[00:00:17] Speaker A: Welcome to Friendly Competition, a podcast to discover the best of all time. I'm Nick Carey alongside my coast and best friend, Cody Lena. Discuss various pop culture topics and narrow it down to truly the best of all time.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Or as we like to call it, the boat. Before he gets a foot on the boat, we put him into a sweet 16 style tournament, and we argue each round till we decide a winner. Nick, what criteria do we use when we decide he steps foot on the boat?
[00:00:39] Speaker A: Wherever the hell we want. Cody, do you want to tell them what we're talking about this season?
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Absolutely.
If you're lucky, you'll see maybe four or five purely beautiful, breathtaking cinematic experiences in your life. A lot of people are going to say, oh, you mean Casablanca? You mean citizen Kane, the graduate, godfather. No, I am talking about the greatest action movies of all time. Your kill bills, your Rambos, your Bruce Lee edge of the dragon, your snake plisskens. These movies that inspire you to be the best american you can be. And what does the best american you can be do, Nick? What does he do? In the words of Rambo, what does he do?
[00:01:16] Speaker A: He wins the fight.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: I was going to say that I was going to also out of accepted. All cops are also bastards.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, that's pretty baked in there as far as shit. Rambo doesn't like. He does not care for the popo, to be fair.
Know, you had it stepped. You angered the bear, you poked the bear.
[00:01:38] Speaker B: They drew first blood.
He said, crying. They drew first blood.
I would have done it.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: God.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: Okay, we got to get into it. I'll start with Ram.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: We got to get into this, man.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: That movie fucking ruled. Did you not like it?
[00:01:55] Speaker A: No, I loved it.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:57] Speaker A: So wait, real quick, just for table setting, we are in the final four of best mortal action hero. They're just like you and I, folks. Rambo especially. But they're just like you and I. And we have the group a champion, the bride, going up against the group B champion, Bruce Lee from enter the dragon. And then we have the group C champion, Rambo, going up against the group D champion, snake Plissken, from your escape from New York and also escape from get. Yeah, we can just talk about was. Cody texted me and we do our research, and we obviously do it separately, but rarely do we comment ahead of time.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Talk about it.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Yeah, just like, we get to this moment and we chat. But Cody watched it and was like, dog, have you done it yet? And I was like, oh, no. I was like, I have seen Rainbow four already, so I don't really know if I'm going to. And he was like, I demand of.
[00:02:50] Speaker B: You, I got to watch first blood.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: Dude, you have to see this movie.
It felt like our friendship would be different now if I never watched it.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: Not only is this required, this isn't required watching for the show. This is now on the required materials of, like, if you're going to take Cody as the class, if you were going to get the dossier, you're going to get whatever your schedule for my class, there would be a Rambo section.
[00:03:17] Speaker A: Yeah, there would be a Rambo section. You've lived 34 years of your life knowing that this character existed, knowing, like, yeah, I mean, he's out there never caring. You watched it once and you're like, this is it now, dude.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: I thought, okay, Rambo's branding is bad for me. I've never watched a Rambo movie until now. So what I knew about Rambo was that he hated the Vietnamese and he was all a fulcan. Strong blooded John Rambo, American. Hot apple pie, fucking cold beer. I'm going to kill it, and we're going to win the war, dog. If you gave me 100 tries to guess the plot of Rambo first blood, I never would have got it.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: The only thing I knew going into Rambo first blood is first blood part one. Because I think this is one of those things where you can tell after the fact. They're like, hey, man, we made a really weird movie. And so there's first blood part two to be like, no, it's all the same thing. No, it's all the same. This one is just the same as important, and it's not because I watch part two. And we'll talk about that in a second. The only thing I knew going into it was like, I remember someone saying, it's an action movie with an incredibly low kill count. And I knew that there was something about PTSD, but you could say that about almost any movie that involves a soldier, that at some point they're like, bring up, hey, man. Yeah, man, I'm pretty fucked up from the war. Like, yeah, man, things just aren't the same. That is not what you get here. You get a man who by the end, you're like Cliff notes.
[00:04:48] Speaker B: It's after Vietnam. He is what I can only assume is unemployed veteran wandering around the Pacific Northwest. He gets picked up by a sheriff, and the sheriff basically says, we don't want your kind around here. So he gets pissed off about that and goes back to town. They arrest him for being a vagrant. They start to spray him with a hose and beat him. So then he kicks into fucking army mode, escapes to the woods, and the hunter becomes the hunted.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: From that moment on, it's just wild for one man. For one man. They call it National Guard.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: National Guard.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: To get John. And apparently he's such a big name that the Pentagon was like, fuck. They got.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: Rambo's out.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Yeah, you got to send a colonel to go talk. You got to go get his daddy, essentially, his boss daddy.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: And that fucking amazing movie thing that I always love that cliche where the colonel shows up. He's like, the sheriff's like, this is my jurisdiction. I'll get him. They sent a colonel to catch one man. He's like, no, we sent a colonel to protect your life, you son of a bitch.
