Rambo: First Blood Part II is the second movie in the Rambo franchise, following up the 1982 classic First Blood. Now, I really love First Blood, and consider it to be something special in the action genre. I also really enjoy this follow-up, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and yet I consider the two movies to be almost completely different from each other. I think this is important to know in case you’re checking out the sequel because you love First Blood, since I do think they’re great for different reasons. To put it in its simplest terms, First Blood is the better movie because it tells a much richer and engaging story, but Rambo: First Blood Part II is a better action movie most of the time.

While First Blood told a surprisingly dark story about a man returning home from the Vietnam War and struggling to find his way, Rambo: First Blood Part II tells a completely different story. Rambo is now in prison after the events of First Blood, but he’s offered an opportunity to get out. Basically, there are some POWs still stuck over in Vietnam, and so the government is putting together an operation to find them. Rambo is offered the job, and so all of this happens so that we can have the premise of a Vietnam veteran with PTSD returning to Vietnam. It’s a surprisingly interesting idea, and while it definitely shifts gears dramatically from First Blood, it makes for a pretty exciting movie.

A good way of thinking about the Rambo franchise is that First Blood was its own thing, centering on its story and characters above its action. In fact, Rambo only actually kills one person in First Blood. Then, there’s the Rambo sequels, which focus on action over story, and shift gears to basically just keep racking up higher body counts. This is why I say that you need to know what you’re getting into with a movie like this, because you’re only going to enjoy it if you can accept that it’s a different thing than the first movie. Rambo: First Blood Part II is the first movie in the series to do things how it did, but then the sequels followed suit.

With that being said, if you’re just looking for a fun action movie, Rambo: First Blood Part II delivers. The movie exudes 80s macho action, with a jacked Sylvester Stallone just taking out bad guys. This kind of thing isn’t for everyone, but if it’s up your alley, then this movie is really fun with what it delivers. I’ll leave you with this…one of the best examples for what kind of movie this is. Pretty early on, when Rambo is first dropped into the jungles of Vietnam, one of the first threats he faces is a snake. The snake is hanging from a tree and is about to strike Rambo from behind. So, Rambo hears the snake, turns around, grabs its neck, and stares into its eyes with a “don’t fuck with me” kind of stare. He then lets go of the snake, and that’s that. It’s so overly macho and ridiculous, but I love it. While I’ll always prefer First Blood for being the better overall movie, Rambo: First Blood Part II is definitely still a really fun action movie.

4/5