Emma went to a lawyer to help expose secrets at Northmoor but was turned away, only then helping the activists into Northmoor. They were killed on instruction of Bennett: the head of Northmoor. With Bennett culpable for Emma's death Craven cleverly evades his security and has a chance to kill him. He can't. He needs to know what his daughter was trying to expose.

Emma's boyfriend is killed and Jedburgh warns Craven away when asked what Bennett and Northmoor are hiding. Further bonding they talk about family and death, foreshadowing a key theme through the finale.

Meeting with a terrified friend of Emma's, Craven is given DVDs Emma made for him. When the woman is mown down by a car, Craven narrowly escapes and kills the driver. The threat of Northmoor grows.

The DVDs reveal Northmoor are contracted by the US Government to secretly make weapons using foreign specifications and materials. The previously estranged Emma tells Craven how much she loves her dad. All seems lost for Craven now he knows what he's up against and it quickly gets darker. He has been contaminated with radiation just as his daughter was - a plan created by Bennett and the government officials to ensure Craven dies and is discredited by Emma's terrorist label. We discover Jedburgh's fascination with death and family comes from his own terminal illness. Having leveraged a meeting with the Senator, Craven tells him everything and implores him to do the right thing.

Moving into the finale Craven outwits Northmoor again but he is now seriously ill. He is captured and taken to Northmoor. Without much time to live Craven wants justice, escaping and going to Bennett's house. He kills the Northmoor agents who shot Emma and then Bennett.

The senator is part of the Northmoor cover-up and Jedburgh helps put a lid on the deaths. When they mock Craven who is now dying in hospital, Jedburgh has a change of heart and kills the government officials and the senator. He is killed by a young cop when he lowers his weapon after learning the cop has a young family.

The movie ends with Emma's DVDs arriving at a TV station. As Craven dies in hospital Emma comes to him and they both walk into the light together.

Fifteen beats that make the story

Running Time 110 minutes

Characters
Thomas Craven - Mel Gibson
Jedburgh - Ray Winstone
Bennett - Danny Huston
Emma Craven - Bojana Novakovic
Whitehouse - Jay O. Sanders

Disclaimer: Deconstructing Edge of Darkness means the whole plot will be revealed. 

One - Opening Images

The story opens with two distinctive images. We start with a moonlit river in the dead of night, a distant riverside building like a power plant. We hear bubbling and then three bodies float to the surface.

Second we have video footage of a very young Emma Craven happily playing on the beech with the loving voice of her father urging her on. A date of 1990 is listed at the bottom to establish the video was taken some time in the past.

Two - Introducing the characters (2-13 minutes)

Thomas Craven meets his grown up daughter at the train station. Immediately Thomas is set-up as a pedant. This is repeatedly reinforced through interactions with his daughter in this section. There is a strong bond between father and daughter but we get a sense she has been gone a while and his obsessive nature might have been the reason. There is no mention of a mother at any stage in the film.

While shopping Craven sees his daughter vomiting outside the car. A brief discussion about whether she is pregnant turns to why he doesn't have a women in his life. He states she is the only girl for him.

The bond between the two, the length of time she has been away and his pedantic ways are re-stated back at the house. We also learn for the first time Craven is a detective. When Emma's nose starts bleeding and she vomits again, the daughter starts to panic. She tells Craven there is something she needs to tell him. Heading to the hospital they step outside and a man in a ski-mask calls from the road 'Craven', and fires a shotgun. The daughter takes the hit and dies trying to speak to her father. Craven weeps over her body.

In the following hours police are wrapping up forensics and we are given a real hard look at the mindset of Craven. He is practically catatonic with a blank faced, vengeful countenance familiar to anyone who's watched Mel Gibson's films. His boss, referred to as Whitehouse, tries to get him out of the house for a while. On being reminded the bad guys are armed and dangerous, Craven responds with a classic Gibson line: 'What do you think I am.'