[00:05:51] Speaker A: Yeah, you idiot. You think you're just going to go out there and get John Rambo by yourself? God, dude.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: I know it's not the case, but Green Berets, man, this made me fucking respect the Green Beret.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: I don't know when we switched over to Navy SeaLs as, like, our military.
Like, if you want to make someone be a know shortcut to like, hey, it's a. You're like, oh, okay. He's a. We. The Green Berets have not had. Ever since John Rambeau, I feel like we have not been respectful.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: We do not tell you raspberry Beret came out. Prince Raspberry Beret. And everyone's like, oh, you're a green beret. You wear a beret like the kind you get at a secondhand store, and it's like, oh, I used to be for generations. We were so hard. We were so hard.
For the record, green berets out there. I don't doubt that you're still very.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Yeah, this just be very clear on our side of it, you guys, I assume thumbs up. I know the training that seals do and the Air force's version of the seals. And if y'all are doing the exact same thing or similar, I know that watching Rainbow for you is like, oh, that's exactly what I would do. Everything he does to make traps or set himself up for success, you're like, yeah, that's like, day one shit. And I'm like, yeah, I fear you adequately. And if you ever came to my town and we're being beat up by the cops, and I was one of them, I would back off. I'd be like, hey, man, I'd back out.
[00:07:18] Speaker B: Just let him go.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: I love the idea that the second they tell the cops like, hey, he's a green beret. He is a medal of honor recipient, one of the high multiple medal, multiple. Multiple purple hearts, it sounds like. Then the cop who, this should be the, like, okay, you know what? And at this point, he's already evaded you in the mountains.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: Not only has he evaded you in the mountains, he fucking waxed everybody's ass without killing him. He just fucking put. He, like, came in Juno, chopped everyone in the throat, and as they're coughing, walked away, like, into the shadow, like.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: Always made sure they knew, though. He's like, could have put their gun on him, be like, all right. I didn't, though, just as a reminder. But fucking, I could have killed guy. The cop knows this, hears about the medal of honors, and he's like, all of a sudden now it just becomes like a big buck for him. He's like, I got to do it. He's like, yeah, please don't do this. But then by the end of it, you're almost like, wait, is Rambo the hero or is he the rambo the bad guy?
[00:08:16] Speaker B: I have no idea. At the end, it's hard to tell.
[00:08:18] Speaker A: It gets dark in a way that I think we want to go watch. Like, seriously, if you think you know what Rambo is. And by two, three, and four, certainly two is a complete. Almost like, oh, man.
Because that's the thing about Stallone. Stallone wanted to be an actor.
He didn't want to be an action hero.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: This man, he wants to be an actor. It's not his fault that he was blessed with that perfect body that shredded from the ground.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: It's. That's he's so mad about it. He's so upset. He's got perfect body, perfect hair, that thousand mile stare that you need in an action hero, someone who just looks haunted.
I believe he directed Rocky.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: He wrote, directed, and starred in Rocky.
[00:09:01] Speaker A: Yeah, right? So this man I know, we want to be like, oh, he's just a dumb, hulky action guy. That's what he was turned into by society, much like Rambo was turned into a murderer by society. He didn't want to do these things, but this is all he can do.
[00:09:17] Speaker B: Talk about how bad society is. We can't forget about Snake Plissken. He had to go to crime island.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: He had to go to a 1997. Dangerous, dangerous year, guys.
[00:09:27] Speaker B: That's a rough year.
[00:09:28] Speaker A: I am terrified of 1997 now because of what I've seen.
[00:09:32] Speaker B: I love how it starts in the distant future.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: 1997 film made in 19. I think it was like, 1982 or 1984 is when it comes out. And so they're just like, crime is at an all time high. We had to rope.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: I fucking love that, though. When writers shoot their shots. Love it. The year 2001 a space odyssey. Like, I'm shooting it.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: At least 2000 had, like, that felt big, right? Like, to be like, man.
Because everyone, by that point, you're living in the 19 hundreds. So you're like, well, it doesn't feel that cool to put something that far in advance to be within the 19 hundreds. They were like, so everything's 2000s right now. We're making fun of it right back to the future. We're already now further in the future than back to the future was.
