Rambo: First Blood Part II

1985 Directed by George P. Cosmatos

What most people call hell, he calls home.

John Rambo is released from prison by the government for a top-secret covert mission to the last place on Earth he'd want to return - the jungles of Vietnam.

Sylvester Stallone Richard Crenna Charles Napier Steven Berkoff Julia Nickson Martin Kove George Cheung Andy Wood William Ghent Voyo Goric Dana Lee Baoan Coleman Steve Williams Don Collins Christopher Grant John Sterlini Alain Hocquenghem William Rothlein Tony Munafo Tom Gehrke Mason Cardiff Roger Cudney Jeff Imada John Pankow John Sabol

Alternative Titles

Рембо 2, Rambo 2, Rambo II, Rambo - krigaren 2, Rambo II - La vendetta, Rambo II - A Vingança do Herói, Rambo II - First Blood Part II, Rambo II - Der Auftrag, Rambo First Blood II

action war thriller adventure

96 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Patrick Willems ★★½ 5

Rambo keeps using missiles to kill one guy at a time and, like, dude, chill out
Review by Coolnilk ★★★★ 4

Rambo: First Blood Part II relatively lacks what made First Blood so distinctive from its prevalent themes that were well explored in-depth there, however, that doesn't stop this sequel from being an incredible, straightforward '80s action flick that doesn't overstay its welcome in the slightest, and certainly makes for a fun-filled time across the board.
Stallone returns once more as the titular John Rambo, and instantly becomes the badass action symbol that everyone recognizes him as today in this bombastically extravagant follow-up that is practically sheer '80s American-action all around. It features non-stop, exciting setpieces that move along at an energetic pace, with Rambo laying waste to every Vietnamese/Soviet troop that he can find, using bows and arrows, RPGs, and…
Review by Mads Ej ★★★ 4

Rambo movies ranked: boxd.it/avpYe
Wow this was a big downgrade from the first movie. It was still enjoyable enough most of the time though, but a bit too stupid for it’s own good in many scenes.
The story was a bit weak and except for some fun interactions, you basically only watch this movie for the action.
The action was great and pretty fun. It was full of kills and big explosions but the time between the action scenes could be mildly boring.
The characters had no depth and the movie had none of the emotions from the first one. Rambo didn’t seem to have any ptsd or anything and he was just an ice cold killer, who showed of…
Review by Obistrike ★★★★ 2

To celebrate the birth of our beautiful daughter, I watched Rambo 2 (with headphones on). It's been a really great day!
Review by Geoff T ★★★½

Geoff T's Rambo Marathon #2
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
So how do you make a follow-up to a solid post-Vietnam drama? Screw it, just have Rambo obliterate everything in his path.
This is the kind of movie that defines action films of the 80s, overly violent, patriotic and just plain explosive. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I enjoyed this a little more the the original. The first is clearly the far better movie, but this one as a whole just seems like more fun, as admittedly absurd it can get at times.
Set a few years after First Blood, Rambo is imprisoned at a penitentiary after the damage he did to the town…
Review by josh lewis ★★★ 1

trades in the first film's ambiguity and sorrow for morally bankrupt pulp; reveling in the violent capabilities of our large killing machine son (remember how they were previously investigated for horror and despair?) as he retroactively, single-handedly wins the vietnam war (lol) on a bo-gritz-style conspiracy mission (lmao) while simultaneously killing a bunch of cartoon soviets (lmfao) in the process. but goddamn if the action and images here aren't among the most muscular, vibrant and sweaty the 80s had to offer, not a small feat (*checks who shot it* ah ok, there we go), and holy shit that score. a thoroughly absurd and gorgeous piece of american propaganda. and the helicopter setpiece slaps.
full discussion on episode 86 of my podcast SLEAZOIDS.
Review by matt lynch ★★★★ 8

"Mission...accomplished!"
i've always loved the occasionally abstract, often tableux-like action sequences: Rambo stands on a hill mowing down bad guys with an AK-47...it's basically the poster, and unsurprisingly this became a totem. certainly that jingoism seems noxious now but i'm not the first person to say it's more fascinating as a psychic time capsule than it is actually icky anymore. and the film even manages moments of grace, like when Rambo tells a POW it's 1985, and the look on the man's face is like the human equivalent of the spinning Mac pinwheel, or its fetishization (which i obviously share) of the Mil Mi-28 Hind helicopter gunship, a gorgeously bulky piece of vintage Soviet military hardware aesthetics.
Review by Sam Morrison ★★★★

An endlessly accessible action flick and a wonderful companion to the first film. With First Blood being more of a political thriller of sorts, this buckles down and delivers on the action you know they wanted to include originally.
The conflict Rambo is reluctantly cast into fits like a glove when you consider where he was made. "What you call hell, he calls home." I would have liked more play on his PTSD and how returning brings back painful memories, to bring it even closer in line with the first.
But the action corrects all flaws I could name off, using countless explosions and memorable kills to show what a beast Rambo can become, given the proper tools. Stallone was…
Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★ 2

