Rambo: First Blood Part II  ★★½

I BOUGHT a funny little tin figure at a Hobart street market recently.

It’s a sheep on its hind legs carrying an automatic weapon with bullet belts strapped around it and wearing a headband. It’s called ‘Rambo’. It’s eye-catching but also ridiculous.

I could say the same thing about the Sylvester Stallone character upon which it is based. John Rambo is an awfully basic caricature that makes no sense at all. Buffed to the eyeballs, he looks more like the genetically-improved version of Captain America than the vast majority of ex-service men and women.

The fact he apparently abhors violence and is done with all the killing and manipulation by politicians and warmongers is completely subjugated by his actions throughout a series of films in which he probably kills hundreds of people in total.

The original book by David Morrell, upon which 1982’s First Blood is based, was not entirely like this. Rambo was disillusioned and confused, but truly wanted only to be left alone. He only snapped when pushed to breaking point. The resulting film captured the character’s essence to a degree.

But it was also a big financial hit and put Stallone back at the top of the box office. There was no doubt that its sequel, Rambo: First Blood Part II released in 1985, would be a different kettle of fish.

Following his arrest at the end of First Blood, the sequel starts with Rambo breaking rocks at a prison quarry (would that actually happen?). His old colonel, again played well by Richard Crenna, offers him the opportunity for release if he agrees to lead a surveillance mission back to Vietnam to gain photographic evidence if possible of American POWs still in captivity.

So Rambo is meant to venture all that way, fine some emaciated, tortured fellow servicemen, take their photos, leave them and come home…yeah, right.

Cue a final half hour of one man almost single-handedly waging war against an entire village army plus taking out a couple of massive Russian helicopters.

I’ll work my way through the other sequels again, for nonsensical reasons of film completeness in my mind. If I recall correctly, a couple are better than this.

In its time, First Blood II was controversial in that many liberal-minded people were unhappy with its confused approach to violence and depiction of the veteran community.

But looking back now, it’s just another big, half-dumb action movie.