Alone Craven washes Emma's blood from his face. Her mobile phone rings but when Craven answers the caller disconnects. Getting ready for bed he hears her voice, which soothes and guides in a theme that re-occurs to the very end of the film. He dreams of Emma as a child and wakes to the sound of the gunshot, his gun at the ready, adding substance to his capability. By casting Mel Gibson in the lead role capability can largely be assumed.

With the key characters in place and a premise set-up the story is good to go. There are however two key moments during this last section we need to take a closer look at.

Three - You are my girl (@4:35)

During the initial conversation in the car Emma askes Craven why he hasn't got a woman in his life. Craven tells Emma: 'You're my girl.' This sets in place the theme and driving force behind everything Craven does through the film. The theme is a father's love for his daughter.

Four - Emma's ringing phone  (@12 minutes)

Although the murder of Emma is the catalyst for the story it is Emma's ringing phone, disconnected when Craven answers, that sets him off on a different path to the official investigation and to her actual killers.

Five - Confronting Death (13 - 24)

Craven hands over Emma's phone to a colleague at the station and requests a list of all the contacts. At this early stage the police believe he was the target and Emma killed by accident. He is told he can't work the case but easily talks around this. 'Since it's me who's got to figure out who'd want to kill me for reasons only I would know about, I figured I might as well get paid for it.' All in the room agree.

Craven goes to identify his daughters body in the morgue where her death is confirmed as injuries arising from gunshot wounds. No mention of the vomiting. Craven cuts some of Emma's hair to keep and in a park he breaks down and tells his dead daughter he can't go on. She tells him he has to. Scattering her ashes on the same beech from the opening image we get another emotional scene and he talks to Emma again, this time as a child while she plays in the sea.

In searching Emma's room he finds ID stating she was an intern at Northmoor as a nuclear engineer. Craven finds a gun in the bedside draw and wondering why is daughter would need a gun, uses the serial number to trace the owners address. Whitehouse tells Craven a ski mask has been found with hair samples five doors from Craven's house with traced DNA. No opinion is stated but we and Craven think that sounds awfully convenient.

Through this section there were two occasions when Craven could have walked away from everything that subsequently happens. He is first told he cannot work the case but argues he needs to and later in the park he states he can't go on but is urged on by his daughter's voice.

Six - No Stopping Craven (@25)

Act Two gets underway with a twenty second montage taking him the 100 miles from Boston to Northampton. At the gun owners apartment there is a brutal fight further demonstrating Craven's ability. We discover Emma's boyfriend is the gun owner and gave it to her. He is very scared and refuses to talk, showing Craven he is being watched.

Craven takes Emma's personal possession and at her apartment discovers her laptop has been stolen. Craven discovers a meter for detecting radiation which goes wild when placed next to the sample of her hair Craven kept.

Seven - Jedburgh sub-plot (@33 minutes)

In a deserted underground parking lot we meet a government official and Jedburgh, who is immediately set up as deadly. His job is to mitigate national security issues by whatever means he sees fit. We learn Northmoor is a government weapons contractor and we get confirmation Emma was the target of the shooting, not Craven, because she helped three activists enter the Northmoor complex. Something highly classified is going on at Northmoor and Jedburgh will ensure the government's interests are protected. We get the first indication Jedburgh and Craven are on parallel paths destined to collide.

Eight - Finding Emma's Killer (35 - 55) 

Craven ensures detail of his investigation into his daughters life does not get back to Whitehouse in Boston. Working through the list of contacts from Emma's mobile he reaches a very scared woman who works in a luggage shop. She gives Craven his first lead that Emma's death is linked to her job as an intern at Northmoor.

Craven meets the head of Northmoor in the plush penthouse office at the high-tech facility. The smooth executive is called Jack Bennett who offers the usual platitudes about Craven's dead daughter and we learn Northmoor is 'officially' home to a nuclear stockpile and key to local economy. Bennett's smooth exterior drops and we get a sense of something slippery beneath the surface.

