Movie Club: First Blood 2

WELCOME EVERYBODY TO THE LATEST DISCUSSION THREAD OF THE NEW MOVIE CLUB. A big thanks to everyone that are joining us through all of this.

After all the discussions about the Rambo cartoon, it was borne home that we need to discuss the second film in the series here, as we have previously covered the first one, so this week's movie is Rambo: First Blood Part II

Remember any ideas for films to discuss are most welcome, and should be made on the Movie Club Introduction thread (the sticky one), and anyone is welcome to add their thoughts about movies already discussed on their respective threads.

Just a friendly reminder to everyone that, whilst fans are obviously welcome to passionately discuss and give their views on these movies, please remember to keep things on a friendly footing and respect your fellow posters.
Also, please do not post where or how to find the full movie online. And do not post asking others to PM it to you. You are however allowed to watch the movie in whatever manner you want.

I love Rambo 2. As much as I love First Blood this is the first Rambo I seen what I identify as the iconic Rambo look.
I Only ever seen a couple bits of Rambo when I was really young and knew of the film and character but I never seen the film fully until I rented it from a local video shop in the mid 90's around 95/96.

This is just an awesome action movie.
First Blood focussed more on Rambo's PTSD and how he used his training to survive against cops.
But in this movie Rambo gets to use his training back in the Vietnam jungle.
Of course it only starts out as a reconnaissance mission to see if they still have American soldier prisoners.
I love the iconic scene with the music of him preparing for the mission and putting on his gear and weapons. The scene and music were used in the Rambo: The Force Of Freedom cartoon.
His bow with the explosive arrows was a very cool weapon. Not long after seeing this movie fully in the mid 90s I got a bow and was in the archery club in school.
A very cool scene is when he gets the prisoners back to the USA base and takes he revenge out on the government guys that betrayed him.

I love this movie it is a great action movie and unlike a lot of films it is a good sequel as it is quite different from the first and not just repeating the same story and it adds to his characters story.

Growing up I had a knock off Rambo figure and another figure that was clearly inspired by Rambo, called Lieutenant Sterne (Code Name) Strongbo, from the X-Changers X-Force toyline. The latter got a lot of use. I also had two other characters from the same line. Colonel Strong (Code Name) Leader-1 and Zulu Jones (Code Name) Iron Fist.

The knock off is quite odd as the toy is based on Rambo 2 but the art work is based on First Blood. Ironically the art work of Rambo depicted having a beard is closer to how the character was shown on the cover of some of the First Blood novels before the movie. The figure was quite frustrating as it was just solid and didn't move and couldn't even hold his weapon very well. Actually this reminds me of two similar ninja toys I had. One white and one black. I wonder if they were also inspired by the white and black ninjas from the Rambo cartoon.

Despite being the second movie in the franchise, this is THE movie that really made Rambo a household name as well as granting him international fame. I love this movie and the third one too. Sure the first is technically a better movie, but this one is just pure fun and action. I must have watched Rambo 2 a hundred times and still never get tired of it.

Pretty much everything that we associate with Rambo was introduced in this movie. His look, his weapons, the music, the one man army etc. The action is fantastic and we get to see Rambo in his full glory. Stallone looks at the peak of his physical condition in this one. Super-cut!!

I like the idea of pairing Rambo with a female. Helps to bring some relief to an already testosterone filled movie. And it was interesting to see how Rambo is a bit out of his comfort zone when interacting with Co Bao. He doesn't really know what to make of her initially. But then warms up to her, especially after she helps him escape. But sadly Rambo's love is short lived.

Stephen Berkoff is in his element as the evil Russian Colonel. I think I've seen a handful of Berkoff's movies and funnily enough, he plays an evil Russian in all of them! LOL! I'm sure you guys remember him as General Orlov from "Octopussy".

The music is fantastic! Really gets your blood pumping. Jerry Goldsmith is in his element here.

"Murdock, I'm coming to get you!" Man, I love that scene!!!!

Like [USER=5058]@Mark M[/USER] mentioned, a lot of the things in "Rambo The Force of Freedom" came from this movie.

I would have liked for Col. Trautman to have played a little bit more of an active role. At least tried to go against Murdock or maybe even knock out a few of his goons. He was a bit too passive.

