Mindless action
After the huge success First Blood made, it was bound that a sequel was to follow after. Taking Rambo through a whole new concept, this time we get to see our beloved Vietnam vet build his very own body count through mindless violence and pure destruction. Synopsis of this movie is that Col Trautman bails Rambo out of jail and recruits him in a secret top mission, to infiltrate and take pictures, no action. But as Rambo slowly starts to discover as he infiltrates an enemy base, the government agent who hired him for the mission was covering a lot more than what he explained. Leading Rambo with no choice but to fight off an army of enemy troops, rescue all hostages, and to return back to base.
Before I go on with this review, I’m going to quit referring Rambo as a Vietnam Veteran, because in this movie, there’s barely anything thats veteran about him at all and this time you don’t feel sorry for him like in the first film.
Storyline:
Because of all the mindless action that this movie has to offer, what makes you think that you would care about the damn storyline. This is one of those movies that really draws its viewers away from the storyline and having them seeing Rambo literally nuke an entire town. But if you must know the storyline, then it is basically revolved around Rambo getting into a government cover up. Taking place after the Vietnam War, there was still POW’s being held and Rambo was supposed to infiltrate and just take pictures, which everybody knew that somebody like Rambo wouldn’t follow. After finding POW’s and trying to rescue one of them, Rambo was left behind after command found out that he was rescuing a POW. After capture, Rambo discovered that Russian troops were operating through the enemy camps. It is up to Rambo to rescue the hostages, defeat all enemy forces, and return to command to express a little Rambo thanks for leaving his ass there.
Characters:
Rambo’s character was really great in this film, still as quiet and distant as he was in the first film, but like I said, this time you don’t feel sorry for him like you would in the first film. I was also surprised that I liked Col Trautman in this film, probably because you don’t get to see him constantly brag about training Rambo as much as you see in the first film or that in this film, Rambo’s character is as ridiculous as Col Trautman describes him to be. Col Trautman’s character in this film is seen as a victim to the government agent known as Murdock, a prick that really helped develop its viewers to continue watching this film just so you can see this guy get his ass kicked. Murdock, who’s a lying, backstabbing, lazy, asshole who basically screws with everybody in the film. Unlike the Russians and the Japanese army that you see Rambo fighting, Murdock is the actual enemy throughout the whole movie and I have to say that he actually gets his due at the end of the film.
I also like how Rambo has more than one main villain in this film, it really puts the action into the film and seeing Rambo go head to head with each one was really exciting and fun to watch.
The Bad:
Honestly, when I first reviewed this movie two years ago, there was so damn much glitches that it really didn’t matter. I could go on with about four pages of glitches that I found on this film and many people on Comicvine probably wouldn’t understand what im saying or trying to explain. Possibly due to the fact that I was in the military myself and was a licensed weapon instructor, it was actually easy for me to realize that the people of this film didn’t read up on their military resources very well. I’ll give a few examples of what im saying incase you don’t know what im talking about.
-Grenades don’t explode like they have ten pounds of C4 in it, even those nifty exploding arrows that Rambo carried around.
-When riding a rescue copter, it actually takes two to operate the copter and the minigun attachment, not one.
-Somehow, bullets in this movie always find their mark, despite how s***ty Rambo’s aiming is, sadly enough, its not as easy as it looks and shooting at waist level is really a sloppy way to aim.
-How is it that a stealth plane looks like a black painted private plane, even the inside looks comfy.
But the one that really takes the cake, is the fact that this movie can’t tell the difference between a RPG and a Bazooka. At the end when Rambo fights the Russian commander in a helicopter fight. You see Rambo playing dead in a Helicopter, setting the commander up for a trap. Then out of no where Rambo pulls this Bazooka out of his ass, which instantly turns into an RGP for a second, then back to a Bazooka that launches a missile which kills the commander and the hostages in the back because of the back blast, oh wait, no the hostages are fine, their not incinerated at all, instead they are all happy and cheering when they should be burnt to a crisp because Rambo’s dumb ass had to use a Rocket propelled weapon. Yeah, both RPG’s and Bazooka’s have a back blast that’s very dangerous to be in, but for some reason this movie just doesn’t follow that. If you dont know what im talking about, then look at this video and as soon as he pulls out a bazooka, pause and pay close attention on how it changes into a RPG for one second, then back to a bazooka. You'll barely notice if you watch it through at normal speed.
Even though there’s more, its one of those movies that doesn’t follow the laws of trajectory and physics and it really recovers because all your seeing is Rambo going through the most mindless violence that any movie could give, which is really exciting and entertaining to watch.
Favorite Part:
More like favorite parts, this film has many Rambo moments that really built up his franchise. Starting with the gearing up scene, yeah, muscle bound Rambo gearing up and ready for action. Moment you hear that music and see Rambo flexing and sharpening his knife, it’s a promise that tells its viewers, s**t is going to hit the fan.
- One part of the movie is when Rambo gets to meet Murdock, finally, Rambo gives the viewers what they want when this asshole gets his due. A true Rambo moment, instead of killing him, Rambo makes sure that he becomes his boogeyman if he doesn’t do his job, basically just makes him wimper like a little baby.
- The mindless destruction, as soon as Rambo controls a helicopter, everything in his paths dies or explodes. Best part is that he’s not even properly controlling the copter and the minigun attachment. I mean, all you see is BOOM, guys randomly dying, people screaming, its like a damn nuke went off in a small town. Even when you see the turret gun not firing, people are still being shot. But the one thing about this movie is when you see Rambo constantly looking behind him when he’s controlling and shooting at with inhumane accuracy.
- Escaping from enemy forces, the best part of the whole film for me is how he escapes. After being captured and tortured by Russian forces, they wanted Rambo to call in for help giving away his position. Finally agreeing to do what they ask of him, it was all a planned setup, (or probably not). Instead of giving away his position, Rambo wanted to speak to Murdock telling him that he’s coming after him and for less than two seconds, you get to see the most entertaining “OH F**K” face in movie history coming from Murdock, very priceless and rewarding. After that, Rambo does the same thing as he did in the police station in the first film, beat the f**k out of everybody and leave just like that. I honestly say that was the best Rambo moment for me out of all the Rambo movies. Its actually one of the most famous Rambo moments, heres the video if you want to see
One thing that really put this film together was its music score, my god, did Jerry Goldsmith hit really big with this film. What made this movie really awesome and standout was its music score, it actually put the action into the Rambo film itself. Even if you disagree with what im saying, the music in this film had such great reviews that this Rambo film managed to be nominated for an award. One big reason why I would watch this film again and again was to listen to the music and watch mindless action.
Many Rambo parodies and franchise was based off of this film. Most successful Rambo film out of the four films, this movie takes Rambo to a whole new concept. More action and less suspense as the first film had, Rambo is one of those films that should be given a chance to be seen by those who haven’t given this film a chance. I wouldn’t say that this film is better than the first because naturally I would prefer storyline over action, but it is rare of its kind as being an action flick. My advice is to not expect so damn much from this film and enjoy what it has to give, and I promise that your chances of enjoying this film will be high.