Absolutely brilliant

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Rambo first blood part 2 is the most iconic movie of the franchise and the most successful. The movie upon release was shunned by critics and star Sylvester Stallone alike the latter of whom went as far as saying this is the worst movie of the Rambo series. The film went on to win a Razzie for worst picture and to that I say... what are you talking about? it's true that the Rambo franchise went from being about how war destroys a person both physically and mentally and shows the horrors of combat and PTSD. This movie focuses around Rambo returning to Vietnam to save POW's which is in fact another horror of war. The movie doesn't promote war by showing Rambo kill around 74 people and use violence to solve his problems. It's just doing that to entertain the audience. For the most part the movie succeeds at being an entertaining flick. The villains this time have separate agendas. The main villain Podovsky is a Russian Colonel who works with the Vietcong to keep the POW's but the other main villain is actually the US army Marshall Murdock who sends Rambo on the mission hoping it would fail. The other reason i say this isn't a pro war film is that Murdock represents the Government who didn't care about the prisoners of war who were suffering for at least 17 years. This movie isn't pro-war or anti-war, the best way i can describe the film is anti-establishment since Rambo was betrayed by his government again. In the end Rambo states he wants the country to love him and the other veterans as much as they love him, is patriotic but it means more than what it sounds like. He was saying he acknowledges that Vietnam vets were scorned for the war and he wants them to be respected for their sacrifices. The only reason i'm only giving this an 8/10 is because Rambo went from a damaged individual suffering from severe PTSD to a stereotypical action hero in 3 years which pushes the suspension of disbelief too far. But the film is still a lot of fun and I would recommend it to any action fan.

Say what you will this is still a pretty great movie, not sure why the critics hate it so much. I hadn't seen it in years and had an excellent time watching it again, just a classic. John J Rambo is such a fantastic character; silent, abused, angry and tortured. The movie is filled with extreme action sequences and the body count is high but its kinda awesome. It's also a much bigger movie than 'First Blood' in every way; bigger budget, bigger stakes, bigger body count, bigger hair and muscles.I will admit that at first it did feel a little on the cheesy side, as most of those 80's action movies do now, filled with big bright explosions, bodies being thrown through the air, our hero in tight fitting jeans but its stood up pretty well considering.Part ll finds John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) doing hard time in jail when his former boss, Col. Troutman (Richard Crenna), shows up and offers him a deal. The US government needs someone to travel to Vietnam and try to find American prisoners of war, if Rambo agrees his criminal record will be expunged. Rambo takes the assignment but his anger reaches explosive levels when it turns out that the whole mission is just PR, he's not actually supposed to find any prisoners. Fueled by fury, he rounds up the POWs and the action reaches explosive levels as he then takes on both the Russian and Vietnamese armies.There were several things I loved about this movie; the use of the crossbow, that Rambo was shirtless for half of it (Sly looks amazing). I loved that he got to be in love for a whole 2 minutes "You not expendable Rambo". There are also some great helicopter stunts, the torture scene is pretty cool, a good bad guy with the Russian and although Rambo never says much when he does look out, this is filled with some great one-liners. And that ending I loved that he just walks off ... "How will you live?" "Day by day." 12/15/15

The second instalment in the Rambo film franchise, Rambo: First Blood Part II may lack the intricate themes of the original that turned it into an instant classic right away but certainly goes big with its action set pieces by packing in more explosions & body counts and takes the "one man army" approach a tad too far.First Blood Part II continues the story of John Rambo and picks up from where it signed off in the previous chapter. The plot finds Rambo released from prison for a top-secret mission that requires him to return to Vietnam in order to document the possible existence of POWs but he soon finds out the real motive behind this covert operation.Directed by George P. Cosmatos, First Blood Part II is so much intent on presenting Rambo as an unstoppable & invincible force that it completely discards the human complexities of his and only focuses on his action figure persona. Sure the movie is more action-packed in content but the story definitely doesn't cut as deep as it did the first time.The technical aspects are finely executed, the action is bigger in scale, and it's surprisingly engaging to an extent but it's also very predictable & generic and the only thing that makes it worth sitting through is Sylvester Stallone's impressive input. All the action segments are clearly captured by its camera, its 96 mins of runtime is steadily paced & Jerry Goldsmith's score nicely compliments the unfolding events.On an overall scale, Rambo: First Blood Part II is inferior to its predecessor in almost every filmmaking department yet it finishes as an enjoyable, entertaining & action-packed sequel that further solidifies Stallone's star power and also contributes in elevating the character of Rambo into a cultural icon. A Hollywood attempt to abstract little American glory from the war it lost, First Blood Part II deserves a watch or two for its old-school action alone.

Sylvester Stallone returns one of his most iconic roles, playing Vietnam Veteran John Rambo, who this time returns to Vietnam under orders to take pictures of POWs there. However, Rambo is bent on helping to release them.Stallone as Rambo proves he is a force to be reckoned with, wiping away enemy combatants left and right as he displays his very formidable set of fighting and survival skills. It was satisfying seeing him deal with these merciless and sadistic creeps like sadistic Vietnamese Captain Vinh (Dana Lee) and his Russian comrade, Lieutenant Colonel Padovsky (Steven Berkoff). Berkoff has always played the part of the lead villain in his movies, and his role is this one makes you continue to love to hate his character. In addition to the rescue mission, Rambo must also face corruption from his fellow government officials, which adds onto the suspense in the story, and shows that he is one human being that nobody should mess with. Filmed in a fast pace with plenty of action and tension, it is certainly one of Stallone's most intense performances, in a film that truly depicts some of the horror of the Vietnam War, but also how determined a soldier can get to not leave fellow comrades behind. Despite some of the cheesy acting, it's a very good action flick for some edge-of-your-seat excitement. Grade B