Rambo: First Blood Part II

Viewed as an action film, Rambo First Blood Part II is hard to beat. It just never lets up, and it has Stallone at the top of his game. Its comic strip stuff, and is much less credible than First Blood. I don't care about that though, you want a serious film then watch The Deer Hunter or Platoon, but if you want to see a superbly made action film watch this. After the events of First Blood, John Rambo is in prison but gets released to be sent back to Vietnam to take pictures of a pow camp to get proof that there is still American pow's there. But he is double-crossed by his superiors when he tries to take some pow's out with him, he wasn't meant to do that, he was ordered to only take photos, so he's left behind to be captured , imprisoned and tortured by those oh so nasty RUSSIANS! Sly really had it in for the reds in 1985 after this film, he sent Rocky out to Russia to beat up that other nasty Russian Ivan Drago! It must have been what the people wanted as this and Rocky IV were two of the biggest smashes of the year. Steven Berkhoff plays the Russian bad guy in practically a carbon copy of his role in the James Bond film Octopussy, he does it well though, he was one of Hollywoods favourite bad guys of the mid 80's, you might remember him in Beverly Hills Cop, which was a film initially intended for........Sylvester Stallone! This movie has just been giving the DVD special edition treatment, buy it, and get yourself one of the greatest action flms ever made.

The fame of Sylvester Stallone initially picked up with The Rocky series. However, he did not settle to create only the icon of Rocky Balboa. His ambitious and craggy nature took him to endeavor the creation of a new kind of hero * macho man yet unknown to cine-goers. Rambo was the culmination of an American war commando who was taught and weathered to sustain and persevere in the most unfavorable, hostile and cruel conditions. Under enemy captivity in Vietnam while trying to rescue American POWs, he showed stoic fortitude and the solid grit not to bend before the enemy bullies. Sylvester Stallone's body and features that seem to be chiseled in stone bore a perfect resemblance to Rambo's character sketch. Richard Crenna as Col. Samuel has also portrayed a good role as Rambo's mentor. This is by far a most popular and fascinating depiction of a new style of action, adventure thriller of its time and definitely rose Stallone to new heights of stardom and instantly established him as a top favorite Hollywood icon.

I'm really surprised at how little respect people have for this movie. I could be wrong, but it seems to be the ideal movie for any Vietnam vet looking for an outlet to his frustration. The government used Rambo the way many soldiers must have felt used. If this movie is nothing more than a tiny way of saying "we're sorry you had to go through that," then the movie deserves all the respect we can muster.