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"RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II" (1985) (Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna) (R) QUICK TAKE: Action/Adventure: John Rambo, an ex-Green Beret and a Vietnam veteran, is sent on a mission back into Vietnam to take pictures of any POWs still there, but he decides on a different mission after seeing their condition, and after being betrayed by the bureaucrat in charge of the mission. PLOT: After the violent events in Washington State, John Rambo (SYLVESTER STALLONE), ex-Green Beret and Vietnam veteran, is serving a prison sentence, working in a rock quarry. But his former commanding officer, Colonel Samuel Trautman (RICHARD CRENNA) needs him for a mission that'll send him back to Vietnam, taking pictures of any POWs that might still be at a camp there. Once in Vietnam after flying from a base in Thailand, Rambo meets Co Bao (JULIA NICKSON), a guerrilla fighter who knows where the camp is and knows how to get around. However, Rambo finds the POWs at the camp and decides that pictures aren't going to do anything for these men. He then decides to try to free them, even with the threat of the Vietnamese, the Russians, and a U.S. government official who doesn't want the POWs taken out of Vietnam. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? Older kids may be interested in seeing Rambo in action, especially in the latter half. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R While no official reason is given, we'd guess it's for plenty of violence. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: SYLVESTER STALLONE plays John Rambo, an ex-Green Beret and Vietnam veteran who is serving a prison sentence, until his former commanding officer approaches him for a mission back to Vietnam where he is to take pictures of any prisoners of war that might still remain at a camp there. He decides otherwise, having been at the mercy of the Vietnamese before, and goes on his own mission to free the POWs. He briefly uses strong language toward a captor. RICHARD CRENNA plays Colonel Samuel Trautman, whom Rambo served under in Vietnam, and who gets Rambo out of prison for a mission that he believes only Rambo can handle, because of how familiar Rambo is with the terrain in Vietnam. For this mission, he's merely a bystander, making sure Rambo is prepared, and choppering to the agreed-upon rendezvous point in Vietnam, which proves unsuccessful after the government official in charge of the mission decides that no one should know that POWs are still alive. JULIA NICKSON plays Co Bao, the guerrilla fighter Rambo meets in Vietnam who helps him on his mission. CHARLES NAPIER plays Marshall Murdock, the government official assigned to head the mission into Vietnam who is at first unsure about Rambo taking on this mission, asking Trautman if Rambo is mentally stable for it, but soon doesn't care, sensing danger to American politics and the possible restart of the Vietnam War after Rambo finds POWs alive. How would the country react? What impact would it have? He's unscrupulous in his decisions during the mission. STEVEN BERKOFF plays Lieutenant Colonel Podovsky, one of the many Russians in Vietnam who it seems apparently own the country or at least the part of the Vietnam War that's left, based on the Russian weaponry seen in a boat that Rambo takes to where he needs to go. He wants to know why Rambo is in the country and tortures him to try to find out that information. MARTIN KOVE plays Ericson, who meets Rambo on a military base in Thailand and expresses his admiration for Rambo's military service, but it's clear later on that Ericson cares more about taking orders from Murdock, and doesn't believe a chain of command should be broken, no matter who's at risk. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this R-rated action/adventure. Profanity consists of 1 "f" word, while other expletives and colorful phrases are uttered. Sexual content includes female bottoms being patted, while John Rambo is shirtless from the time he's captured in Vietnam, up to the end of the film. Violence consists of numerous people being shot dead, maimed, tortured, while fighting and other physical contact occurs. There are occasionally bloody results from the violence, and numerous soldiers and other characters are seen with bullet holes on different parts of their bodies and in some cases, all over, and one soldier is blown up. Those scenes and other moments of peril, including explosions, might be scary, unsettling, and/or suspenseful for some viewers. Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, while some potentially imitative behavior is present in the violence and war-like behavior of Rambo, a Vietnam veteran. During the film, two Vietnamese pirates drink, and a soldier smokes, while other characters either have cigarettes or in the case of one character, a cigar, in their mouths, and the cigar man lights his, but is not seen smoking it. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE A man at the camp of pirates in Vietnam drinks from a beer bottle as Rambo and Co Bao approach. The captain of the boat transporting Rambo and Co Bao drinks from a bottle of vodka. He then offers the bottle to Co Bao, who refuses and then, perhaps drunkenly, touches her hair. A box bearing the logo of J&B (scotch-blended whiskey) is seen in the background on the boat as Rambo steps toward Co Bao. At the POW camp, a man takes a beer bottle off a table. Ericson holds a beer can. BLOOD/GROSS STUFF Rambo finds battered and bruised POWs, and one of them has blood on the side of his head. Rambo gets one POW down who's hanging in a Jesus-like formation on bamboo poles, and there's a bruise on the man's back. Rambo takes out two small knives and as the boat captain slaps Co Bao, he stabs the knives into the man who took his gun. Rambo wheels him around, the boat captain fires his gun at Rambo and the shot produces a wound in the man's back, which starts dripping blood. Rambo fires five times at the other men on the boat and the recipient of one shot has a bloody wound on his side before he falls into the water. A man approaches the roof of the boat with a gun, but Co Bao fires her machine gun and blood flies from the man as he falls into the water, which becomes tinged with blood. A stream of blood is seen below Rambo's left eye. A man lies on his stomach on the roof of where Rambo stands, and Rambo takes out his knife and stabs it through the roof, into the man's heart and he shrieks. A line of blood drips down Rambo's fist and he takes the knife out of the man. Vietnamese soldiers fire at a U.S. helicopter, but the gunner aboard fires back, strafing the field and hitting two men, one of whom is hit in the back, making a very open wound that's seen for a second. Blood sprays from the others as the bullets hit them. Rambo fires at one man who ends up with two wounds on his back, seen before he falls. At the POW camp, Rambo has a dark bruise on his right side and a circular black mark on his left arm. Podovsky removes a slug from Rambo's side with his knife, leaving a blood mark. In a hut in the camp, four marks are seen across Rambo's back. We hear a body fall from inside a door, and Co Bao opens it and walks out, and behind her is the body of a man. Yushin takes Rambo's hot, glowing knife and places the tip on Rambo's right cheek and drags it downward, leaving a white scar. A Vietnamese guard tries to fire at Rambo, but is hit by bullets fired by Co Bao from under the floor of the hut and blood sprays as wounds are made in the man's legs. One Vietnamese soldier spots Rambo running across rocks near a waterfall and fires his machine gun at him. Rambo ducks as the bullets hit the rocks. The soldier's firepower runs out and he resorts to a handgun, and Rambo responds with an explosive-tipped arrow that he fires at the soldier, whose body explodes into pieces, flying in all directions, and it looks like only his feet remain on the rock he was standing on. As one soldier falls into the water at the camp, a streak of blood is seen. Rambo fires at a Russian soldier, resulting in lots of wounds on the man, and blood splashes as he falls into the water. Blood is on the shirt of a man lying down on the floor of a helicopter, and there's blood next to him as well. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Even though Lieutenant Colonel Podovsky and Yushin and the Russian soldiers and the Vietnamese soldiers are equal threats to Rambo getting out of Vietnam, Marshall Murdock is the greatest threat, being the one who refuses to let Rambo board a rescue helicopter with a POW in tow, believing that the POW being exposed to the world would cause an uproar in the United States to the extent that the Vietnam War might be continued and endless anger would spread throughout the country. He doesn't say it exactly in those words, but the effect is known. Initially, he's supportive of Rambo's mission into Vietnam to take pictures of POWs in a camp, but he says that the camp is most likely empty. Not so, as we find out. Colonel Trautman is continually stonewalled by Marshall Murdock in what he wants to do, and he has two men who back his refusals with guns and by simply being threatening with just a turn of a leg, or a stare. Lieutenant Podovsky allows Yushin to torture Rambo using electrocution. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence," "Blood/Gross Stuff" and "Jump Scenes" may be unsettling, suspenseful or scary to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance for such material. Gunfire, explosions, and the shooting deaths of many men may be unsettling and/or scary for younger kids. A snake slithers up to Rambo and he grabs it by the neck, looks at it, and lets it go. Rambo prepares to parachute out of the plane, but his cord is snagged and stuck. He flops around wildly in the wind, and he tries to cut his supplies away and another man on the plane tries to free him. Lieutenant Podovsky allows Yushin to torture Rambo using electrocution, which is loud, and Rambo is seen in many tortured poses, hands curling, gritting his teeth, screaming, groaning. GUNS/WEAPONS Machine guns/Handguns/Missiles/Rockets/Arrows (including explosive-tipped ones): Used to would or kill others and/or cause property damage. See "Violence" for more details. Ericson has a handgun in a holster near his chest. Before his mission begins, Rambo loads the chamber of a gun, cocks it, and looks through the eyepiece. Vietnamese pirates hold guns. Co Bao holds a machine gun as she and Rambo get off the boat. A Vietnamese guard holds a gun on Co Bao. Vietnamese soldiers walk through swamp and past trees, armed with machine guns. One man takes Rambo's gun and holds it on him and another man takes Co Bao's gun on the boat. A man onboard an American helicopter cocks a machine gun. Vietnamese soldiers crowd in on Rambo, guns aimed at him. He drops his gun at their command. Co Bao creeps through the camp with a machine gun in hand. Russian soldiers run with machine guns. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "F*ck you," "Sh*t, what's happening?" "Back in the badlands, my man," "Party time," "To survive a war, you got to become war," "Cycle girl whore from village," "You dirty bastard," "Do you know that the hell you've done?" "Who in the hell do you think you're talking to?" "You bastard," "Damn Russian bastards" and "Mission...accomplished." The clipped words of Co Bao's grasp of the English language may be tempting for kids to imitate. The action sequences, with gun action and physical action, might be tempting for some kids to imitate. JUMP SCENES As Co Bao tries to sneak across the camp, lightning suddenly flashes and a guard is revealed to be close by. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) An extreme amount of tense music occurs in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None PROFANITY At least 1 "f" word, 1 "s" word, 9 hells (1 used with "hole"), 4 damns, 1 "ass," and 2 uses of "G-damn." SEX/NUDITY Rambo's shirtless when he's loading his gun before heading out on the mission. A woman rinsing herself has a towel over her chest and all she wears is pink underwear. A girl rides up to the camp on a bicycle and Co Bao tells Rambo that "cycle girl whore from village." The girl shows some cleavage and a guard pats her on the rear. The village prostitute has her arms wrapped around a man, kissing him, and the feeling is mutual with the man. A bare-chested Vietnamese man walks outside, listening for what might be causing a noise, but a female hand reaches out to his chest and another shot shows a bare foot on his leg and he walks back in. Co Bao rides in on a motorbike, disguising herself as the "village whore," and one of the guards at the gate of the camp feels her. Another man looks at her as she walks away offscreen. From the time Rambo is captured by Vietnamese soldiers until the end of the film, he's shirtless. SMOKING A guard at the camp watching Co Bao walking away smokes a cigarette and other characters either have cigarettes in their mouths or in the case of Murdock, a cigar, which he lights but we don't see him smoke it. TENSE FAMILY SCENES None TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT The Vietnam War, the political implications resulting from the war, veterans of the Vietnam War and POWs. Military forces throughout the world and how they affect the countries they're in. Military service. Rambo is tortured at the behest of Lieutenant Colonel Podovsky in an attempt to learn from him why he's in Vietnam. VIOLENCE A controlled explosion rains rock fragments down on a prison quarry site, but the fragments don't hit any of the prisoners. Rambo captures a person walking in the jungle, wheels her around and shoves her against a tree, his knife out. Rambo takes a knife from his boot and throws it at a Vietnamese soldier, hitting him in the chest. The man collapses into a bubbling stream. Rambo aims his bow and arrow at a soldier stationed in a lookout tower, holding a search light. He pulls back the bow and lets the arrow go and the arrow hits the man right in his heart and he falls. A Vietnamese guard holds a gun on Co Bao, but an arrow whizzes right into the man's head from off-screen. One man takes Rambo's gun and holds it at him on the boat and another man takes Co Bao's machine gun. The captain of the boat backhands Rambo across the face. Rambo surreptitiously takes two small knives from his boot and as the boat captain slaps Co Bao, he