So to shoot your shine back. No, man, I think it gets worse way sooner. I'm looking at what we're doing. I'm seeing Reagan about to take the throne. I don't think this gets better, team. So I'm going to say by 1997, prior to that, we have roped off New York, made it a max prison. I love when they're like, who guards it? No one guards it. The walls guard it.
[00:10:33] Speaker B: The fucking water guards it. We just shoot anyone in the water and then tries to swim.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: We're not. We don't put our own people in there to keep peace. That's not what this is about anymore on crime island.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: Also, Snake Plissken's rocking better hair than Rambo.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: Wild, too. It is hard to do such a hard. I didn't understand Kurt Russell. And through doing friendly competition with you, I've now seen the thing and now escape from New York, and I'm like, I fucking get Kurt Russell. This dude is all swag.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: He is swag, dude.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: Just dripping swag. He is the most confident.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: What if you don't know what Riz is? This is Riz. This is it.
[00:11:17] Speaker A: This was it. This is the original.
Because he's, like, one of the only action heroes that I feel we allow talk. Like, Rambo barely talks in the movie or ever. The bride certainly keeps it. I mean, she has some conversations, but not too many.
[00:11:32] Speaker B: She keeps it short.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: Yeah, she's here to deal in absolutes. She's like, nah, man. We're not here to chitchat. I'm here to kill you. If you want to know why. You know why I want to kill you?
[00:11:43] Speaker B: Why are we talking about it?
[00:11:44] Speaker A: What's there left to like, you were there at the church. You know you got this.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: But Snake's always like, I don't want to kill anyone.
I'll just take the president and leave. Like, this is.
[00:11:55] Speaker A: Yeah. Every time he's like, this is wild that I have to do this.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: Why are you making me fight this big, man? I do like the layout of escape from New York really well, though. Like how it breaks down, how they managed to put in, like a wrestling match in the middle of the movie.
[00:12:11] Speaker A: Right? Yeah. You get what can be very fun in action movies, which is like the silly challenge that they have to overcome. Rambo, his version of this is that they blow up the mine that he's in, and now he has to find his way out of a, hopefully find his way out of a mine. He doesn't know if there's going to be a way out. And along the way gets eaten by rats. He has cuts all over his body. He's not doing well, but he makes it triumphantly gets out. Right. You can do that, which is very good. That's a good way to establish the hero's journey and that he's gotten stronger on the other side. Or you could put him in a wrestling match with a seven foot tall behemoth and be like, you got to fight that dude. And it's like, I don't want to do they.
[00:12:59] Speaker B: Especially for how early the film is, the way they lay out. Escape from New York. Like a video game. Like, he flies in. He has to do the stealth mission at the beginning. Then he's got the wrestling match, and then they got the car chase level and then they got the. It's awesome. It's like each stage of the movie is a whole different scenario that snake.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: Has to solve and combat, and it's very video game. My biggest problem with mean, I get, I get it. He's there to save the president. The president, for whatever reason, was like, let's fly near New York. You would think by now society would be, don't. Our flight patterns don't even cross that. You don't. You would think we'd be, ah, nah, don't do that. Don't get in their.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: Not that it's Manhattan. It's big, but it's not so big in the global sense that you can't fly around.
[00:13:46] Speaker A: Right. That you couldn't not land or maneuver your plane in such a way that you need to be that low to the ground because you're about to touch down on the.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:55] Speaker A: In like. So then the president gets shot down and they're like, you got to go, hey, we need someone to go get the president. You seem to be and how lucky on the government's part that they had just gotten Snake Plissken, but he is not yet in New York. He is in retention to go to New York.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: Yeah, they can talk to him.
[00:14:13] Speaker A: They're like, oh, man. Well, thank God we got the best, the biggest, baddest soldier that's ever existed, which, I got to be honest, okay. Knowing that these two have very similar backgrounds. Right. They're the biggest, baddest soldier. All they've ever done. They've been pows. They got out. They saved lives. They've taken lives. There's something about Rambo, at least, really kind of gets in the shit, takes cuts. There's one time where he jumps off of a cliff, hoping that he hits the tree.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: Yeah. He's just hoping.
[00:14:44] Speaker A: He's like, fingers crossed. Gets a massive gouge on his, like, okay, I feel like you really did this. I'm having troubles believing Snake Plissken was that.