Craven gets news from Whitehouse the Ski mask DNA has been matched but when they raid the suspects house they find him executed. Investigating the scene Craven briefly considers this might be her murderer, but quickly realises there is a discrepancy in the hair length of the dead assassin and the sample found in the ski mask. This sets him against Whitehouse who seems too willing for the case to be closed.

Now believing he can't trust Whitehouse Craven burns the evidence of his own investigation and is surprised by Jedburgh. We quickly realise they have a lot in common as they discuss that Emma had been flagged as a potential terrorist threat as she helped three activists breach security at Northmoor. While smoking a cigar Jedburgh discovers Craven knows more than he should but sees merit in him continuing his investigation. Jedburgh tells him the activists were part of a group called 'nightflower'. At the end of the scene we get these two great lines and confirmation Craven thought he was about to be killed:
Craven: 'You going to arrest me?'
Jedburgh: 'I never arrest anyone.'

Craven revisits Emma's scared boyfriend and spots one of Jedburgh's cigars in the ashtray. Craven manages to bond with the boyfriend over their love of Emma, that she had worked with Nightflower to get the activists into Northmoor but didn't go in herself. That she only did this after trying every other course of action including going to a lawyer called Sanderman who told her he couldn't help. The boyfriend explains the activists we saw at the very opening were killed by radiated steam in the tunnels on Jack Bennetts orders. As we reach the mid-point of the movie Craven realises Jack Bennett was responsible for Emma's death but doesn't know how or why?

Nine - Mid-Point (@55 minutes)

After disabling Jack Bennett's personal security as he drives from Northmoor, Craven pulls Bennett over and has an opportunity to kill him in the sure knowledge he ordered Emma's death. What seems like a victory for Craven though quickly turns inside out  when Craven's sense for right and wrong and no hard evidence, prevents him from pulling the trigger.

Killing Bennett might actually have been the best result at this half way stage and possibly the one Jedburgh was looking for when he told Craven about Nightflower. Discovering who killed Emma is over, the second half of the film will be about why.

Ten - Northmoor closes in (60 - 85)

How high the stakes now are is immediately revealed with clever intercutting of footage between Emma's boyfriend and Jedburgh, both separately watching a smooth Senator talk about funding from Northmoor on TV. We see Emma's boyfriend has been shot in the head and it is implied Jedburgh was the assassin.

Jedburgh and Craven meet by a docks and talk about death and family that cleverly foreshadows the coming reveal of Jedburgh's illness. Craven wants to know what Emma was trying to help expose at Northmoor and Jedburgh warns him away. He has sympathy for Craven but may have to stop him if he continues. That these two men get on and that Craven fears Jedburgh is restated. An excellent scene.

When a young female reporter chases a story on Emma's death Craven is reminded of his daughter and takes the reporters card. He then confronts the lawyer named Sanderman who his daughter went to about blowing the whistle on Northmoor. We learn Sanderman represents Northmoor and never told Emma, tried to find out what she knew and had been twice put up for district judge by the senator we saw on TV. Craven now wants to talk with the Senator.

After more dreams of his daughter which remind us just why Craven is doing this he meets the scared luggage woman from Emma's phone contacts. She is terrified but gives him a package of DVD's from Emma after confirming a man called Robinson is the head of Nightflower. As the woman leaves she is violently mown down by a car that turns around and comes back for Craven. In a classic Gibson moment he takes out the car and driver which crashes into the river.

The DVD's are a video message from Emma explaining Northmoor is manufacturing foreign branded nuclear weapons, presumably so America can blame other countries for their misdeeds. At the end of the video, the now dead Emma addresses her father, and states her love for him.

Craven is quickly at the river shack Emma recorded the message, watching Northmoor from the same POV we saw the bodies bubble to the surface in the opening image. He is going to bring them down.

With an increasing number of loose ends around the deaths and requirement for cover-ups government officials put pressure on Bennett to put a lid on the problem. We learn Northmoor are actually creating dirty bombs that could be used to discredit Jihadist movements. Somehow.