A stoic Sylvester Stallone blasts his way through the wilds of Vietnam in George P. Cosmatos' "Rambo: First Blood Part II," a solid action epic whose weaker elements are pushed aside by a straightforward, exhilarating spirit. Reprising his character, John Rambo, Stallone is the best thing about this "First Blood" sequel that plays as both an earnest apology to wronged American servicepeople and Reagan-era gunz-a-blazin' bullet-fest. The former theme is where the narrative takes shape as the film's story, circling an investigation by Rambo into troops missing in action, is steeped in skewering the bureaucracy behind the Vietnam conflict. The latter idea shapes the film as the action epic it is. Though dusted with unavoidable dubiousness in the form of the occasional flimsy performance and set-up, "Rambo: First Blood Part II" stands as a big, bold, and appealing action spectacular.
Review by Austin Burke ★★★

👌🏻60%
Rambo Ranking video coming🔜
This movie is completely ridiculous; but daggonit if I didn’t have a ton of fun watching shirtless Rambo tear through an army full of bad guys, with a machine gun and a helicopter. The subtlety from the first movie is gone. The themes are still there; but they are buried deep underneath the chaos. I feel like there was a ten minute span of no dialogue. This is possibly something I made up in my head but they didn’t even need a script for this film. “Just have Rambo run around with his shirt off.” said the director (quite possibly). Stallone got completely and utterly jacked for this film as well. He was reasonably sized in…
Review by Andy Summers ★★★★ 11

I think that when you've watched Missing In Action, the only proper thing to do is watch the film it tried to rip-off? I know that MIA came out before Sly took his sophomore bow as John Rambo, but the new found cinematic enthusiasm for POW rescue fantasies, which arguably started with Uncommon Valor, had made a sequel to First Blood a bona-fide certainty. First Blood's influence on the action genre was felt almost immediately too, a film that was a cut above the usual action fodder of the day, but this second film that took special forces veteran Rambo back into the jungles of Vietnam was always going to be a controversial one. Up went the body-count, up went…
Review by Laurie Strode ★★★★

John Rambo gets a second chance at freedom, but with a price. He's to be dropped into Vietnam once again to successfully gather intel to determine if the VietCong still have hostage a crop of American POWs. He's ordered to take photographs and be extracted within 72 hours. Strictly no contact with the enemy. I repeat: No contact with the enemy. If all goes well, a Presidential pardon will be considered. John Rambo might not care for his life so much, but damnit if he won't try to save some of those men.
Rambo: First Blood Part II is packed chock full of explosive action the likes we've seen more times than we can count, but none as patriotic as…

Recent reviews

Review by 🌻Stephaniethewildflower🌻 ★★½

It was alright I guess.
Review by Theodore Bookwalter ★★★½

John Rambo is truly America's sweetheart.
Review by caroline

he did that all shirtless, inspirational.
(this is not the masterpiece all the old men told me about)
Review by Kale306 ★★

A huge drop in quality. Bland action and bland story telling
Review by persona_ingrata ★★

Mostly boring and stupid, but damn good looking. They obviously tried to reinterpret the Killing machine Rambo in the Reagan era from the disillusioned Vietnam veteran of the first movie to a resurrected patriot. So the completely torn and ambivalent character lost nearly everything he stood for previously.
Review by like_a_racecar ★★★½ 1

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

I knew she was a goner when she asked about coming back to America with him and especially once they kissed, but I didn't think it would be so soon and so definite.
Review by Jack ★★★½

damn everyone just wants to screw rambo over
Review by TheRat98 ★★★

‘Merica
Review by Cody Halcrow ★★★★

It should be mandatory for any action movie to have your beefcake lead character shoot a machine gun into the air and go “ahh!”
Review by Jesús S Aguilar ★★★

Después del primer acto, no hay descanso en Rambo: First Blood II. Su metabolismo como película está hecho de testosterona, sudor y sangre. Qué bien entiende Cosmatos el espanto y el horror de Vietnam. La ruda puesta en escena contrasta con el Rambo más vengativo. Nada nada mal.
Review by Gang_Star ★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

John Rambo is a prisoner because of what happened in First Blood. He accepts a mission to go back to Vietnam to search for prisoners. His orders are to make photos but he decide not to make photos. He's out for war.
It's great to see John Rambo in the jungles of Vietnam. First Blood makes clear that Rambo is a master of surviving in the jungles, but in this First Blood: Part II we also see him as an ultimate killing machine. The deathcount is far higher than the first movie and there's a lot of action sequences that are very fine. Lots of bullets and explosions and fine onliners. Although it's quite spectacular, First Blood: Part II is not as good as First Blood, but it's just a little bit lesser.
Review by Sven Segers ★★★½

Has anyone ever considered... Not.. To draw first first blood?