George P. Cosmatos
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As you’ve probably guessed, “Underwater” is something of an assemblage of spare parts: “Alien” most obviously, though you’ll also hear echoes of “Event Horizon” and your choice of titles from the 1989 undersea horror derby (“Deep Star Six,” “Leviathan,” “Lords of the Deep,” etc.)
Think Leviathan (1989), DeepStar Six (1989), The Abyss (1989), and probably some films that didn’t come out in 1989 too.
1989 saw the release of THE ABYSS, DEEPSTAR SIX, and LEVIATHAN—with THE RIFT (aka ENDLESS DESCENT) coming out in 1990—and all featured an isolated crew in the unforgiving depths of the ocean encountering creatures and various personnel disasters.
Viewers expecting something along the lines of James Cameron’s The Abyss should probably recalibrate their expectations more along the lines of George P. Cosmatos’ 1989 thriller Leviathan .
Expertly blending action and thriller elements with a superficially absurd sci-fi-horror high concept – a technologically advanced alien big-game hunter stalks American special-forces soldiers for sport – the film ingeniously inverts the right-wing fantasy of Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985).
Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)
Directed by Panos Cosmatos
influenced by Tombstone (1993), Cobra (1986), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
Instead, Cosmatos (son of the late George P. Cosmatos, who directed Tombstone and Cobra) goes for a weirdo, groovy, far-out vibe.
Director Panos Cosmatos (son of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Tombstone helmer George P. Cosmatos) holds little back for his debut, which opens with an Alien-ish “1983” title card before segueing into a VHS promotional video in which a creepy Dr. Mercurio Arboria (Scott Hylands) explains his plans to revolutionize humanity by creating a recipe – of “benign pharmacology, sensory therapy and energy sculpting” – for pure happiness.
Instead, Cosmatos (son of the late George P. Cosmatos, who directed Tombstone and Cobra) goes for a weirdo, groovy, far-out vibe.
Director Panos Cosmatos (son of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Tombstone helmer George P. Cosmatos) holds little back for his debut, which opens with an Alien-ish “1983” title card before segueing into a VHS promotional video in which a creepy Dr. Mercurio Arboria (Scott Hylands) explains his plans to revolutionize humanity by creating a recipe – of “benign pharmacology, sensory therapy and energy sculpting” – for pure happiness.
Kraven the Hunter is an atavistic reminder of Cannon films. Once upon a time, their cornucopia of loveable low-quality movies — Bloodsport (1988), Cobra (1986), and the Chuck Norris Delta Force franchise to name a few — planned to welcome a James Cameron directed Spider-man picture into their midst.
Mandy (2018)
Directed by Panos Cosmatos
influenced by Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Tombstone (1993), Cobra (1986)
Cosmatos has celluloid in his DNA; he's the son of the late George P. Cosmatos, director of man's man fare like “Rambo: First Blood Part II” and “Tombstone.”
For Panos (whose father George P. Cosmatos directed Cobra, Rambo: First Blood Part II & Tombstone) it is the year he was first exposed to the cluttered shelves of his local VHS rental store and the delights that lay within.
He is the son of director George P. Cosmatos (“Rambo: First Blood Part II,” “Tombstone”).
The surname may be familiar: Cosmatos, who lives in Vancouver, is the son of the late George P. Cosmatos, who directed Tombstone and Rambo: First Blood Part II.
The filmmaker’s father, George P. Cosmatos, was also a film director, best known for Rambo: First Blood Part II and Cobra , both starred by Sylvester Stallone.
(The last one is a family business; his father, the late George P. Cosmatos, directed Cobra and Rambo: First Blood Part II .)
George P. Cosmatos (l'auteur du Rambo: First Blood Part II) is as much of a point of reference as Boorman's Emerald Forest and Herzog; the majestically ripped main bad-guy (Raoul Trujillo) could be patterned on Vernon Wells in The Road Warrior (or in Commando), the second-string rotter (Rodolfo Palacios) might be Billy Drago, the balls-eating bit (and the subsequent burning-balls bit) are from Porky's, perhaps.
The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
influenced by Tombstone (1993)
Characters Plot
Peter Sarsgaard plays this villain as the half-asleep cousin of Val Kilmer’s sickly Doc Holliday from Tombstone.
The Magnificent Seven is of course a remake of The Magnificent Seven, itself a remake of Seven Samurai, but it could just as easily be a remake or a reimagining or a reboot of Shane or Tombstone or High Noon or Rio Bravo or Open Range or any number of classic and modern westerns.
These films were legendary, from Rambo (1982) to Commando (1985) and Lethal Weapon (1987), Cobra (1986) and Action Jackson (1988), and, of course, Predator.
No movie called “Leviathan” and not about a sea alien eating Daniel Stern (or about fish ) should be this nimble.
She’s being hunted by Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook), a gold-toothed, metal-handed baddie who comes across like a post-apocalyptic mash-up of Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday in “Tombstone” and Jonny Lee Miller’s character from “Hackers.”
