10 Movie Sequels That Pointlessly Took Away Things Fans Loved

7. The Potent Anti-War Message - Rambo: First Blood Part II

The first film in the Rambo series, simply titled First Blood, was more a character drama with fringe action elements than an action flick in its own right.

Focused on the failed efforts of a Vietnam veteran (Sylvester Stallone) attempting to reintegrate into a society that would rather spit on him, First Blood was an incredibly rousing examination of how society treats war veterans, and could so clearly have been a standalone, one-off movie.

But its astronomical box office success ensured a sequel would be made, and despite Stallone co-writing the screenplay for First Blood Part II with James Cameron, they collectively failed to come up with a tonally appropriate story.

Sadly, First Blood Part II largely betrays the entire point of the original by focusing on racking up a ludicrous body count. Rambo kills just a single person in the first film - by accident, no less - yet in First Blood Part II, Rambo slaughters 58 people.

Due to the film changing tack so abruptly and effectively transforming Rambo from an emblem of war's cost into a sleek, savage killing machine, the general public came to associate the word "Rambo" with wanton bloodshed, as bolstered by the next two sequels, which each upped the body count even higher.

Though the surprisingly decent fourth film made a solid attempt to circle back to the more serious tone of the original, the damage had really been done to the character and the spirit of the franchise by then.

Any modesty or subtlety the first film had was lost amid all the thunderous gunfire and bloodshed in the sequels.