Craven tracks down Robinson, the leader of the activist movement called Nightflower and while brutally beating him discovers the man has been paid off by Northmoor. Craven forces Robinson to tell him everything. Immediately after we see Craven checking his own fridge and discovering the milk is radiated.

Bennett and the government agents, realising there's an 'unsurvivable' and immediate risk of Craven talking, plot how to kill him while blaming it on Emma's involvement with the activists

As Craven heads to talk with the Senator it is revealed Jedburgh has a terminal illness. The Senator admits to Craven that Emma came to him blowing the whistle on Northmoor but the senator is very much locked into national security - she was in violation of 'classified' information. Northmoor is a major contributor to his campaign. Craven shows him just how much he knows believing the Senator can still do the right thing and expose Northmoor.

As we come to the end of Act Two there are two key moments we need to go back and look at.

Eleven - Dirty Bombs (@ 74 minutes)

At seventy four minutes Craven saw Emma's video message from the grave, that revealed Northmoor were illegally making foreign branded nuclear weapons. This is the first time we realise just how bad Northmoor are, what they and the government will do to cover it up. We realise how dire the consequences are for Craven. This moment echoes the mid-point where he could have killed Bennett without having to face off against both Northmoor and the government. He is now way out of his depth and the message of love from his dead daughter is testament all seems lost.

Twelve - Darkest hour (@ 82 minutes) 

At eighty two minutes we got three brief scenes.
First we assume Craven is ahead of the game when he discovers the milk in his fridge is radioactive, but the look of resignation is probably more a realisation he has drunk the milk and is going to die.
Bennett, who is on the verge of an unsurvivable scandal, decides with the government officials Craven needs to die via a 'radioactive element' passed on by his daughter.
Finally we discover Jedburgh has a terminal illness.
Everybody including Bennett is at their lowest point in the movie.

Thirteen - Act Three (@88 minutes)

We are launched into Act Three with another rise in the stakes when Craven outsmarts Northmoor agents by crashing into their car. Police attending the scene find automatic weapons in their boot. An ill Jedburgh watches it on the news. With increased exposure the government wants out from killing Craven but Bennett tells them it is already done.

Fourteen - A violent finale (90 - 108)

At ninety minutes a very touching scene with Craven and his young daughter reminds us what this movie is all about. Soon after we see Craven coughing and fear the worst.

Whitehouse comes to talk Craven into stopping after his own family have been threatened. In a strong scene between two men who have shared a past, Whitehouse reveals Craven will be set-up for the murder of Emma's boyfriend. Craven refuses to back down as Whitehouse knew he would and we see how ill Craven is as he vomits into the kitchen sink. The Northmoor agents capture Craven in his own kitchen having used Whitehouse as a decoy.

Locked up in Northmoor Craven immediately escapes and heads home to get his gun and to Bennett's guarded home. This capture and immediate escape is one of only a few odd notes in the whole movie. You get a sense the original script called for Craven to hunt down Bennett through Northmoor's high security complex but this would have been a costly and complicated set-up, so the face-off is moved to the more manageable and cheaper location of Bennett's home. I could of course be mistaken. Having Craven captured is however important - we have already been reminded Craven is doing this all for his daughter, we are now reminded Northmoor are the bad guys, which makes what Craven does next justifiable.

At ninety-nine minutes Craven approaches Bennett's home and we immediately know this isn't going to be a talky conclusion when Craven shoots dead one of the agents as Howard Shore's music rises with a sinister but triumphant edge. Craven kills the agent who shot his daughter and has a brief fight with Bennett. He pours the radiated milk over Bennett who goes wild with panic, proving one more time his culpability. 'Deep down you know you deserve this.' And bennett is shot through the throat. Craven who has been shot at least once collapses.

The senator and government officials struggle to create a press release explaining why Craven has killed Jack Bennett the head of Northmoor. We realise the Senator has been complicit all the time.