I don't doubt that he was in the military and that he was a seal, but I don't know if he graduated. He got hot and was like, if I need to be doing this, you guys, I'm pretty sick with it. I feel like we saved those hotties, and we're like, you go do the commercials for the seals.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: Snake Plissken. Yeah, I think Snake Plissken, the way I would look at it, is like Snake Plissken and Rambo both did the same stuff in training, and they might have done the same stuff. They could have been in the same unit in Vietnam, right? But even if they're the only two survivors and they went through the same pow stuff, at the end of the day, Rambo did this shit, and Snake Plissken kind of disassociates. I think snake Pliskin disassociated during the bloody rampage, and Rambo disassociates afterwards.
One is truly at peace in the midst of combat, and that's Rambo Snake, 100%. He's making these jokes. He's like, I don't want to kill these people. Oh, God. I don't like being here. I'm just making wry comments. Snake Pliskin is the mash of action movies.
[00:15:54] Speaker A: You can tell Snake Pliskin well, and one thing that they tell him is that they very conveniently put something in his skin that after 24 hours, if he doesn't come back with the president, he will die, too. Right. With that in mind, knowing he has 24 hours left on his life, this dude is still just like, God damn it. Everything is an inconvenience he runs into an old friend, and he's like, fuck you, dude. Now, that friend double crossed him. But you would still think even in that situation, you're, like, crazy that you're here, too, man.
[00:16:24] Speaker B: That's wild.
[00:16:25] Speaker A: Basically, all he does is then riz up his girl.
His own girl is like, wait, you hung out with Snake Plissken? You were right, though, when you talked about it, how every single person. But when you watch it, it is inexplicable to this. Know, I would say there's maybe one war hero that I can name, and that's the sniper, right? Like, of what travels back to America, right? When we hear about what people had to do in war and who comes back with a story that you're like, everyone knows what that dude did in war and what they suffered through. It's like John McCain and the american sniper guy, right? That's it as far as. But every criminal in New York is like, oh, yeah, we all know about Snake Plissken, what he did in combat.
[00:17:08] Speaker B: They never say what it is. Here's the thing.
I love it because they're both criminals. They both don't give a shit about the government, but they're both called upon because they have skills that pay the bills. But I think I got to lock in Rambo. I didn't realize Rambo was a hardcore action movie for the far right, but also liberal cucks like us.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: It's wild.
It is a movie that, as you're watching it, I'm like, oh, so people clearly don't watch the first one anymore. Like, when they want to watch Rambo, you go to two, you go to three, you go to four, you go to last blood.
You skip first blood because I feel like it would make you feel things and have to question a few things about, like, man, maybe he is just fine beating up. These cops are assholes about this shit for no reason. The cops are very much cops.
[00:17:54] Speaker B: No, they're bad. The cops are bad people. Like every cop you've ever met.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: But, yeah, they act like cops.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: They act like normal cops.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: Normal. Like any cop that you've ever thought of, you're like, that's a normal cop. Being a normal cop. They're in no way, like, crazy villainous. You're like, oh, this is what a little bit of power does to any human. You act like pieces of shit like this and then get, oh, they're just desserts. Yeah, I think.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: Get theirs. I'm looking at Rambo. I got to do it.
[00:18:20] Speaker A: It's hard for me, because we're here to talk about the hero, not just the movie. Right? And the movies were both good. I wasn't as big on escape from New York, but some of that is also like, sometimes when you watch a movie from 1984 and it's set in the future, you're like, I'm struggling, but I'm struggling here because I like the charisma, though. Is that what I want in my hero, or do I want someone who is just takes no prisoner?
[00:18:50] Speaker B: But he also has so much self control.
[00:18:52] Speaker A: He doesn't kill anyone.
All right, I'm going to move Rambo on for now. I'm going to move Rambo on because I like Snake man. Make an eye patch. That is no explanation on the eye patch either, by the way. Love that. Why? Why should you? You're Kurt Russell. You're Kurt Russell. You woke, you walked into the costume room, and they're like, all right. So we're thinking the best part was, too, that.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: Yeah, they didn't even have him. His character description had no eye patch.
[00:19:17] Speaker A: That was never written into it at all because they do not talk about it once in the movie. He was in costume, and they're like, all right, so we're going to have you kind of wear, like, this black tank top. It's distressed. We're going to then have you just wear kind of, like some fatigue pants. And he's, like, looking around, he's like, oh, what's the deal with that eye patch? Like, oh, we're doing a pirate movie, and in about a week, he's like, no, that's mine.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: I'm taking it.
[00:19:37] Speaker A: Snake Pliskin needs.
