Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

Directed by: George P. Cosmatos
Starring: Sylvester Stallone

**

Rambo: First Blood Part II is pretty much the same movie as the original First Blood. The only differences are that Rambo has an actual mission, it takes place in Vietnam instead of Oregon and Rambo's fighting soldiers rather than civilians/cops. Everything else is just about the same... well the quality of the movie is definitely a bit different as well.

The film opens with Rambo in prison. He did of course kill a few cops so despite his impeccable service record, that offense does tend to require punishment. He's released from prison when his unit commander comes to him with a dangerous mission for which Rambo is only one of three people capable of completing. So he accepts and heads to Vietnam to take pictures of POW camps. Rambo, however doesn't take pictures... he intends to rescue against orders.  What we soon find out is that there was a reason Rambo was ordered not to rescue. He's expendable. Mission commanders had no intention of bringing Rambo out if he survived.

Stuck in Vietnam, intent on completing his mission or at least a mission, Rambo develops a relationship with his partner. But that was just weird because Rambo is a loner... his code name after all is Lone Wolf. Again, like the original First Blood, Part 2 knows what it is and doesn't stray. So to avoid the relationship, the Vietcong just blow her away not moments after the two's first kiss. But now its even more personal. Rambo's agendas increase from simply being a rescue mission to avenging Co Bao, which he does right away by blasting her killer about 200 times, but he also intends to go after the mission commander who used him.

Long story short, everything you think will happen, does. The biggest problem with Part 2 is that unlike the original where problems like Stallone's performance during monologues can be overlooked, its a bit too ridiculous. Yes, the action scenes are cool and they work in the context of any Rambo movie but there is no reasoning behind any of it. Rambo had no mission in the original but he had a reason to fight... he was forced to. Here, Rambo has a mission but once its over, he just kind of runs around killing people. There are conflicts but there's no real reason other than the fact that Rambo can so he does.

Overall, First Blood Part II is again a pretty decent action movie thanks to the action in it but it lacks a lot that the original possesses.  I had no doubt Rambo would survive. The dangers he faced were one's I had no doubt he'd overcome. There is no internal conflict for the audience, all that's there is what's blowing up on the screen. That alone, can't really drive a movie forward well enough to make up for the fact that there's nothing to relate to throughout.