Jedburgh supplies a solution and at this moment he is on-board with the Senator. But the bond he had with Craven is invoked when they joke about Craven who is now waiting to die in hospital. Jedburgh kills the government officials and following these excellent lines as the Senator pleads for his life, kills the senator:

'I'm a united states senator.'
'By what standard?'

Jedburgh is then confronted by a young cop. In an echo of the family theme that he and Craven shared, he lets the young cop live because he has family, lowers his weapon and is shot dead by the cop.

The reporter we saw briefly earlier opens her post and finds Craven has posted her Emma Craven's expose CD's. She runs into her editors office with them.

Fifteen - Closing Image (@107 minutes)

As the movie comes to an end the dying Craven is visited by Emma. In a moving scene he dies and they walk away together into the light, providing a poignant closing image that beautifully contrasts the opening image of them together when she was a child.

Deconstructing Story - First Blood

From the age of twelve I had the headline poster on my bedroom wall, of Sylvester Stallone from First Blood, the ribbon of menacing bullets diagonal across his chest, the bandana, Rambo holding the M60. I have no idea why the image was so important because I only watched First Blood when I was sixteen. The movie still resonates with me thirty years later.

In trying to understand why First Blood has been such an iconic movie, I thought I'd break it down to fifteen core beats. The kind of beats any story needs if it will parse as entertainment in a viewers mind.

One - Introduction to Rambo

The movie begins by showing us Rambo, John J, walking down a grass verged track to a riverside settlement, accompanied by Jerry Goldsmith's laconic signature soundtrack. We discover Rambo is looking for the only surviving member of his squad from Vietnam, whom he quickly discovers died from cancer soon after returning from Vietnam. Now Rambo is completely alone and has nothing to lose. He heads back to the road and towards a small town called Hope.

Two - Characters (5 - 11 minutes) 

At five minutes we meet Sheriff Teasle, the much liked guardian of Hope. He spots Rambo and offers to give him a lift through town. Rambo wants to stop and eat but Teasle doesn't want guys like Rambo in his town. At eight minutes he drops Rambo off outside town. Rambo stops and deliberates and then starts walking back. He is arrested and his hunting knife confiscated.

At the police station we are quickly introduced to all the characters who play a significant part in the first half of the movie.

Three - Theme (@ 5 minutes)

During the arrest of Rambo, Teasle states that wearing his military jacket and the american flag 'like that' is what got him arrested. Throughout the movie to its closing scenes the repeating theme is how America has mistreated the soldiers who fought the Vietnam war.

Four - Catalyst (@ 13 minutes) 

Although Rambo's arrest sets up everything that will happen, it is his reluctance to be fingerprinted and his first meeting with the dark hearted Deputy Galt, that sets the violence in motion. We see how brutal Galt can be and also from flashbacks, just how unstable Rambo is.

Five - Preparing for the Adventure (13 - 16 minutes)

From the moment Rambo arrives at the station to the moment he escapes on sixteen minutes, there is no attempt by any party to avoid the adventure ahead. Rambo is treated brutally with relish, which results in horrifying flashbacks as the officers try to shave him. Rambo has deliberately put himself in this situation. He takes out half the personal in the station as he escapes.

Six - The adventure begins ( @16 minutes)

The escape as we move into act two sets-up the deepening conflict between Teasle and Rambo. Teasle relentlessly follows cross country in a squad car as Rambo flees on a motorbike. We get a sense that something has been gnawing at Teasle for some time and his determination to follow Rambo embodies his need for a violent resolution. No reason is stated in the movie but we see it in every gesture of Brian Dennehy's superb performance. As Teasle later says, 'I wanted to kill that kid so bad I could taste it.'

Likewise with Rambo, we get a sense that now he's on the run he is alive again and free. Above all he is doing something he is good at. This is a fight both men were looking for and now they have it.

