Should I watch Rambo: First Blood Part II

The long and short of it: No
When was it made: 1985

Hey y'all, remember that review I gave of the first Rambo movie, and how I said everyone should see it? How I assumed Rambo was a sweaty shirtless man killing Charlie in the jungle? How I was wrong to think Rambo was just a stupid action flick?

Well, Rambo II went ahead and fell square into that category of being a incredibly cheesy action flick. It's like the writers sat down together and said "hey, do remember that Rambo movie? That was really good, and the action was kick-ass! We should make another movie that's just Rambo killing people! Oh wait, the first movie had a point and dealt with a pertinent issue in a realistic way? Uhhhhh... POWs! We'll send Rambo after some POWs and tack on a little speech on the end! What? No, don't worry. We won't let the story and character development get in the way of dead Vietnamese people."

Now I have no trouble with stupid action movies-I think that everyone wants a stupid action movie every now and then. But don't take a preexisting character with real depth and emotion and turn him into a cardboard cutout. The first Rambo was a man failing to adjust to civilian life and was shown as a someone the government had made into a killer and an animal but who wanted to go back being a human. The second Rambo is a killing machine with little regret or respect for life.

Alright then, let's ignore the fact that they destroyed the character of Rambo and imagine it's someone else. Do remember that scene in the Weird Al movie UHF, where he's having the daydream that he's Rambo, and he gets in the helicopter and just starts blowing everything up, roaring like a primal beast? Yeah, that actually happens. Or the gag where the soldier is shooting at him while he stands out of cover and shoots the guy with an exploding arrow? Yeah, that actually happens. The ending is so incredibly cheesy that I was laughing the whole time. He went from a semi realistic hero given a little boost to make a good action movie to a god of death spraying arrows down upon the earth. Oh, and that's another thing. He uses a bow and arrow almost the entire time because it's a silent kill, yet for some reason every time he shoots somebody they dub in a loud noise-I guess it's so we can tell the guy who has an arrow jutting from his chest got shot, in case we didn't notice the giant arrow.

Long story short, it is a poorly done sequel to an excellent movie. Instead of establishing a realistic character and dealing with serious issue respectably, they jump on the table, get drunk, and start waving their phalli around whilst yelling " USA! USA! USA!"

Oh and by the way, POWs.