Years ago, when I was a poor teenager, my best friend and my brother both had a policy that the person picking the movie should pay. And, while I would never pay to see some of the crap they took me to, I couldn't resist a free trip to the movies! That's how I came to see crap like the second Conan movie and NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN! Now, despite this being a wretched movie, it is in places entertaining to watch--in a brain dead sort of way. And, technically the stunts and camera-work are good, so this elevates my rating all the way to a 2! So why is the movie so bad? Well, unlike the first Rambo movie, this one has virtually no plot, Rambo himself only says about 3 words (other than grunts and yells),there is a needless and completely irrelevant and undeveloped "romance" and the movie is one giant (and stupid) special effect. And what STUPIFYINGLY AWFUL special effects. While 12383499143743701 bullets and rockets are shot at Rambo, none have any effect on him and almost every bullet or arrow Rambo shoots hits its mark! And, while the bad guys are using AK-47s, helicopters and rockets, in some scenes all Rambo had is a bow and arrows with what seem like nuclear-powered tips!! The scene where the one bad guy is shooting at him as he slowly and calmly launches one of these exploding arrows is particularly made for dumb viewers! It was wonderfully parodied in UHF starring Weird Al. Plus, HOT SHOTS, PART DEUX also does a funny parody of the genre--not just this stupid scene.

All-in-all, a movie so dumb and pointless, it's almost like self-parody!

After the havoc and mayhem that Rambo wreaked on the Pacific Northwest simply because some redneck cops wouldn't leave him alone, it was only a matter of time before the US government would have need of his special services. So in Rambo: First Blood Part II Richard Crenna who was his trainer and former commanding officer in Vietnam gets him released from prison. He's being sent back to Vietnam to search for prisoners left behind.

The whole POW thing I've never quite fathomed. After a war is over would it make any rational sense for any government to keep prisoners? To feed and clothe him and watch over them even at subsistence levels seems to me to be a colossal waste of time and effort. Still the stories of POWs left from Vietnam in Vietnam still surface.

Rambo's only going in to scout, take pictures to provide proof, but this is Rambo and he's going to go above and beyond. I mean what are they going to do to him, throw him back in jail?

Stallone has to fight the Vietnamese in front of him and some people who are not giving him full support in the rear. He also gets time for a little romance in Part II, lovely Julia Nickson who is a pro-American, anti-Communist guerrilla still waging the fight there.

Sly's fans will no doubt appreciate this film and we in America can be confident that those POWs Stallone doesn't free, Chuck Norris will.

The first film in the Rambo series, FIRST BLOOD, was a taut and realistic thriller that used the plight of Vietnam veterans as a basis for a survival adventure film. The sequel, RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II, is an all-out-action, over-the-top jungle adventure film that uses the plight of Vietnam veterans and POWs as a basis for an OTT thrill ride. Made in the same year as the similarly outrageous COMMANDO, this is very much a 'guy' film – it's over-the-top, frequently unbelievable, and packed with all manner of violence and mayhem to get crowds whooping. It may not be very politically correct, and yes, it may glorify violence – but it makes for one heck of a watch!

Stallone has long been a favourite of mine and he once again shows why he's such a top star. Physically, he's a man mountain who you believe can easily wipe out a Vietcong jungle outpost single-handedly. Emotionally, he runs deep, using his eyes to transmit his feelings in a low key turn. I've loved jungle films for as long as I can remember and this film makes great use of them as we watch Rambo tracking and eliminating his enemies one at a time.

Much of the action is saved for the unbelievable final half hour, in which the carnage reaches outlandish levels as Rambo uses rocket launchers, exploding arrows, a helicopter, and his trusty machine gun to tackle the enemy. A supporting cast of dependables putting in decent turns – Crenna, Napier, Berkoff – adds to the fun. My only complaint is with the music, which is frequently underused. A loud, stirring soundtrack of the kind featured in RAMBO (2008) would have enhanced this film no end, but they frequently miss the cues. Nevertheless RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II is a film you can really get your teeth into: light, airy, full of explosions and death. They don't make 'em like this any more, God bless 'em.