Wow, I can’t believe it. The year has just begun and I’m already at my 400th review. Isn’t that something? Just like how I have done with every other time, I will treat this review with care, so let’s get started.
Next up in “Rambo Month” is “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” released in 1985. This one starts with Rambo a year into his sentence, but Trautman offers him the opportunity to return to Vietnam to rescue American war prisoners still in captivity. The man in charge of this operation is Marshall Murdock, played by the late Charles Napier, who is shown as a corrupt political man who doesn’t want to tell the truth. Murdock’s right-hand men are freelance contractors named Ericson (Martin Kove from the “Karate Kid” trilogy) and Lifer (Steve Williams). This is the movie that made Rambo into the more traditional action hero.
The action scenes in this movie are good. Also, Rambo is starting to become human again, especially with a love interest in this movie with a Vietnamese woman named Co-Bao, played by Julia Nickson, who works for an intelligence agency. Unfortunately, the relationship doesn’t work out for Rambo, and if you want to know what I mean, then you have to watch the movie because I cannot spoil it for you. In a way, you could compare this to other movies where an American falls in love with an Oriental girl, like “The Karate Kid Part II” and “3 Ninjas Kick Back.” However, the only difference is that the relationship in this movie doesn’t turn out too well.
Another thing I have to mention is the ending, which is another great one. Rambo basically tells Trautman how he was going to become human again, but found out that he could trust no one. However, he still trusts Trautman. You could basically understand the dialogue between the two since you are rooting for Rambo to become down-to-earth again, but unfortunately, with everything that happened, things didn’t go as planned.
In a way, this is the most classic movie in the franchise, since James Rolfe mentioned that most of the video games were based on this movie and it was parodied the most. For instance, if you watched the Zucker Brothers and Jim Abrams masterpiece comedy, “Hot Shots Part Deux,” there’s a scene where the group is shooting all these civilians and there’s a counter at the bottom corner of the screen where the counter keeps going up even when the camera isn’t showing people getting shot. The movie goes on to say that it’s equal to “RoboCop” and “Total Recall” and declaring that it’s “The Bloodiest Movie Ever.” The joke is still hilarious to this day. Wait until we continue in the series to know how that joke becomes old-fashioned.
In my opinion, this movie isn’t anywhere near as good as “First Blood.” That doesn’t mean that it’s a bad movie, far from it. However, my brother noted that in the sequels, there was some racist stuff that occurred, much like how he noted the racism in the “Indiana Jones” series. I don’t see it, but maybe I didn’t dwell into it as much as he did. Maybe he has a way of noting these things better than I do, but I can see where he is coming from. Still, this is a good sequel, so if you liked the first movie, then you should definitely see this one. I recommend it because it’s a more humanizing movie for Rambo, since he was about to get back into basics but circumstances didn’t allow him to do that. It’s sad, but I believe that we all have had that happened to us.
Hold on to your seats because next week is going to be a train wreck. What I mean to say is that we will be looking at the worst entry in the series, which is one that I will not be looking forward to. I’ll just have to brace myself as well because it will not be a movie I want to review. That’s not to say that I enjoyed reviewing all the other bad sequels I looked at, and this one isn’t the worst sequel I have seen.
Just stay tuned for the next entry in “Rambo Month,” even though I know we are all not looking forward to it.
Yet another great review. I really liked this film as well but agree that First Blood was better. It was interesting how it delved into the theory that American prisoners had been abandoned in Vietnam. I have always found the Vietnam War very fascinating.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Vietnam War was a very fascinating piece of history. I also liked how in this one they have him saving American prisoners as I believe (and I may not be wrong) that there are American war prisoners in other countries to this day
DeleteI have actually been writing about the Vietnam War as part of the historical, religious and political articles I have been writing. I hope the Vietnam War is not an overly political issue because I don`t want to upset you. I really don`t want to fight as I am very sick and I don`t like conflicts. An interesting thing most people seem to forget about the Vietnam War is that it was John F. Kennedy who started to send troops to Vietnam.
DeleteWhether there remained any American prisoners in Vietnam is actually a debate as old as the end of the war. Actual investigations took place. This film is therefore in a sense based on conservative conspiracy theories. John McCain has actually been accused of intentionally sabotaging the investigation. On another note I didn`t see any racism in this film but maybe that is just me.
That is interesting that you have been writing about the Vietnam War as that is an interesting war to talk about and research. We have so many ways of researching, and I didn't know that JFK did that. The Vietnam War isn't really political, but now is historical, IMO.
DeleteLike you, I didn't see any racism in the movie, but my brother it's there in everything. I understand what he's saying, but if it's not in your face like so many other films like to do, then I don't really pay much attention to it. Then again, I try not to watch those films that have racism in the forefront
Thank you. Yes I have been studying the war for a while as it has always fascinated me. I never got why people were so supportive of America during World War II but not during Vietnam. I mean with the Iraq War I got why people disagreed on it, that was at least a lot more complex. I know many good people with different views on it, but with Vietnam I always taught that it was clearly a just and good war.
DeleteYes JFK started sending troops to help the government of South Vietnam to fight back against the Vietcong terrorists. Lyndon Johnson escalated the war and increased the troops from 16.000 to hundreds of thousands.
When the anti-Vietnam War movement grew it led to a split in the Democratic party that helped Richard Nixon win the election in 1968. Many people nowadays seem to think the Republicans started the war, but it was JFK who started it and Lyndon Johnson who escalated it. Hubert Humphrey the 1968 Democrat candidate also planned to continue the war. It was only in 1972 that the Democrats got an anti-war candidate in George McGovern and he suffered a humiliating defeat against Nixon proving Nixon was right when he said the silent majority of Americans supported the war.
I get that. I often dislike racist films as well. It is often cheap and exploitative and offensive.
Ok, now that is interesting. I never knew any of this, and I thank you for giving that piece of history. I guess with certain things, like people supporting America during the Vietnam war, it's a question I don't think we'll ever know a definite answer for. Maybe with more research, there will be an answer, but I cannot answer that since I don't know either. I don't know much about war history, but I think if I were to delve into it more, I will be able to more.
DeleteGlad to know that we both agree on racist films. That is something that we should never see in films, especially since that type of exposure to kids nowadays is wrong. If it talks about the historical struggle with it, like many films for "Black History Month," then I like the way it is portrayed because it was accurately shown and rightfully hated
I am happy you find it interesting. I have been studying history for 14 years.
DeleteOf course I dislike racist films. I have had many coloured friends. I have always been against mistreating people because of their race.
That's great to know you have been studying history.
DeleteI also dislike racist films because I too have a diverse group of friends myself. I have been mistreated by people because of my race, hence my dislike for it