Review of Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) by Leo%20 M — 21 Dec 2017

Hot on the heels of the massive blockbuster hit, First Blood, Stallone is back three years later with First Blood: Part II... and what a disappointment it is. I can't say I expected much more: after First Blood's insane ending, there's no logical reason for Rambo to return.

In Part II, Colonel Trautman visits Rambo in a work camp he's been sentenced to after the first film's incidents. He requests Rambo accept a mission to do reconnaissance on POW's that may not have made it out of Vietnam.

Rambo, being the macho action hero that he is, refuses to stand by while the U.S. military does the rescuing. Despite having chronic PTSD from watching his friends get killed, he returns to Vietnam without question.

Under the orders of Marshall Murdock (played by Charles Napier), he deploys into the jungle, solo. There, he meets a local intelligence agent to assist him on his mission. This agent turns out to be a she, and her name is Co-Bao.

The actress playing her, Julia Nickson, turns in a laughably bad performance as Rambo's sexy sidekick. Whether her Vietnamese accent is a part of her real world identity or put on for the sake of the character, it sounds terrible.

This is a one-dimensional, abysmal, typecast role given to a beautiful actress with minimal acting capabilities. Stallone himself seems to have forgotten that his own character suffers from PTSD. Rambo is no longer the broken war veteran struggling to fit into a world that doesn't want him; he's just another action hero.

With that being said, this isn't to say that First Blood: Part II doesn't have it's moments. Stallone is always, to an extent, entertaining and badass, even in his laziest moments. The scene at the end where he confronts Marshall Murdock is fueled by a heavy dose of angry testosterone, and it was a surprisingly great way to end the film.

Although the 95 minute running time sounds brief, I found myself checking the time quite often; considering this is an action movie, pacing is crucial, and the repetition of Rambo killing a man from 50 feet away without actually aiming gets old very fast.

First Blood: Part II was written by Stallone and James Cameron-this sounds like a dynamic combination, but the duo won the Razzie Award for Worst Screenplay. To top it all off, Stallone also won for Worst Actor.

This is even more depressing when you consider how his performance from Part I was Oscar-worthy. If you're curious as to how Part II is after watching the first, do yourself a favor and skip over this one because there's not much to see.