Rating: 
Summary: Redemptive "Rambo"
Review: "The war and all this may be wrong, but, dammit don't hate your country for it."
"Hey..., I'd die for it."
"Then what do you want?"
"I want..., what they want. And every other guy that came over here & gave everything he had & spilled his guts, wants. For our country to love us, as much as we love it. That is what I want."
- Rambo speaks, to his Colonel, as the voice of every American Veteran, (past, present, & future) & reminds Americans & the world over that freedom has a price thats worth fighting for, but, sometimes the simple personal rewards are elusive in "Rambo: First Blood Part II"
Thanks to the big screen & video success of "First Blood", Rambo lives on this second installment, thats just as good as the previous film, but, tends to get quite cartoonish towards the films end.
Serving a five year plus jail sentence for the trashing of the town in "First Blood", "Rambo" opens with the former Green Beret hammering rocks in the local prison. That doesn't last long as Colonel Sam Trautman, Rambo's former CO in the military, pays him a visit & offering him a sweet deal.
Satelite recon had picked up some unexpected movement in the P.O.W. camp that Rambo escaped from in '71. The camp is supposed to be abandoned, but, may still be holding some of Rambo's former P.O.W.'s. Rambo's mission is to sneak into the camp and take pictures & document actions of the camp's activities and report back to base. Trautman & American Forces would step in and invade the camp reclaiming & bringing home the P.O.W.'s. This would also lead to Rambo being reinstated in the special forces and, if the mission is a success, a Presidential Pardon on his prison record, with Rambo walking away a free man.
Rambo reluctantly accepts the challenge, but, upon sneaking into the camp he does indeed find many American Troops still being held hostage beaten, malnutritioned, and one breath away from death. Rambo screws his Kodak moment, taking matters into his own hands. If you've watched "First Blood" you know what happens next.
Filmed entirely in Mexico, "Rambo" is a different film than the first, but retains and expands the violence quotient. Stallone exchanged working in weather that was ten to fifteen below zero & wading in water thats 39 degrees farenheit (remember the scene in "First Blood" where the National Guard is out looking for Rambo who was all along hiding amongst the rocks of the river? Yeah, that water was 39 degrees farenheit. Thats cold ass water to be hiding in). Instead, for "Rambo", Sly worked in weather that reached 110 degrees and, in one scene where Rambo is captured by the Viet Cong, is dipped, from the neck down, in pig slop complete with real live leeches (the Russian General uses Rambo's knife to pick one off his chest. Gross).
The helicopter battle at the end of the film was pretty dangerous. The helicopters flew so low, that in one quick shot of the Russian copter flying over one of the huts, the copter takes the roof off! Director George P. Cosmatos left the scene in to show the danger & peril of the battle.
Stallone's daily schedule was getting up and working out for two to three hours in the early morning, a ten to twelve hour shooting day, & a two to three hour workout at night. All told, Stallone's average work week with the workouts included was approx. 80 to 90 hours a week. Its also said that Stallone was at his leanest, practically resculpturing his body for this movie, as well as, for "Rocky IV".
"Rambo: First Blood Part II" was released for the Memorial Day weekend of 1985, and proceeded to punch a hole in American pop-culture. Everything from toys, bubble gum cards, & a cartoon series were produced to cash in on the success of the film.
As for the S.E. DVD, this is definitely the definitive edition of the film (the recent Ultimate Edition is a dissapointment). Features include a retrospective of the film from Cosmatos, Stallone, Richard Crenna & others, to trailers, an audio commentary from the director, DTS audio soundtrack with Dolby Digital & surround. Rambo is not expendable and neither is this DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good 80's Action Film
Review: This in my opinion is the best one out of the series, and is one of the best action films ever made. It is most definitely better than the competeing film of 1985 "Commando", and I think ranks up with "Die Hard", "Total Recall", and "Lethal Weapon"
The movie starts with Rambo serving out his prison sentence he recieved from the pure chaos he caused in "First Blood." Trautman arrives and offers him a chance to be pardoned if he agrees to do a mission. Which is recon for POW's still in Vietnam. Keep in mind this is at least 13 years after the US pulled out of Vietnam. Rambo is reluctant at first but agrees.
Rambo then goes over to Thailand and meets his commanding officer for the mission, Marshall Murdock. Murdock tells him that his mission is to investigate a POW camp to see if there are indeed any POW's there, and he's to confirm their presence by taking pictures. He is not permitted to extract anybody or engage the enemy. Rambo has a hard time accepting this and immediately suspects that Murdock is not all that he seems. All in all he dosen't trust him.
When Rambo is parachuting in he gets caught on the plane, and is barely able to free himself. Murdock and Trautmen believe that it's possibly that Rambo was killed. Murdock suggests that they abort the mission immediately however Trautman insists they go through with it. This adds to the fact that it is possible Murdock has something up his sleave.
