The Rambo franchise is something that shouldn't really have existed. See, it originates from the novel FIRST BLOOD, by successful (and rather serious) Canadian genre author David Morrell. If you've watched the first movie (called FIRST BLOOD, not Rambo), you'll notice it's quite different from the others. There are less people killed and it's about the challenges of post-war life for battle scarred veterans. It's awesome, but it's the other movies' quiet little brother. In the heat of the Reagan years, someone decided it was a good idea to revive the character and make it America's protector. That same person also handed the keys to legendary madman George P. Cosmatos to make it a reality. That day was born the greatest cinematographic excuse ever created to have Sylvester Stallone go on the non-stop, on-screen killing sprees we all love. Rambo : First Blood Part II was the birth of a pop culture god.
The premise of Rambo : First Blood Part II is a little stupid. The army gets John J. Rambo (Sylvester Stallone), the greatest killing machine it ever created, out of jail to take pictures of supposedly empty P.O.W camps. It seems a little straightforward for a man who could kill you a thousand different ways. Nobody at headquarters expects him to survives, except his friend Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna), who knows better. The mission goes awry when Rambo not only discovers that the camps aren't deserted, but falls in love and is again befailed by his own country. At this point, it just stops being a movie and the beast is unleashed on screen. And God be my witness, it might be the greatest, longest, most glorious carnage I've ever witnesses in a movie.
The Rambo fans often argue about whichever is best. Rambo : First Blood Part II or John Rambo (also known as Rambo 4). It's a valid debate, to which there are no right or wrong answers. The latest chapter is undoubtedly the most violent, but I have a soft spot for the Cosmatos film because it's so goddamn eighties. It's the only movie in the franchise where he falls in love and kisses a girl and it's awesomely short lived. The killings are also super creative and are designed to display his wide array of combat skills. Rambo : First Blood Part II is the movie where Rambo created chaos at the biggest scale. There is a great mix of large explosions, close-combat kills and useless weaponry display.
Say what you will about Stallone, but he's the baddest motherfucker to ever wield an assault weapon on screen.
Let's talk about that killing spree that goes during the last half-hour of the movie. I have a soft spot for the arrow-bombs scene. It's so cocaine age. Who the fuck has bombs on his arrows? If someone in real life does, that person badly needs some counselling. BUT NOT RAMBO. OH NO SIR! Rambo only feels better when he kills motherfuckers. To survive the war, you have to become the war, he said. He uses the arrow-bombs to destroy strategic targets and create general panic rather well UNTIL, there is this random soldier shooting at him with a tiny hand gun. Hand guns don't kill Rambo, FOOL! In probably the Stalloneyest moment in Stallone's career, he turns around and decides that man doesn't deserve to have a body anymore. It's a great moment in the history of excessive violence.
You can't take Rambo : First Blood Part II seriously. I mean, just look at the poster. It's anti-communist propaganda at its finest in the pre-internet age. Every bad guy is a soulless asian who can't aim or a machiavellian, opportunistic Russian who only shows up when Rambo is weak. Ironically, in Rambo 3, he teams up with the Talibans against the Russian menace in Afghanistan. I rarely do that, but I'm tuning out the politics when I'm watching Rambo movies. It's not about the who's the enemy, it's about the tortured, barely functional man and his twitchy habit of killing anything that moves. It's super racist, dated, but there is an earnest beauty to the Rambo franchise. It is so centered around its main star Sylvester Stallone that whatever was the political intent behind the film doesn't matter. John Rambo exists for killing his enemy in spectacular fashion and that's why we all love him.