Just seen this film for the first time, and right off, I can see where the cartoon got it from. The suiting up sequence before he boards the helicopter, the fiery letters in the opening credits - it's all here.

It recently sprang to mind that a few times when I was little, my mother addressed me as Rambo. I didn't have a clue what the name was all about, or who the character was, but from her meaning it definitely sounded like some kind of soldier. It's a very distant memory, and amusing that it pops up now.

Certainly I can see how this movie is the big iconic one - a sequel yet not at all reliant on anything from the original First Blood movie. It's "a more conventional action thriller", very intense, but not gratuitously gory at any point.

I think I prefer this one to the first one because the situation is better defined. The first one is just a manhunt that springs out of nowhere, with the cops just shoving Rambo around a bit for their own sadistic fun and then wondering why the loose cannon goes off like that when it was obvious to anyone with half a brain. Here Rambo is on a specific mission - but is it the mission that they said it was at the start? A question that reminds me of Where Eagles Dare, which we covered here a couple of years ago.

You could tell early on that Murdock was a wrongun. He was played brilliantly by Charles Napier, who guested in a couple of Star Trek episodes, "The Way To Eden" from the original series (possibly the worst episode ever!), and "Little Green Men" from DS9 in which he played a cigar-shewing general not dissimilar to Murdock actually.

Stallone is Stallone as per usual. Richard Crenna is also pretty much the same as Trautman. OK, yes it might have been nice for him to get his hands dirty later on after Murdock confined him, but it wasn't really that necessary, as Rambo had an ace up his sleeve - or in his bandana rather as he was topless! When he arrived back at base, saying on the radio that he had American POWs, the entire camp realised that they had been following the wrong leader all movie, and turn against Murdock! The look of pride on Trautman's face as Rambo lands the helicopter is spot-on. And then at the end when Rambo confronts Murdock, you're half expecting him to kill the bastard, but in the end he just stabs the knife into the desk and leaves him with a threat - that is also very much inspired by Star Trek.

Pretty good overall.

"Wilycub, post: 128751, member: 25043" said:

I would have liked for Col. Trautman to have played a little bit more of an active role. At least tried to go against Murdock or maybe even knock out a few of his goons. He was a bit too passive.

Yeah I agree. It would have been cool to see Trautman do a bit more against Murdock.
I like Co Bao. I wonder if she inspired Kat in FOF.

"Mark M, post: 128781, member: 5058" said:

I like Co Bao. I wonder if she inspired Kat in FOF.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Co Bao was the inspiration for Kat. But apart from both the characters being Asian, they don't have anything else in common.

I really liked the actress of Co Bao, Julia Nickson. She was gorgeous! Sadly she didn't have a very successful career and didn't really appear in many well known movies.

"Wilycub, post: 128782, member: 25043" said:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Co Bao was the inspiration for Kat. But apart from both the characters being Asian, they don't have anything else in common.

I really liked the actress of Co Bao, Julia Nickson. She was gorgeous! Sadly she didn't have a very successful career and didn't really appear in many well known movies.

Yes she was very pretty. Actually she was in a film I love, the Chuck Norris film, Sidekicks. I have seen a couple films she was in, the other being Amityvilel: The New Generation.

"Mark M, post: 128784, member: 5058" said:

Yes she was very pretty. Actually she was in a film I love, the Chuck Norris film, Sidekicks. I have seen a couple films she was in, the other being Amityvilel: The New Generation.

Really? She was in Sidekicks? I did see that movie but it was more than two decades ago so probably don't recall her role in it. I guess I'll have to watch it again sometime soon. :)

I saw on her IMDb page that she has done a lot of TV appearances.

I know Julia Nickson from Babylon 5, she was Catherine Sakai in season 1. She also had a guest spot in Star Trek DS9, and I think she might have been in an early TNG episode as well.

"Wilycub, post: 128787, member: 25043" said:

Really? She was in Sidekicks? I did see that movie but it was more than two decades ago so probably don't recall her role in it. I guess I'll have to watch it again sometime soon. :)

I saw on her IMDb page that she has done a lot of TV appearances.

I suggest Sidekicks for a future Movie Club.