Rambo on the other hand did survive the jump. He finds his ground contact, and Vietnamese female freedom fighter, Co Boa. She takes him to the camp, however Rambo decides not to take pictures. Instead he brings back much more hard evidence: one of the POW's.
After a long chase through the jungle, and being double crossed by the people Co Bao hired to take them down the river Rambo finally arrives at the extraction point. At this point Rambo and the POW are still being chased by Vietamnese soliders. Trautman reports back to Murdock that Rambo does have a POW, and Murdock orders the chopper to pull out before Trautman can pick him up, and Rambo and the POW are captured.
Murdock never wanted to find any POW's. He wanted Rambo to go in and find nobody so that congress would get off his back about finding the men. After being interogated, Rambo manages to escape with the help of Co. Later Co is killed and Rambo goes on a rampage, killing the entire Russian and Vietamnese army, and leaves Murdock for last.
Rating:
Summary: rambo in nam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: 5rambo gets out of jail because the gov has a special mission for him.they want him to go to nam and find proof of nam pows.he goes and finds some.the army ditches him and he goes psycho and thrashes the viet kong.he eventualy flies home with many pows!sly stallone plays rambo.they say this was the first big movie he did.i dont know how many billions they need but rocky did quite well.death race 2000 was good.its very bloody and too much for kids id say.its not as good as the immortal first blood but better than #3.i think the people who were there may find it a bit touching when he comes home with some of the troops.his co is very evil.not troutman but the fat guy.when rambo has his little outburst at the end,its the bomb!id like to have seen him end it a bit differently though.id say this one is better than all the rocky movies and every other movie slys ever been in but death race 2000 and the first rambo.id like to see a part in between 1 and 2 where rambos in prison and a prequel to where he was in nam.done correctly that could be the best action movie ever!but you know hollywood.they cant do anything right.
Rating:
Summary: Great Transfer
Review: Okay I must say, I for one did not care for the First Rambo very much, It was a good film and all but still, It left me kinda sleeping. Now on to the sequel, WOW! I have almsot never been so impressed with a movies sequel, so much more action and entertainment! I love how it also brings the realism and tragedy of war into the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: You made it, Wahmbo!
Review: I remember watching this movie over and over as a teenager and enjoying the heck out of it. So, I had to watch again for the first time in many years. I now find that I don't enjoy it quite as much. Maybe it's because I'm older, and maybe it's because I'm not as easily entertained as I used to be.
I think they should have kept Ted Kotcheff (FIRST BLOOD) as the director. It's not that George P. Cosmatos (TOMBSTONE) is a bad filmmaker, but when you're making a sequel, keeping the same director will help maintain a feeling of consistency in the story, characters, and even in the minds of the viewers. I'm glad they kept Jerry Goldsmith as the filmscore composer. He did a wonderful job adding new music and still keeping some of the themes from the first film.
RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II is not a bad action movie at all. But it is not as good as the first film. This second movie is good only as an action movie. The first film was good as an action movie, as a complex character study, and even in terms of great drama. The acting in the first film was far superior to the acting in the second. Sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy) was a much more multidimensional antagonist than Marshall Murdock (Charles Napier).
Rambo's short speech at the end about America's obligation to its veterans may seem cheesy to some, but it is still true and needed far more in this day than when he said it in the mid-80s. It was a good way to end the film.
Rating:
Summary: "Rambo" DVD Review
Review: Where "First Blood" was a low-budget sleeper hit about a Vietnam vet still caught up in the nightmare, "Rambo" is a much larger and more elaborate fireworks display of an action film. Stallone's John Rambo is offered a potential pardon if he returns to Vietnam and brings back proof that there are still American soliders being held captive there. While there, he starts a one-man war against the sadistic Vietnamese soldiers and their Russian counterparts (led by everyone's favorite villian Steven Berkoff). "Rambo" is in may ways a marketable action vehicle for Stallone using patriotism as a good excuse to use every weapon imaginable to blow up everyone and everything in sight. While it does try to provide a message about the war and its importance, it is rather difficult to take this loud over-the-top live action toy commercial seriously as a "message movie". As a fun piece of adrenaline-filled action, it does however do its job.
Rating:
Summary: Transfer disappointing...DTS a waste
Review: I have a Japanese laserdisc pressing of this flick that has better color and sharpness than the DVD. Oddly enough, when I watched the second DVD's "making of" feature, the video quality of the clips seemed considerably better. That's backwards. While the sound mix was somewhat improved, you still think your listening to an old Dolby Pro Logic mix at best. I do have a fairly high end system with HD projection, so the stage is there for a well mastered DVD to perform. Having said that, this movie has one of the best sustained action sequences out there.
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