Rambo Means Action

With the excellent first film, First Blood, out of the way one might assume that a sequel to that film would follow in its footsteps. It would provide some action, but that would be in service to a thoughtful story about politics, war, PTSD, and/or a soldier just trying to find his place in the world. Or course, as we alluded to in the review of First Blood, anyone living today knows that the Rambo series (for which First Blood was the originating film) is anything but thoughtful or dramatic. Somewhere between the first and second films, the very concept of what a Rambo film should be shifted, and the series took a strong hard turn soon thereafter.

Of course, what changed was the 1980s itself, and more specifically the expectations of audiences. The political winds had shifted, and while people at the start of the decade were still thinking about the political power dynamics of the 1970s (of which the conflict in Vietnam was a major political factor), by the mid 1980s Americans were all in on jingoistic USA vs Russia storytelling. So gone was the nuanced discussion about what the USA should do about its returning, damaged soldiers and, instead, we get a plot about how evil Russia is and how Rambo should just go in there and end the Cold War on his own.

It’s funny because I always blamed Rambo III for causing the film series to degrade into self-parody (and, as I’m sure we’ll see, it will contribute to that) but the film series was already degrading that way even here, in the first sequel, Rambo: First Blood Part II. There’s still a thought towards giving some thoughtful political commentary, but that’s quickly set aside, then ignored, and then outright rejected because we can’t have a depressing bit of thoughtful commentary. No. This is the 1980s. We’ve gotta get them darn Commies! And so he does.

The film picks up a few years after First Blood, with John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) serving a sentence in a Federal prison for all the carnage he caused in the previous film (don’t think too hard about whether he was in the right or the wrong on that since the film never does). His old commander, Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna), comes to see him, offering Rambo a chance to get out of prison and fight for the USA again. There are Prisoners of War over in Vietnam, and there’s only a few men that could go in, solo, and extract them, Rambo being one of those men.

Except, that’s not really the job. Rambo is sent into Vietnam to meet with a contact, Agent Co Phuong Bao (Julia Nickson), and the two are supposed to head into the jungle, find a supposedly abandoned prison camp, and see if there are any prisoners there. If so, Rambo is to take pictures and report back, but under no circumstances should he engage. Except it’s Rambo, and when he finds the camp populated, with prisoners being held there, he naturally goes against orders and decides to engage. And this only causes more problems, which ends with Rambo leading a one-man assault on everything Communist to save the good old U.S. of A!

In fairness to the film it does try, at times, to engage with a bit of political commentary. The first act of the film, while not as strong as First Blood, at least explores Rambo’s character, as well as Agent Bao as well. They talk about the war, about what it cost, about how things have changed. There are a few moments like this, where the film actively engages with a bit of thoughtful commentary, and in these moments the film almost feels like a sequel to the first movie. It’s never as well thought out or as interesting, but the film does try at times and I want to give credit where it’s due.

On a similar note, while the film is very clear about who the bad guys are, and they’re largely anyone that isn’t American, it also saves some distaste for the bureaucrats, like mission leader Major Marshall Roger T. Murdock (Charles Napier), who aren’t actually interested in helping soldiers but, instead, are just worried about saving face. This mission was never meant to find missing POWs, as we learn, and the fact that Rambo not only finds some but tries to rescue one causes Murdock no small amount of trouble. The film hates two-faced politicians almost as much as it hates communists, and that’s a lot.

With that said, much of the film isn’t really about nuanced politics or character exploration. Instead, this is a bog-standard 1980s action fest. Once Rambo gets into the jungle, all attempts at nuance fall away. He becomes a one-man army, dodging bullets and killing bad guys with reckless abandon. His targets are simple and clear: anyone not American. That means he kills Vietnamese soldiers (and civilians) by the hundred, and plenty of communist Russians as well. The main villain of the piece is Lieutenant Colonel Sergei T. Podovsky (Steven Berkoff) and he has an agenda to get America to back off of Vietnam, and all other communist countries, for the sake of Mother Russia. Rambo, naturally, cannot let that happen.

To be clear, not only does all of this feel like a violation of what the first film set up (Rambo wasn’t in it to kill in First Blood, he just wanted to be left alone), but it’s also pretty stupid and boring. The film, directed by George P. Cosmatos, has some of the worst action I’ve seen in some time. There’s no fluidity to the direction, no clear continuity of shots. Most of the time, a soldier walks into frame, Rambo appears out of nowhere, kills the guy, and then runs off, and then we cut to somewhere else. The movie could take place across miles of jungle, or it could all happen in someone’s backyard. We have no clue because the film barely ever gives us any context.

Worse, it hardly ever gives us reason to care. I understand that in 2025 we’re forty years removed from the politics of the 1980s. We’re no longer in the same jingoistic, “rah rah, America over Russia,” mindset (although we might just get back there soon enough), so just seeing Rambo mow down Vietnamese and Russian characters doesn’t have the same appeal, but watching him yell at people, explode them with grenade-tipped arrows or the missiles from the helicopter, just doesn’t have have the same thrill that it might have back in the day. Once or twice is fine, but the climax of the film just goes on and on and it stops being interesting action quite early. It eventually just devolves into noise.

It’s the entire last act that really betrays the film as this is where the sequel (and the series to come) slip into self-parody. All that subtle character work and nuanced storytelling gives way for an act full of sound, fury, and carnage. There’s no storytelling to it, not in the same way there was for the climax of First Blood. It’s just a lot of action seemingly for the sake of action, in service to nothing more than putting more explosions on screen. It’s endless violence from a character that, before this, wanted nothing more than to live his life and find his own way. The Rambo at the end of the sequel is a completely different person from who we met at the start of First Blood, and that’s not due to character development. It’s character devolvement, almost character assassination. It’s bad.

I didn’t like this film because, about halfway in, it feels like it loses track of what kind of film it was supposed to be. The first half isn’t great, but it wasn’t the worst follow up to First Blood we could have gotten. But that second half, it’s all I feared we’d see. It’s dull and empty, substituting action in place of storytelling, without having anything interesting to add in the process. I’ve never seen a film series kill itself so quickly, but Rambo: First Blood Part II does that with such surgical precision I’d almost swear it was intentional.

But clearly I wasn’t the audience for this film as, back in 1985, the movie made an absolutely astounding $300.4 Mil against a $25.5 Mil budget. It was a massive, out of this world success, all but ensuring more sequels to come. And, sadly, they’re likely just as hollow and empty as this climax of this first sequel.