stabs the knives into the man who took his gun. Rambo wheels him around, the boat captain fires at Rambo, and the shot produces a hole in the man's back. Rambo fires five times at the other men and the recipient of one shot has a wound on his side before he falls into the water, and all five men are dead. A sixth man emerges from below, Rambo fires at him, and he's shot near his left shoulder and falls back in. A seventh man with a gun approaches the roof of where Rambo is, but Co Bao fires her machine gun and blood sprays from the man as he falls into the water. A gunboat fires at Rambo's transport, kicking up wood pieces and shards. Rambo crawls slowly on his stomach on the floor of the boat as more of the boat becomes debris. Rambo reaches into a case and takes out a Russian rocket launcher. The gunboat keeps firing on Rambo's boat and he arms the launcher, fires, and the gunboat explodes. Rambo almost makes it into the water, but another man above him chokes him with a strap of some kind. Rambo tries to free himself as the burning gunboat rapidly approaches, and then he takes out his trusted knife and stabs it through the slats of the roof into the man's heart and he shrieks. Rambo then takes the knife out of the man. Rambo jumps out just as the gunboat hits his boat, and both boats explode. Vietnamese soldiers fire rockets at race paddies that Rambo runs through with a POW in tow. One explodes near Rambo and the POW and another one explodes next to that one. More rockets hit the rice paddies, including one in front of Rambo and the POW, seen in a long shot. The soldiers fire at the helicopter that's arrived to rescue Rambo and the POW, but the gunner aboard fires back, strafing the field and hitting two men. One man is hit in the back, making a very open wound that's seen for a second. Blood sprays from the other men as bullets hit them. Soldiers continue firing at Rambo near him. Rambo fires upon one man who is seen with two wounds on his back before he falls. Lieutenant Colonel Podovsky orders Rambo brought up from the mud he's been submerged in, and after he's brought up, a Vietnamese soldier punches him in the face. Podovsky removes a slug from Rambo's side with Rambo's knife and after that, the soldier punches Rambo again in the face. Another Vietnamese soldier, once inside a hut with Rambo where Podovsky waits, punches Rambo in the back and Rambo grunts and drops to a chair. Podovsky, wondering why Rambo is in Vietnam, tortures him by electrocution, with Rambo tied to a metal frame and receiving shocks every time Podovsky deems it necessary. He reads a transcript intercepted from Murdock to the rescue helicopter that flew away, and pulls Rambo's hair back while reading it to him. We hear a body fall from inside a door, and Co Bao opens it and walks out, and behind her is the body of a man. Yushin takes Rambo's knife, glowing at the tip, places the tip on Rambo's right cheek, and drags it downward. Rambo reacts in silent pain, and it leaves a white scar. Podovsky tells Yushin to stick the knife in the POW's eye. Yushin moves the knife near the POW's eye and Rambo silently agrees to do the radio transmission that Podovsky demands. Yushin shoves the POW toward full sacks against a wall. Another man kicks the POW in the stomach. Rambo remains silent in front of the radio microphone, and Yushin walks over and pulls Rambo's hair down hard enough so that Rambo is facing him, and Podovsky tells him, "Your friend will die if you do not answer (the call from the operations center on the base in Thailand)." Rambo smashes the microphone across Yushin's face. He punches Podovsky and a guard tries to fire his weapon, but is hit by bullets from Co Bao's gun from under the floor of the hut. Yushin tries to punch Rambo, but he ducks and Rambo pushes Yushin into the electroshock grid and punches him three times in the back. He turns on the electrocution unit and Yushin screams. Rambo jumps out of the hut and Co Bao fires at a guard who either ducks behind a wall or is hit. It's not certain. One Vietnamese guard runs and calls out, and Rambo stabs him. Co Bao fires at a guard holding a searchlight on a lookout tower, and he falls. Rambo throws down the man he knifed, takes his gun, and fires at the other lookout with the searchlight, and that man screams and flops over the front of the lookout post. Rambo fires his machine gun and a guard screams and falls into the water. He throws a grenade which hits the water and sends it shooting upward. Men fire at Rambo and he throws another grenade, which explodes in the background. A gunner onboard a Russian helicopter fires at Rambo and Co Bao below and those shots hit the water. A Vietnamese soldier fires at someone, spraying them with bullets, and at least one wound is seen for a split second. Four men fire at Rambo and he gets up, killing three