Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
60%RT Audience Score: 60%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Oscar
5 wins & 5 nominations total
First Blood Part II offers enough mayhem to satisfy genre fans, but remains a regressive sequel that turns its once-compelling protagonist into just another muscled action berserker
Rambo: First Blood Part II is the kind of movie that’s so over-the-top, you can’t help but love it. Sure, the plot is a bit ridiculous and the action scenes are completely implausible, but who cares when you have Sylvester Stallone flexing his muscles and blowing things up left and right? It’s like a Saturday afternoon serial on steroids, and it’s impossible not to get caught up in the sheer ridiculousness of it all. Plus, the doggy cliches are just the cherry on top of this glorious trash heap of a movie.
Production Company(ies)
Dreamworks Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Amblin Entertainment,
Distributor
Artisan Entertainment, Image Entertainment Inc., TriStar Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1985
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:1h 35m
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Language(s):English, Vietnamese, Russian
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): May 24, 1985 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 23, 2004
Genre(s)
Action/Adventure
Keyword(s)
starring Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Julia Nickson, Charles Napier, Steven Berkoff, Martin Kove, directed by George P Cosmatos, written by Kevin Jarre, Sylvester Stallone, James Cameron, action, adventure, R-rated, box office gross $150.2M, reviewed by Ian Nathan, Gene Siskel, Stanley Kauffmann, Radheyan Simonpillai, Variety Staff, Keith Uhlich, Eleanor O’Sullivan, Mike Massie, Matt Brunson, David Elliott, Adrian Massanet, PTSD, Vietnam War, American prisoners of war, reconnaissance, martial arts, explosions, gunfire, rescue mission, betrayal, revenge, love, anti-communism, 80s action hero, presidential pardon, covert mission, missing Vietnam POWs, failed reintegration of Vietnam vets, extreme action sequences, warlike setting, sad and satisfying ending, Artisan Entertainment, Image Entertainment Inc., TriStar Pictures, Surround, Stereo, Dolby SR
Worldwide gross: $300,400,432
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $848,479,477
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 133
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 92,527,751
US/Canada gross: $150,415,432
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $424,847,615
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 102
US/Canada opening weekend: $20,176,217
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $56,987,621
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 192
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $44,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $124,277,774
Production budget ranking: 297
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $66,923,581
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $657,278,122
ROI to date (est.): 344%
ROI ranking: 406
Richard Crenna – Col. Samuel Trautman
Julia Nickson – Co Bao
Charles Napier – Marshall Murdock
Steven Berkoff – Lt. Col. Podovsky
Martin Kove – Ericson
Director(s)
George P. Cosmatos
Writer(s)
Kevin Jarre, Sylvester Stallone, James Cameron
Producer(s)
Buzz Feitshans
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
5 wins & 5 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (43) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (29)
Reappraisal is not due.
April 17, 2019 | Rating: 2/5
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
So powerful and intoxicating is this kind of movie hero that when we see him operating in a flaw-riddled movie like ”Rambo” we realize that heroic action can override almost any script.
April 17, 2019 | Rating: 3/4
Gene Siskel
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
In credibility, the action is as ludicrous as old Saturday-afternoon serials; in execution, the skills help it to skate over the incredibilities.
April 11, 2016
Stanley Kauffmann
The New Republic
TOP CRITIC
What makes this icon so significant is how wholly he was embraced by the Reagan era. After all, it only seems natural to respond to B-movie action stars when your president was one as well.
June 7, 2010 | Rating: 51/100
Radheyan Simonpillai
AskMen.com
TOP CRITIC
This overwrought sequel to the popular First Blood (1982) is one mounting fireball.
March 26, 2009
Variety Staff
Variety
TOP CRITIC
Rambo’s significant beefcake factor is so pronounced in First Blood: Part II that it practically begs to be taken as queer-baiting camp.
June 14, 2008
Keith Uhlich
UGO
TOP CRITIC
Mountains, mud, mutilation and mortars can’t keep Rambo down, but a heavyhanded plot, unrelenting violence and a screeching soundtrack deliver pummeling blows to viewers.
August 13, 2021
Eleanor O’Sullivan
Asbury Park Press (NJ)
Though it sacrifices the original film’s brooding style and moral complexities for nonstop action, this second chapter manages to remain surprisingly entertaining.
September 7, 2020 | Rating: 5/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
A tedious action yarn.
September 22, 2019 | Rating: 2/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
From its whip ’em up music to its doggy cliches, the movie is a rubbish pile. Even the vaunted action scenes… don’t show fresh verve or tactical flair. They’re just stunts with big price tags.
July 19, 2019
David Elliott
Copley News Service
Stallone, an often terribly misused actor, embroiders a very physical role, very demanding, emanating fear and pain at the same time, something more difficult to do than it seems. [Full Review in Spanish]
April 17, 2019
Adrian Massanet
Espinof
The result is entertaining if implausible as Stallone flexes his muscles for some cartoon-like heroics, rescuing American prisoners in Vietnam but discovering that he’s considered as expendable as the men he’s trying to save.
April 17, 2019 | Rating: 3/5
Tom Hutchinson
Radio Times…
Plot
Only a few years after the all-out guerrilla war in First Blood (1982), John Rambo’s former commanding officer, Colonel Sam Trautman, pulls him out of jail, only to send him back to a place he swore never to return: the impenetrable jungles of Vietnam. Entrusted with the dangerous task of collecting evidence that American POWs are still being held captive, Rambo agrees to infiltrate the unknown zone, and before long, he finds himself double-crossed, marooned behind the enemy lines. Once, John fought for his country. Now, the government has left him for dead in a Soviet-infested land. Can Rambo fulfil his suicide mission? Will he deliver his lethal justice?
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
There is no goofy or funny or odd comment about the film Rambo: First Blood Part II on Fresh Kernels.
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