Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

Too much of everything

Good movie but grossly overrated

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

As usual, Rambo didn't do first blood. Part II sets Rambo back on Vietnam for a simple mission: take pictures of a dead camp. Of course things aren't as simple as it is.It's linear 80's action. Some tough stereotipical dudes, a lot of testosterone and gun/bow/hand-to-hand fighting.Stallone's acting is good, same goes for Crenna, Napier and Nickson; the rest is acceptable-ish.A good no-brainer.

Plot; Imprisoned Special Forces vet John J. Rambo is offered a mission to gather evidence of American POW's still being held in Vietnam, but not everyone wants him to succeed. In 1985, Stallone's two most iconic characters each returned to the big screen. In both instances, critics claimed that the franchises had strayed far away from their roots. Rocky Balboa had gone from a simple underdog plying the only trade he had in a methodically crafted drama to a more erudite fighting machine in a slick, fast-paced story--more montage than movie--that is at once a revenge tale and a Cold War parable. It's immensely entertaining, and a tad more clever regarding the latter than I think it's given credit for, but its connection to the original Rocky is tenuous at best. Rambo II is similarly seen as departure from the original, and in some ways that's certainly true. Like Rocky IV, Rambo II is far slicker than the original. But the idea that it's a "jingoistic" flag-waver isn't exactly true IMO. The original First Blood wasn't by any means the first film to tackle the aftermath of the Vietnam War and its returning veterans, but it may be its most effective. Married w/raw, white knuckle action, it puts a laser-like focus on PTSD and the struggle of those who returned home w/o the tickertape parades. Though it's been parodied over the years, Stallone's emotional collapse at the end of that film is some of the most powerful and brutally honest acting I've ever seen.Rambo II sees the character recruited for a mission that's ultimately a scam, leaving him for dead to save the butt's of the bureaucrats. At the end, when asked what he wants, he says that he (and his fellow vets) only want to be loved by their country as much as they love it. This isn't Rah! Rah! USA! USA! stuff. Sure, the Russians show up and Rambo blasts, slices and dices his way through them, but this is far, far less black and white than Rocky IV. Is it any good? Yeah. Well, maybe not "good", but is it entertaining? Yeah. Yeah it is. It's a taught, 90 minute actioner than probably has less than 20 lines of dialog in its final half hour, but that's to its advantage. Helmed by red-meat director George P. Cosmatos, it's a technically more proficient actioner than many of its contemporaries. Stallone's Rambo character lacks that raw, exposed nerve edge he had in First Blood, becoming more of the monosyllabic killing machine we think of these days, but as always he remains a compelling on-screen presence. Richard Crenna returns as Rambo's former C.O. in a thankless role that sees him only pop up to occasionally remind us how big Rambo's wang is. Charles Napier and Martin Kove do yeoman's work as the de facto villains.Rambo II is a solid 80s actioner, but it's mostly noteworthy because it's not the Right Wing flag waver it's purported to be. As a Right Wing flag waver myself, I know 'em when I see 'em. That would be Stallone's other film from 1985, Rocky IV.

Patriotic beyond belief, this is basically Rambo goes back to Vietnam to win the war, and although it's absolutely bonkers, and begs you to suspend disbelief, it's still a lot of fun....Due to the events he caused in Jerkwater U.S.A, former Green Beret John Rambo is serving time in a federal prison. When the US military hears of American soldiers missing in action from the Vietnam war possibly still being alive and held captive, Colonel Trautman is authorised to send Rambo in to rescue them. For Rambo, this is what he would do best. If only the men in suits would stop getting in his way.......1985 was one wonderful year for Stallone. He scored big with this and his other franchise, and he was officially the biggest star in Hollywood. Now if you go back to these films and see them again, they are both patriotic propaganda, but this one really goes for broke.Nothing really much happens for the first 30 minutes, it's just a bunch of Basil Expositon, it's only when we hit Vietnam that the party really starts.The script is hilarious, Crenna basically spends the majority of the film telling Napier just how bad Rambo can be, Napier sweats a lot, and Stallone flexes, and slaughters almost everything in sight.It almost verges on parody, and I'm sure if you edited scenes from Hot Shot! Part Deux into this film, you wouldn't be able to pinpoint the difference.But no matter how silly the film is, it's just too much fin to dislike. From Hollywood go to bad guy circa 83-85 Stephen Berkoff's crazy Russian pantomime villain, to the wonderfully hilarious blowing up the bad guy with an arrow, this movie proves why Stallone was so big in the eighties.He just wanted to entertain, albeit in the most bizarre manner.Rubbish, but so enjoyable.

Continuing my plan to watch every Sly Stallone movie in order, I come to Rambo: First Blood Part 2.Plot In A Paragraph: Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna) pulls some strings to get Rambo (Stallone) released from prison and reinstated into Special Forces, to go on a covert mission back to Vietnam, in search of proof they are still holding American POW's. This movie is nothing like its predecessor, which I rated a 10/10, it's so far removed from it, they should have dropped the 'First Blood Part 2' part of the title and simply called it 'Rambo'. First Blood was a tight thriller with some bits of action here and there, with politics (about how America treated its soldiers returning from Vietnam) in there too. This movie is an over the top, patriotic red, white and blue flag waving action movie that has Rambo killing 74 people (as opposed to 1 in 'First Blood') as the one man army once again goes on the rampage. And I love it. When I was younger this was my favourite Rambo movie, and I still have a massive soft spot for it. Stallone has never looked better than he does here, he is in the best shape we have seen him so far. He is once again backed up by the brilliant Richard Crenna (How did this man not get more work?) Julia Nickson is absolutely gorgeous (and is the reason I developed a bit of a fetish for oriental women) and does a great job. Charles Napier is perfectly cast as Murdoch (who gets of lightly in my opinion) unlike an under used Martin Kove who takes the brunt (Or end of a machine gun) of Rambo's anger. Whilst the one man army does take some believing, most are killed one of one, with Rambo sneaking about the jungle (like First Blood) slowly disposing of them. It's not a thinking movie, but it is an enjoyable one.Once again Stallone made changes and extensively rewrote the script. This time, one wrote by James Cameron (Terminator, T2, Aliens) who claims hardly anything of his screenplay was left in the final movie. Stallone had done this on every movie since 'Rocky' if he didn't write the movie, he made changes to the script to suit him.