I'm. I'm reading through it. Doesn't say anything about an eye patch. He's like, no, I know, but I need it. I need it to be, man. All right, we'll move Rambo on, where he will go up against either the bride from Kill Bill or Bruce Lee from Inch of the dragon. Now, Cody. Cody and I had a miscommunication on how sometimes we can share information, like, hey, here, I have this code. You can go watch it, whatever. So we messed up. I think it's the end of the dragon. Do you want to give me a quick little break?
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Basically exactly what we said. It's a martial arts tournament. It's like, okay, imagine mortal Kombat, the original mortal Kombat movie, because shots are shot. There's some of the shots that are exactly the same in this movie.
[00:20:22] Speaker A: I mean, why wouldn't you, if you're mortal, Kombat just be like, hey, why don't we just do imagine that?
[00:20:26] Speaker B: But instead of Bruce, instead of, what's his name, the character, the main character in that, trying to just win the tournament and save the world from the shadow realm, he's instead trying to solve an opium sex trade situation. There you go. This same fucking thing. Although this movie did something that none of the other movies did. Not saying it's better than them or anything, but I was watching this movie. I might have been a little high, but I was watching this movie, and I said out loud near the end, hell yeah.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: It got so into the movie that.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: Bruce Lee did something. I went, hell yeah, Bruce. Like, get.
[00:21:01] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. You're not going to get a lot of hell yeah moments in Rambo. You're mostly just like, oh, God, what is going on? Yeah, what is happening?
[00:21:08] Speaker B: Bruce was fucking on site with this guy. I was like, hell yeah.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: Definitely.
For my research, I just pulled up some clips. Watch the old. Watch the old Bruce Lee just kick and like, man, it's for being a slider, right? Like, it's not his fault that he's only like. I think he's like five five or something in real life. Obviously, he's a karate guy. We don't intend them to be big, hulking dudes.
[00:21:31] Speaker B: He's five eight.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: The amount of fear that Bruce Lee instills in every person he fights is so great. The way he breaks apart every opponent. In a way, you're just like, dude, I love you, Bruce.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: The cool thing about this movie, too, is he choreographed all the fights.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: Yeah. That's not.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: Feels. This action movie feels real. The fights feel real. It seems real. He seems real. Everything. The characters are a little weird, but every fight seems possible and real, and it's because they're doing it. There's no wirework. There's no anything like that. This is.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: Right, right. Whereas when we get in kill Bill, and to some extent is supposed to be this. Right. It is supposed to be exaggerated. It is Quentin Tarantino's love letter to all of kung fu cinema.
He has fight scenes that are incredibly real and incredibly tight.
[00:22:27] Speaker B: Kill Bill series one and two are probably. If you bump together, it's probably my top ten movies of all time. I love this movie.
[00:22:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
I forgot I had watched it when I was a kid or whenever it had come out, because I think now we're at, like, almost the 15 or 20 year mark for how long it's been out. So I remember watching it then whenever it first came out. So it's been a minute. But I was like, oh, I liked it. In rewatching it, I was like, so much style.
Every single, single thing about it just is so cool.
[00:23:00] Speaker B: Yeah, it's just cool. That's not sexy. It's dangerous. And cool is the feeling every character you see, right.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: And especially when you have a female protagonist, right.
This isn't a great example, but let's say, like a tomb raider, right? Tomb Raider is sexy. Everything she does, the way she is shot, even Angelina Jolie is fox.
[00:23:23] Speaker B: Even in.
[00:23:25] Speaker A: Yeah, like, there's just a way where it's like, you just are like, look how sexy she is shooting a gun. This movie is like, look how fucking cool it is to swing around this.
There's the way it's shot just gives you such a respect for her, and it doesn't ever, at some point, become like, man, she is so mean. Don't get me. It's Quentin Tarantino. So we do get her feet. We get her feet. She steps on some goo for y'all who need that. So he's got you covered. But that's, like, the sexiest thing she does. And it ain't for you boys.
[00:23:56] Speaker B: That's just for Tarantino. Yeah, just for.
So my problem I have here is I love the kill Bill movie so much, but I don't even know if she's a hero. Is she an inspiration? Because she's not out saving the world, she's out getting revenge. But is she a hero in the sense that she's inspiring? Her legs don't work. Through sheer willpower.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: She gets her legs to work 16 hours. It took her 16 hours to will herself.
Yeah. After being in a coma for four years, it takes her 16 hours to just be like, I'm going to fucking get these things working. And she does.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: And then it takes her, like, what? It takes her two months to find Iranishi, which is Lucy Lou's character.