of them. A Russian soldier walks through the jungle, but Rambo reaches out, grabs him, and snaps his neck. Rambo chokes a Russian soldier with a piece of vine and snaps his neck. A Russian soldier, standing on a tree, is hit by an arrow from Rambo, falls steeply to the ground, and a loud bang is heard. Rambo fires another arrow and it hits a Russian soldier in his heart and his body falls. Another soldier fires at Rambo, who ducks. The soldier jumps into a pool of water and climbs up some rocks. The soldier spots his dead comrade, runs across more water, and Rambo returns the previous gunfire with an arrow in the soldier's heart, killing him. A Russian soldier steps on a branch and is dragged backward by Rambo into a ravine, his fate unknown. A close-up of a Russian soldier scanning the terrain shows Rambo covered in mud, hiding, eyes open. He grabs the soldier by the neck and stabs him in the chest. Rambo rises out of the water and fires an arrow into the stomach of a Russian soldier and the soldier screams. Rambo strikes a match and sets tall brush on fire while Russian and Vietnamese soldiers are still in it. Screams are heard and Rambo then fires an explosive-tipped arrow into the rest of the brush, which explodes. One man runs out of the brush on fire, and Vietnamese soldiers in the brush are surrounded by smoke. Two Vietnamese soldiers emerge from the brush, on fire, and the second falls to the ground. Rambo fires another explosive-tipped arrow at an empty Vietnamese troop truck on a bridge and it explodes. He does the same to the front jeep on the bridge. A Vietnamese soldier spots Rambo running over rocks near a waterfall and fires his machine gun at him. Rambo ducks as the bullets hit the rocks. The soldier's firepower runs out and he takes out a handgun and fires at Rambo twice, but misses. Rambo takes out an explosive arrow, pulls the bow back, and fires it at the soldier, whose body explodes into pieces, flying in all directions, and it looks like only his feet remain on the rock he was standing on. A Russian helicopter drops a bomb that produces explosions all over the waterfall. A Russian man yells at the gunner on the helicopter to fire down below and he does. Rambo jumps out of the water, grabs the gunner, flings him into the water, and climbs aboard. The man shoves Rambo against the wall of the cabin of the helicopter twice, holding him by the neck. Rambo tries to free himself, but the man shoves him against the wall twice more. The man has his arms wrapped around Rambo's neck and Rambo elbows him in the stomach twice with his left and right elbows, and then does it repeatedly. They eventually fall to the floor of the helicopter and the man has Rambo by the neck, inching him out of the helicopter, and Rambo reaches up to the man and we hear bones cracking in the man's neck, and Rambo gradually gains the upper hand. The man pushes Rambo back down and Rambo lets go of the man's neck, thrusting the man out of the helicopter, and he falls. Rambo takes out his knife, intending to work on the pilot, but the man jumps out. From the helicopter, Rambo fires a rocket at the bridge of the POW camp and it explodes. He fires at more targets and those blow up, and the soldiers try to fire at the helicopter. During the sequence, Rambo hits target after target and man after man. One man is riddled with bullet holes as he falls, which are briefly seen. Rambo fires at two Vietnamese soldiers and kills them. One man is shot in the back as he gets on Rambo's helicopter, and Rambo fires lots of holes into the Russian soldier who did it. A Russian helicopter fires at the men inside Rambo's helicopter, killing one. The pilot fires shots onto the land that Rambo passes over, and those shots keep landing in his path, kicking up smoke. A gunner in Rambo's helicopter fires at the gunners in the other helicopter and one of the gunners is hit and falls. As a ploy to try to convince the Russian helicopter that he is down and dead in the water, and dead otherwise, Rambo lies back in his seat, eyes closed. The Russian helicopter inspects Rambo's helicopter to make sure that Rambo's dead, but before the pilot decides to destroy the helicopter, Rambo opens his eyes, snaps to, and fires a missile at the other helicopter and it explodes. Debris rains down. Rambo punches a man in the stomach with the front of his machine gun. He then gets him in the head with his elbow. He walks into an operations center and fires at all the technology there, and shells fall on the floor and there's a lot destroyed. He screams and then throws the gun aside, intent on seeing someone, finds that someone, grabs him by the shirt and pushes him down on a desk, holding a knife besides his head, the knife meant for this man, but plunges his knife into the desk, beside the man's head. Reviewed off DVD / Posted October 15, 2010