It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Rambo first blood part 2 is the most iconic movie of the franchise and the most successful. The movie upon release was shunned by critics and star Sylvester Stallone alike the latter of whom went as far as saying this is the worst movie of the Rambo series. The film went on to win a Razzie for worst picture and to that I say... what are you talking about? it's true that the Rambo franchise went from being about how war destroys a person both physically and mentally and shows the horrors of combat and PTSD. This movie focuses around Rambo returning to Vietnam to save POW's which is in fact another horror of war. The movie doesn't promote war by showing Rambo kill around 74 people and use violence to solve his problems. It's just doing that to entertain the audience. For the most part the movie succeeds at being an entertaining flick. The villains this time have separate agendas. The main villain Podovsky is a Russian Colonel who works with the Vietcong to keep the POW's but the other main villain is actually the US army Marshall Murdock who sends Rambo on the mission hoping it would fail. The other reason i say this isn't a pro war film is that Murdock represents the Government who didn't care about the prisoners of war who were suffering for at least 17 years. This movie isn't pro-war or anti-war, the best way i can describe the film is anti-establishment since Rambo was betrayed by his government again. In the end Rambo states he wants the country to love him and the other veterans as much as they love him, is patriotic but it means more than what it sounds like. He was saying he acknowledges that Vietnam vets were scorned for the war and he wants them to be respected for their sacrifices. The only reason i'm only giving this an 8/10 is because Rambo went from a damaged individual suffering from severe PTSD to a stereotypical action hero in 3 years which pushes the suspension of disbelief too far. But the film is still a lot of fun and I would recommend it to any action fan.

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.

This is one of those films that was quite popular back in the 80s, but seems to have fallen by the wayside of late. Then again I suspect this it has become somewhat dated and certainly didn't attain the cult like status that some movies did. In a way, like the previous film, the main purpose of Rambo was to try and come to terms with the failures of Vietnam, and dress it up in some form of action film where the all American action hero storms in and saves the day (though it is interesting that we do learn about Rambo's heritage here).The film begins with Rambo in prison however he is approached by his former commander who offers him a way out – return to Vietnam and attempt to rescue some forgotten prisoners of war. However, things pretty quickly go pair-shaped when it becomes clear that the person pulling the strings actually has a different agenda in mind, and once again Rambo simply discovers himself a tool of some faceless, and heartless, Washington bureaucrats.Where as the first movie focused mainly on those who had returned, this movie brings out the concept of those who were left behind. Apparently an agreement was made in 1972 where the American government would pay war reparations in return for the release of their prisoners of war, and not surprisingly the Americans reneged on this agreement, and the prisoners were left to rot. However, this had the potential to explode into a public relations disaster sooner or later (and sort of went against the idea of leave no man behind). Well, this is where Rambo and his mission comes in – not to rescue the prisoners but actually prove that there aren't any there.Mind you, such a movie wouldn't have worked with simply having the Vietnamese as the enemies, so they upped the ante by bringing in the Russians. However, the one thing where this film does end up falling down is the fact that it pretty much degenerates into one massive slug fest. This is probably why I wasn't as impressed with this film as the previous one. In a way it really seemed to fall into some angry rant against the Vietnamese for not only torturing their prisoners, but not letting them go (needless to mention the fact that the Americans were trying to sweep this under the table as well).In a way this film seemed to be capitalising on the renewed interest in the Vietnam War, but really did little to address the issues. Ironically, one of the characters looked a lot like a skinny version of Churck Norris, who also made a couple of Missing in Action films which were actually of a somewhat higher calibre. Sure, this film does have its intrigue, and its untrustworthy bureaucrats, but it does really finish off all that well. In a sense it just seems to reach a point where the screen writers really couldn't work out where to take the film and simply gave Sly a gun (and a helicopter) and had him pretty much run around blowing everything up. Talking about the chopper, that last scene, where he is destroying the camp, is equally ridiculous in that he basically managed to blow up an entire POW camp without injuring a single American (as well as flying a damaged Chopper all the way across Laos only to have it fall apart when it landed at the base in Thailand).

The second instalment in the Rambo film franchise, Rambo: First Blood Part II may lack the intricate themes of the original that turned it into an instant classic right away but certainly goes big with its action set pieces by packing in more explosions & body counts and takes the "one man army" approach a tad too far.First Blood Part II continues the story of John Rambo and picks up from where it signed off in the previous chapter. The plot finds Rambo released from prison for a top-secret mission that requires him to return to Vietnam in order to document the possible existence of POWs but he soon finds out the real motive behind this covert operation.Directed by George P. Cosmatos, First Blood Part II is so much intent on presenting Rambo as an unstoppable & invincible force that it completely discards the human complexities of his and only focuses on his action figure persona. Sure the movie is more action-packed in content but the story definitely doesn't cut as deep as it did the first time.The technical aspects are finely executed, the action is bigger in scale, and it's surprisingly engaging to an extent but it's also very predictable & generic and the only thing that makes it worth sitting through is Sylvester Stallone's impressive input. All the action segments are clearly captured by its camera, its 96 mins of runtime is steadily paced & Jerry Goldsmith's score nicely compliments the unfolding events.On an overall scale, Rambo: First Blood Part II is inferior to its predecessor in almost every filmmaking department yet it finishes as an enjoyable, entertaining & action-packed sequel that further solidifies Stallone's star power and also contributes in elevating the character of Rambo into a cultural icon. A Hollywood attempt to abstract little American glory from the war it lost, First Blood Part II deserves a watch or two for its old-school action alone.