When did we run out of body bags?") hasnt changed since The Cassandra Crossing, except for a line or two about blogging ("graffiti with punctuation").
It was followed in 1985 by "Rambo: First Blood Part II," directed by George P. Cosmatos (and, remarkably, shot by the great Jack Cardiff, the cinematographer behind two of the most wildly beautiful-looking pictures ever made, "Black Narcissus" and "The Red Shoes").
In an odd twist of fate, James Cameron co-wrote the screenplay with Stallone, and the great Jack Cardiff (The Red Shoes) served as cinematographer.
It was followed in 1985 by "Rambo: First Blood Part II," directed by George P. Cosmatos (and, remarkably, shot by the great Jack Cardiff, the cinematographer behind two of the most wildly beautiful-looking pictures ever made, "Black Narcissus" and "The Red Shoes").
But it does have that “Rambo: First Blood Part II” quality, with satisfying action that is contained completely in the moment.
12 Strong (2018)
Directed by Nicolai Fuglsig
influenced by Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
Characters
While not as outrageously xenophobic as Michael Bay’s 13 Hours might have been, there are still instances where Fuglsig goes out of his way to make Taliban leaders look like Rambo: First Blood Part II or Missing in Action villains, adding a level of cartoonish exploitation that honestly wasn’t necessary.
Sure, the original "Punisher" flick was a cheapie B-movie, but it was campy fun and the action scenes were surprisingly effectively crafted by director Mark Goldblatt, the editor of some of the best action films ever made ("Terminator" and T2 , "Rambo: First Blood part II", Starship Troopers , Commando ...).
Stallone was a leading figure in the 1980s action arena: firstly Rocky Balboa, then John Rambo, Mario Cobretti (in George P. Cosmatos’ Cobra, 1986) and finally Ray Tango (in Andrei Konchalovski’s Tango and Cash, 1989).
But Stallone was always better loved in those guises than in generic action work, and this film ranks very low on a resume that includes such detritus as “Cobra,” “Tango & Cash” and “Assassins.”
Jay Leno put it best in 1986: “I see Stallone’s new movie’s out, Cobra.
You'd never believe "The Expendables" was made by a man who's been in movies for 40 years (admittedly including such horrors as "Cobra" and "Over the Top") -- and directing them since 1978.
BLOOD, was the pinnacle of what has come to be known as the Vietnam War fantasy film--movies that feature a small band of heroic American commandos reentering Vietnam and winning decisive battles (UNCOMMON VALOR and the Chuck Norris "Missing in Action" films were among the most popular).
Rambo: Last Blood (2019)
Directed by Adrian Grünberg
influenced by Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
Visuals Themes Characters
Non, ce n’est pas First Blood, et ce n’est pas non plus Rambo: First Blood Part II avec son irrésistible esthétique 80s.
Compare that to Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), when John is brought back into active service and much of the nuance and subtext abandoned in favour of explosions, or Rambo III (1988) which is essentially a grit-free, propaganda reel for American military might set in the Soviet-Afghan war that takes time to praise the brave Afghani fighters, prior to the US bombing the shit out of them in recent years.
First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II, despite their different tones, reflected the ugly fallout of the Vietnam War.
This is how John Rambo went from a homeless veteran harassed into a deadly PTSD freakout by a bunch of bullying, hick cops in 1982’s angry, anti-authoritarian “First Blood” to a cartoonishly muscular symbol of American exceptionalism going back to win the Vietnam War single-handedly in 1985’s proudly fascist (and ridiculously entertaining) “Rambo: First Blood Part II.”
First Blood (1982)
Directed by Ted Kotcheff
influenced Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
Characters Plot
It wasn't Rambo's initial outing that catapulted the character to iconic stature - that would come later, with Rambo: First Blood Part II, a testosterone-and-adrenaline cocktail that struck a chord with Cold War weary movie-goers.
Rehabilitating the reactionary outsider John Rambo from First Blood, the sequel sends him back to happier hunting grounds: Vietnam, on a rescue mission for American PoWs.
Picking up shortly after the events of its predecessor, Rambo: First Blood Part II follows Sylvester Stallone's John Rambo as he embarks on a mission to confirm the presence of POWs deep within the jungles of Vietnam.
In the first film, Stallone's John Rambo was a disenfranchised loner who wanted to step outside of humanity; starting with 1985's Rambo: First Blood, Part II , he became a bipedal tank, gargantuan biceps and pecs with a tiny, oddly-shaped face in between that had ceased to be any kind of human whatsoever, least of all one who was marginalised and doubted and feared; he was a dehumanised superman embodiment of the most bloodily enthusiastic vision of A-Fucking-Murica that could be whipped up by the military-worshipping mainstream of 1980s culture.
And his dialogue, the like film's titles ("Rambo: First Blood Part II", "Rambo III", "Rambo") became increasingly simplistic, eventually degenerating into Mr. Stallone's now-signature mumble.