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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1980s
    Movies - 1980s Movies - R 3 Mins Read

    Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

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    Rambo extends the mindless slaughter and retching carnage of First Blood (1982) with equally unnerving results. It begins with an explosion so loud it shakes the floor and threatens to dislodge the kidneys. This is to get your attention.

    The rest of the movie follows John Rambo, the persecuted Green Beret, from the prison where he’s serving time for smashing up most of the Pacific Northwest, back to the prison camp in Vietnam from which he escaped in 1971.

    Sprung by the military and dispatched to the jungle behind Communist lines, he’s ordered to track down American soldiers missing in action, determine whether they are prisoners of war, and take photos.

    “Don’t try the blood-and-guts routine, warns commander Richard Crenna – “Let technology do the work.” This is like telling Milton Berle to just stand there while another comic tells the jokes.

    There might be a presidential pardon if he completes the mission in thirty-six hours. What follows lasts only ninety minutes but seems more like thirty-six days . . .

    Deserted by the military and left to the mercy of the Viet Cong, Rambo is interrogated, brainwashed, tortured with electricity, and condemned to die as an enemy spy.

    No matter what inhuman horror he endures, he always emerges in the next shot with fresh ammunition.

    Like the cowboys in old Saturday matinees, he never runs out of bullets. And for someone who’s been in prison, he’s also in fantastic shape!

    Driven to get his fellow prisoners home, Rambo goes berserk, fights deadly odds, battles hundreds of guerrillas under artillery fire with only a bow and arrow, treks through rock slides and snake-infested jungles, and flies all his comrades to safety in a burning plane.

    The premise is completely loco, and the direction, by George P. Cosmatos, consists mainly of close-ups of Stallone flexing his biceps, Stallone loading his artillery, Stallone crawling through mud, Stallone leaping from exploding gunboats, Stallone staring at his own armpits. He’s Superman with helicopters.

    The commercial success of this sequel (which made three times as much as the original at the box office) combined with the recalibration of Rambo as a straightforward American hero, ensured that First Blood Part II was the film which truly cemented the character as an icon of the Reaganite zeitgeist.

    President Reagan himself acknowledged as much towards the end of the 1985 Beirut hostage crisis, when he stated to the press: “Boy, after seeing Rambo last night, I know what to do next time this happens”.

    John Rambo
    Sylvester Stallone
    Colonel Trautman
    Richard Crenna
    Co Bao
    Julia Nickson-Soul
    Marshall Murdock
    Charles Napier
    Lieutenant Podovsky
    Steven Berkoff
    Ericson
    Martin Kove
    Banks
    Andy Wood
    Sergeant Tay
    George Cheung
    Captain Vinh
    William Ghent
    Sergeant Yushin
    Vojo Goric
    Kinh
    Dana Lee

    Director
    George P. Cosmatos

    Video

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