[00:24:37] Speaker A: Great.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: Makes sense. She even says it wasn't hard to find her. Two months is a hard time. But in that two months, she gets her sword made by Tori Hanzo, and she fucking rehabs her legs, her whole body. She was in a coma for months.
[00:24:51] Speaker A: And that part where it's like, she goes to Tori Hanzo and is like, hey, I need a sword. And he's like, if you know who I am, you know, I don't do that. And she's like, I think you'll do it for this. Writes down, like, it's the one pupil that I know you feel bad about putting out in the world writes down the name Bill on the window. And Hortori Hanzo, who has sworn off making swords, is like, I would never do it again. My weapons should never be used for.
[00:25:17] Speaker B: My weapons are too powerful. Yeah.
[00:25:18] Speaker A: He's like, I could never do it again. And he just nods and is like, it's going to be about a month. I'll get you that sword. And then hands her the godslayer, right? He's like, this is without a doubt the greatest thing I've ever made in my life. And you're just like, it's so cool.
Takes on the 88. And that scene is so wild.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: I think we're going to come up against is the Enter the dragon is a very good martial arts movie. Is he a hero? Yes, he does raise our drug prices, but he does stop a sex ring. So you take the good, you take the bad. The problem is that kill Bill's so fucking cool. My dude. It's so cool.
[00:25:59] Speaker A: Well, what's tough is you have especially too, and we can say this definitively, I guarantee you there are shot for shot moments from enter the dragon in Kill Bill.
[00:26:08] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, for sure.
[00:26:10] Speaker A: Like I said at the top, this is Tarantino's love letter to all kung fu movies. So you have everything from your very grounded in realities. Enter the dragon, drunken master.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: When she fights the crazy 88, there is a shopper shot the exact same fight sequence from Lone Wolf and Cub, one of my favorite movie series about Sam from, like, the 60s.
[00:26:32] Speaker A: This is him taking all of those inspirations. Even your very fun master, who just makes fun of you and beats the hell out of you. You have that guy, you have your wirework, if you like that in your movies, to kind of make it a little more mythical. It's all of know, you got to build on the ground that Bruce Lee laid for you, right? Like, if that's your foundation, you got a good house to build on. So it's hard because you're like, well, the foundation is important, but, man, sometimes that end result is just so. My question is, obviously, we have the two movies. I mean, she tears through so many people, right?
Getting to an unrealistic amount of people. It does get a little.
[00:27:16] Speaker B: When Bruce Lee's throwing hands at the end, he is taking on. It's probably at 1.40 on one for Bruce, too.
[00:27:22] Speaker A: And of course he does it.
[00:27:23] Speaker B: Of course he does it.
[00:27:24] Speaker A: Of course he does it. Okay, good. So he has an unrealistic, like you said, the scene is great, but he's still going to take down 40 dudes because he's Bruce Lee.
[00:27:34] Speaker B: Bruce Lee. I love it.
[00:27:36] Speaker A: I think I got to follow your lead here a little bit because, like I said, I've seen some cool fight scenes. You're going to go the bride?
[00:27:42] Speaker B: I think I'm going the bride just because I like Bruce Lee a lot. I like the movie a lot. But I think Kill Bill is a better movie. And it's just so fucking cool. So I just can't not vote for kill Bill at this moment. And I know we're doing best action hero, but the movies are just well.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: And I would say to that point, right to that point, the thing about, once again, these are works of fiction. You can write them however you want.
The hurdles that they put in the way of the bride to get her to the final boss are terrifying. You're truly like, oh, my gosh. Obviously it's a movie. We all know that this has to end a certain way, but the fact that she gets buried alive and has to get her way out of that.
[00:28:26] Speaker B: The final boss in enter the dragon is great. They lead up to it well. They do a lot of foreshadowing, showing his weapons in plain sight, which is really cool. I like the way they did that. The fight's good. It's in, like, a hall of mirrors. But Bruce Lee, whoops. That ass is the point I'm trying to make. And you don't worry that he's not going to WHOOP that ass, Bruce Lee. So I'm lucky. I mean, you can do what you want.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: I will follow you to the bride because I will say the bride has. So we have the bride going up against Rambo in the final. I will say the one thing that I find challenging about Kill Bill, and I think that this is kind of the problem with a lot of kung fu movies are just especially kind of in that genre or your big, kind of, like, I'm working my way up towards the boss kind of movies. John Wick has this almost same problem, too, is that by the time you get to the boss, your main character has already done so much cool dope shit that it's really hard to finish.