Seven - No sub-plots

The whole story is focused around the hunt for Rambo and then his return attack on the town of Hope. There are no sub-plots or other layers. Colonel Trautman arrives on the scene at the mid-point but serves only to pad out the Rambo back story and add weight to his threat.

Eight - Fun in the Forest (16 - 40 minutes)

We enter the first of two big sections in act two. This one will lead us to the mid-point of the movie. The resourcefulness and ability of Teasle is demonstrated in his ability to command and focus resources. He above all is the one with any ability to capture Rambo, with the inability of his men demonstrated by their 'deer hunting' approach to the search and spoiling the scent of the hunting dogs. Rambo further demonstrates his skills by salvaging survival equipment from a scrap yard.

At twenty-five minutes the stakes are raised considerably when Rambo is forced to climb down a sheer cliff to escape. Deputy Galt starts shooting at Rambo from a helicopter, which forces Rambo to jump, using a tree to break his fall. He sustains an arm injury. Not content with wounding Rambo, Galt moves in for the kill. As a last desperate act Rambo throws a rock at the helicopter windscreen which unbalances Galt who falls to his death onto the rocks below.

Teasle sees Galt's dead body from the top of the cliff and Rambo offers a truce. Instead he is fired upon and we learn Teasle and Galt have been lifelong friends. At the same time Teasle discovers Rambo was an elite and medalled soldier. Both men now have more of a fight than they might have been looking for. Teasle's murderous desire and Rambo's need to survive have reached primal levels.

Teasle rallies his officers and they go with the hunting dogs to track down Rambo. Once more we get a sense Teasle alone is the one with any ability to do this, with the hunting dogs and then each of the officers systematically and cleverly taken out by Rambo, leaving the forest full of screams as Teasle's men call for help.

Nine - Mid-Point (@ 41 minutes)

Rambo confronts Teasle as the last man standing, telling him not to push it, that he could easily have killed them all. He lets Teasle go. Although this seems like a victory for Rambo his situation is immediately made worse when Teasle escalates the hunt, bringing in the state police and national guard. The hunt is turned into a national media event with Rambo demonised.

Ten - Soldiers close in (43 - 68 Minutes)

The second big chunk of story, taking us to the end of act two, starts with a slow down in pace. The narrative briefly summarises how we have got to this stage with a performance focused around the embattled but vengeful Teasle, who blames Galt's death firmly on Rambo. We are introduced to Colonel Sam Trautman, the soldier who trained Rambo, who implores Teasle to let Rambo go, so they can later catch him after the situation is defused. Ignoring this advice Teasle uses Colonel Trautman to initiate radio contact with Rambo. In one of the best moments in the movie, that both humanises Rambo and makes him more of a threat, Trautman tries to talk Rambo into turning himself in. In a repeat of the mistreatment of Vietnam soldiers theme, Rambo who is hiding in a mineshaft, refuses to run any more. 'There are no friendly civilians', he says, stating they pushed first, not him. The radio conversation has given a fix on Rambo's location.

At fifty-three minutes and the following morning, the national guard closes in on Rambo. He easily gives them the slip but is discovered by a young boy hunting with his dad. In a moment that reveals Rambo's true character he refuses to kill the boy whose screaming brings the soldiers back on Rambo's trail. He returns to the mineshaft and the national guard wait outside. At fifty-eight minutes the national guard, scared by Rambo's devastating return fire, rocket launch the mine. The mine is blown up and Rambo is believed dead. Although Colonel Trautman thinks Rambo might have survived he endures Teasle's rant about the easy victory. A rant Teasle later apologises for, which opens up some vital empathy for the sheriff as we head towards the finale.

Rambo has in-fact survived but endures his darkest moment escaping the mine at sixty-four minutes as the tunnel increasingly narrows and he is attacked by rats. Teasle and Trautman briefly share a drink and we get real context from Trautman for the kind of killer Rambo was in Vietnam - a war of attrition that foreshadows the hell Rambo is about to bring to the town of Hope.

