With the upcoming release of a new Sylvester Stallone movie, it’s no surprise that a new Blu-ray box set of old Stallone movies is getting released. What is surprising about the movies included here – Cop Land, Rambo: First Blood and Lock Up – is how well Stallone acts in each of them. Lock Up, with Stallone playing a convict locked in a battle of wills with a sadistic warden (Donald Sutherland) features the weakest performance from Stallone, but it also features the weakest script and most pedestrian direction (from John Flynn). Sutherland and Stallone make up for it by chewing the scenery with unabashed gusto. Watching First Blood, it’s difficult to connect the dots between the damaged war veteran Stallone plays in the first Rambo movie and the jingoistic hero of the ones that followed. Although there is still a lot of action, First Blood is a deeper, richer portrait of a man driven to the edge and Stallone’s performance is just as deep and rich. The crown jewel of the set is Cop Land, a police thriller about a dimwitted sheriff (Stallone) battling police corruption. The story and direction are excellent, but the real fun is watching Stallone go up against some true acting heavyweights -- Robert Di Nero, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta --- outdo them all.
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