[00:29:21] Speaker B: Up strong, finish strong, especially on a.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: One on one now, right? You've had this. In Kill Bill, she goes up against the crazy. She tears down a gang of people. She fights against a dude that has a she. So she established that. So by the time she gets to kill Bill, and there's a lot of circumstance in there that make it a very interesting fight. But the fact that it's just the five moves of doom, dude.
[00:29:44] Speaker B: Here's the thing about the kill bill fight. The bill fight. I love it. I love the way kill Bill two ends. A lot of people didn't. I love the fact that she fought.
Bill surrounded himself with people that made him strong.
[00:29:58] Speaker A: That was like, that's the point.
[00:29:59] Speaker B: When she gets to him, it's not easy, but it might as well be. She did the hard stuff, and now he does the hardest thing of all. Spoiler alert. Brings her daughter into the situation, right?
[00:30:10] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's actually what the boss is, is he's trying to say, could you do this? Could you actually kill me? Knowing I've raised Bibi? Like, you're going to have to explain, like, what? Are you really going to do this? Or do we maybe. Come on.
When he explains to her, when he's like, I mean, it was a little dramatic, but you were also dating an assassin. What did you think was going to happen when you break an assassin's heart?
Like, you thought I was just going to let it go? You've seen me kill, like, okay, Rambo is a hero.
[00:30:47] Speaker B: Does Rambo, in first blood, he is, I guess, the coolest anti hero I've ever seen behind second only to the bride. But then in the future movies, he shows that he's out here, he's racking up kill numbers. He doesn't want out of the game.
The bride wants out of the game, but Rainbow doesn't. This is all he knows. This is where he succeeds.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: I like, basically they kind of imply, like, he's only at peace in War. Like, this is what happened to the. You made the perfect soldier, and then when you brought him back to America, you're like, oh, you can't kill people anymore. And he's. I. That's like, all I can do.
[00:31:23] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't understand. You want me to work in a factory? Is it a murder?
[00:31:27] Speaker A: He's like. And he's just like, I don't understand why I can't just kill. He understands why, but it's frustrating. Like, he clearly is. Like, I don't know. I can't be good at anything else. So it really kind of, in a very effective way, sets up the ridiculousness that's going to happen in the next movies because he's just like, dog, I got to go get me some of that. I need it. It's in my blood in a way that he's clearly terrified by and traumatized by.
[00:31:53] Speaker B: Yeah, he doesn't like this fact about.
[00:31:54] Speaker A: Him, but, hey, but you realize he basically tears apart a town because he's like, it's the only thing I know how to do. Yeah, it's unnecessary. The lengths he eventually goes in the final kind of scene are like, you didn't have to do that. He's like, no, that's all I know, though. Now I'm happy. I'm happy doing.
[00:32:12] Speaker B: I don't think at any point does he think about what he's doing like that. I think he just thinks it's like endgame.
[00:32:18] Speaker A: I think he just wants to be in war and wants to just like. He just wants war. So he's like, I'll bring war to you. You started this once again. It's like he has that code, right? Well, you started it, so now I will bring this upon you. You tried to bury me in a mine. Everything I do from this point on.
[00:32:37] Speaker B: Is warranted and fucking. He's really good, isn't. He's really good at murdering people.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: My question becomes like, it'd be like.
[00:32:44] Speaker B: If I threw a fucking. If I drained a two pointer while LeBron James wasn't paying attention on a basketball court and gave him a finger. And then he comes and dunks on me like, what was I expecting?
[00:32:53] Speaker A: What was you. Yeah, you start talking, you give him, like, the too small hand gesture. You tell him like, you ain't nothing, LeBron. You ain't shit, dude, this is my house. And he's like, all right, I have to do this. Then.
Not only. It'd be one of those situations where it's like, you're like, LeBron James, you want to play 21? And he's like, I got time. I'll play you. You immediately grab the ball and cash one. You're like, ha. Got you, bitch. I'm up on LeBron James, and he's like, you see him going to fuck around. Actually take off his pants. And he has, like, basketball shorts on. He's like, well, now I have. Tightens his shoes. He's like, well, now I'm gonna do this to you.
Now, not only is it 21 to two, but it is in such a dominant fashion that it will embarrass.
[00:33:38] Speaker B: I will cry for generations.
[00:33:40] Speaker A: Yes, he will call friends down. Your friends will all show up out of nowhere to watch, and you're like, wait, what are you all doing here? Your wife's there as LeBron is just taking you to the hole. Like, every time.