Eleven - Rambo Lost (@ 58 minutes)

There are two key moments in the previous section that are important beats in the story. The first is the national guard rocket launching the mineshaft with Rambo inside. Although we do not believe Rambo can be dead the weight of Rambo's story then falls on the shoulders of Colonel Trautman. Having talked up his soldier's abilities it seems all is lost when Rambo is so easily killed by part-time soldiers. This moment directly contrasts the mid-point, where Rambo's victory of Teasle was short lived. This moment in the mineshaft is a short lived victory for Teasle, because Rambo is actually alive and will soon be back.

Twelve - Darkest Moment (@ 64 minutes)

The second key moment during the back-end of act two, comes at sixty-four minutes when Rambo reaches his lowest point in the movie. In the mineshaft with the tunnel narrowing, he is attacked by rats, a very memorable scene full of terror for Rambo, in turn demonstrating his humanity.

Thirteen - Into Act Three (@ 68 minutes)

After the rat attack it can only get better for Rambo and quickly does, when he finds a way out. He climbs a ladder and discovers he's amid the retreating troops who believe he's dead. And so we ease into Act Three and the violent finale.

Fourteen - Attack on Hope (69 - 88 minutes)

Rambo immediately steals a van with an M60 machine gun in the back. He races back to Hope, taking out a squad car full of pistol totting policemen and breaks through a roadblock to a victorious upsurge in the Jerry Goldsmith music score.

At seventy-four minutes he sets a petrol station in Hope on fire which quickly results in Teasle evacuating the streets. Teasle climbs onto the station roof with a rifle and waits for Rambo to show his face. Rambo doesn't, he systematically takes apart the town, and everything Teasle is responsible for. Finally he creates a diversion and spots Teasle on the roof.

At eighty-four minutes Rambo runs through Teasle's line of sight to draw him out and then unloads the M60 into Teasle, who is badly wounded but survives. Rambo is now ready to take on the rest of the police and National Guard positioned outside the police station.

At eighty-five minutes Colonel Trautman appears and tries talking Rambo down. In a very moving scene that pays off on the mistreatment of soldiers theme and the horrifying experiences of war that still haunt Rambo, he is reduced to a sobbing wreck and the battle is over.

Fifteen - The End (@ 89 minutes)

Rambo leaves the station and goes into custody with Colonel Trautman. He has shared his nightmare and in contrast to the beginning he is no longer alone. Teasle is lifted into an ambulance. The movie closes freeze framed on Rambo with Trautman at his side. Dan Hill sings his hit song 'It's a Long Road' in accompaniment.

Summary

First Blood is a story that appeals for its primal nature, of the hunter and hunted, a fight to the death. The enduring nature of the story is underpinned by the age old motif of the soldier who fights for his people, who is then caste out by the people, fearful for what he became in saving them. The film leaves us pondering contrasting moral viewpoints: Teasle believes men like Rambo are only ever trouble and everything that happens, especially Galt's death, prove him right; set against Rambo's belief he has been victimised once too often. Brian Dennehy's performance as Teasle, without any reference to his past, tells us exactly the man he is and what he stands for. Likewise Stallone is understated but likeable as the traumatised ex-soldier with blood and terror on his hands. We feel empathy, not just for Rambo - the errant son, but also for Teasle - the strict father figure, that lasts beyond the closing credits of the film.

Box Office

Made for $15,000,000, First Blood was released October 1982, going on to make a world-wide gross at the cinema of $125,000,000 It went on to be a big video and DVD hit, spawning the hugely successful and very different, partly James Cameron penned Rambo II.

Trivia

First Blood was originally set to star Paul Newman as Sheriff Teasle and then later Steve McQueen as Rambo. In David Morrell's original book of the same name, Rambo is shot dead at the end by Colonel Trautman. This was the original ending of the film too, but when it was test screened the audience almost rioted and they filmed an alternative ending, with Rambo surviving.