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Being the avid Stallone fan that I am, I guess I should really like his second outing as Rambo, but the truth is I don't, and never have done. This is trash cinema, but hardly in a "So bad it's good" sense; Rambo First Blood Part II, in all honesty, is a huge disappointment, especially when you watch it immediately after the excellent first film.

The story picks up a year or so after First Blood. The former Green Beret is given a choice by his visiting mentor Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna): To stay in the prison and serve his time, or accept a special mission on familiar grounds in Vietnam, tracking down any possible American P.O.W.'s that have been missing in action. He, of course, accepts, the mission, though under strict orders to only take pictures, and in no circumstances engage the enemy.

Unsurprisingly, Rambo refuses to obey these orders and decides to go on a one man killing spree, taking out what seems like the entire Vietnamese and Russian armies with his bow and arrow, as well as a few civilian villages and crop fields along the way. Tsk.

Now, if you've already read my reviews of First Blood and Rambo (IV) you should have an understanding of my admiration for Stallone's character. I do like how Rambo is deliberately underdeveloped, which gives him a great deal of mystery as an individualistic hero; he fights for himself, and is unapologetically brutal when doing so. The character was portrayed as an anti-hero in First Blood: He had returned from the Vietnam war to discover that the general American public hated him; as the movie progressed, however, audiences began noticing that he was becoming victimised by the way enforcement, and began to take his side.

In First Blood Part II, it seems to me to be the other way around: Rambo is an egotistical patriot, attempting to convince the world that America could've actually won the war in Vietnam if they'd have shown enough balls as he supposedly does so here. The screenplay (which was originally written by the legendary James Cameron and then greatly manipulated by Stallone) dismisses all the likable elements that first made the character a success. The whole film is basically just a vehicle for Rambo to wreck as much havoc has he can on foreign soil, with total disregard for everyone.

Normally, I'm all for that, but the action scenes are so drab and repetitive in Part II that the film starts to irritate more than it does excite. There is a particularly memorable interrogation scene involving Rambo being tied up and electrocuted by some mean-looking, square-headed motherfucker, but for all the money invested into the film ($44000000, reportably) everything else pretty much sucks.

Granted, I'm probably taking this sequel a lot more seriously than most, but considering that I have a great deal of admiration for the first Rambo film, I've always felt let down by this sequel since I first saw it in my younger days. Rambo III redeemed the character slightly with him once again being a freedom fighter, but this time in Afghanistan; and Rambo (IV) improved things further by attempting to go back to the roots of the character (much like Rocky Balboa did with the original Rocky). The bottom line, though, Part II is easily the worst of the four Rambo films.

The supporting actors do a decent job, at least. Crenna is solid as Colonial Trautman; and Charles Napier is quite funny as the gutless Marshal, Murdock, who we see being threatened by Rambo upon return from the mission. Julia Nickson as Co-Bao, the love interest, is also likable; while Steven Berkoff (Rocky IV) is brutal as Soviet Officer, Lt. Col. Podovsky.

Rambo: First Blood Part II, overall, attempts to be macho fantasy but, in its interest of politics, begs you to take it seriously at the same time -- in the end, it proves to be anything but overwhelming. The biggest disappointment, for me, is the protagonist seeming like a far cry from the one originally developed in David Morrell's novel, First Blood. Iin fact, it is only right at the very end of this sequel that we are treated to a a slight glimpse of the heart of the character, away from the mesh of idiotic violence, which makes us wonder what could've been of this sequel had it been handled with more care:

"I want, what they want, and every other guy who came over here and spilled his guts and gave everything he had, wants! For our country to love us as much as we love it! That's what I want!"

To me, it really is a great shame.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2009.