[00:33:53] Speaker B: Do you think the bride or Rambo, who would win in a fight, or do you think, would they be evenly matched to a degree that they'd have no choice but to either call it a draw or marry each other, because they're both going to appreciate the other's art.
[00:34:06] Speaker A: Yes, I love a Hanzo sword. Obviously, you cannot be like, man. She's going to do damage with it. But his weapon of choice is an M 60, which, as a reminder for anyone else, is supposed to be a gun you mount on a car because the vibration of it is so powerful, you as a human being cannot do it. Rambo puts one of those in his hand and just unleashes on.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: He puts one in. Each.
[00:34:41] Speaker A: Man is like, so I'm like, hey, if that's your weapon of choice, if we get to go to the bunker and be like, all right, what do you want? She's like, I'm going to take my Hatori Hanzo. You're like, of course you are. And then he's like, let me grab this M 60 with essentially unlimited bullets. He grabs like, two cases of like 500 or 1000 rounds, and he's like, yeah, we're going to have some fun here.
[00:34:59] Speaker B: I think solved it. I think the greatest action hero is Rambo.
[00:35:03] Speaker A: It's hard for me not to believe because also we know, because we have further proof, right? He doesn't let it down. I don't know if in last blood he dies or not. He might, but, you know, this man never gives it up. He can't. The bride wants to be.
There's when she takes her daughter home or is in the car with her daughter, there is a part of you that truly wants to believe that this is over now, her mission, that she has taken out the reason why she killed Bill last and took out the whole pasta, is because she's like, I don't want to be followed. I'm doing this now. I mean, obviously there's a fun little thread that it does make me really want to see kill Bill three if they ever make it with that daughter, because that's such a great moment, because that's the only thread she has left.
[00:35:48] Speaker B: Only loose thread.
[00:35:48] Speaker A: Yeah, but outside of that, you want to believe it's done for Rambo. You get that sense. He's like, oh, he'll never, he can't, he can't stop. He needs violence. It's the only way he can find, that he can find, like you said, peace. That in that moment, the fact that.
[00:36:05] Speaker B: They made it so the government realized this, they arrested him after first blood. And they're like, no, we need to take him and use him as a weapon of war.
[00:36:13] Speaker A: Yeah, because when you watch the second one, he is in jail for what he did, which I thought was fair. I was like, okay, that's kind of nice that they were like, hey, man, you did do that.
But immediately like, oh, yeah, you need to be used. And he's like, yeah, of course. The second he finds out, he gets to go back to the camp where he was a POW. He's like, oh, yeah, we going to do this? We don't do, oh, how masterful this guy is.
John Rambo, I love you, John Rambo. Also, the thing I like about fine, I think the bride is fine. Taking her gets. She can take a beating. John Rambeau actively hurts himself to put himself in better, right? Like, that's the thing that's wild about him is he's like, you get the feeling that he's like, man, if I had to lose a hand, just if it meant I could keep moving forward, I would, and I'll figure it out. Whereas the bride, she understands because she's up against the OD, she needs to be pretty much full strength all the time to take this on. Let's do it.
[00:37:17] Speaker B: We've decided.
[00:37:18] Speaker A: It sounds like I love it.
Watch Rambo. Hey, everyone, do watch Rambo. First blood. You need to watch Rambo. You need to watch Rambo one. And you can decide for yourself afterwards because everything after is the Rambo you thought you were getting Rambo one. I mean, I also appreciate, that's very much the rocky movies, too, isn't it? Rocky won. He loses the big fight. But it's not about that. It's about the journey of a broken down boxer. But then they're like, hey, man, you are stallone. And you're pretty hot. You should win more.
[00:37:49] Speaker B: Yeah. Nice hair. Let's do it. Lock in Rambo.
[00:37:52] Speaker A: You have to Rambo, best mortal action hero. And that is it, folks. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of friendly competition. If you want to watch your boys, a few things that you can do, as always, share with a friend, tell a friend. Wherever you're listening to this, make sure you hit that. Like that. Follow that. Subscribe, absolutely.
[00:38:10] Speaker B: Follow us on all of our social media, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. Just look up at friendly Comp pod. If you have an idea for a whole tournament you'd like to see us do, just hit us up on any of our social media or email us at
[email protected]. We'll hit you up.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: As always, shout out to Charizard for that intro music. You want to hear more of their stuff. And over to bandcamp. Type in Charizard and replace those vowels with sixes. That's going to be it for us. But we got a new season starting on Monday. Until then, I've been Nick Carey.
[00:38:35] Speaker B: And I'm Cody. Lena. See you on the boat.
