History Film / RamboFirstBloodPartII

** Business jet is the worst pick for an airdrop. Paratroopers use aircraft with top-mounted wings from behind the engines to prevent being struck by wings and sucked in to engines.

** Business jet is the worst pick for an airdrop. Paratroopers usually does not jump from the planes, where they can struck the wing and then been sucked into engine's turbine.
* KarmaHoudini: Ericsson only reluctantly steered helicopter away from the extraction point, seemed to be geniunely happy about Rambo return and actually had a gut to face Rambo. However, it was him who got himself beated up. Meanwhile, Lifer, who were ready to shot Trautman, is cowardly hiding among rescue personnel and got no comeuppance.

** While Soviet airborne troops actually had camouflaged fatigues, it wasn't in commercial "duck hunter" pattern. Moreover, insignia in field uniform would be subdued. And they would wear iconic blue berets and telnyashka striped shirts, not the black nerets and turlenecks.

* TrickArrow: Rambo's survival gear includes arrows which can be customized with detachable arrowheads to be either regular arrows or explosive arrows. The latter are put to [[StuffBlowingUp good use]] in the last third of the film.

* JustPlaneWrong: It's unclear why Russian Spetznatz would be flying around Viet Nam in an American Huey, with modernized American weapons to boot.

A year has passed since the events of ''Film/FirstBlood'', and John Rambo (Creator/SylvesterStallone) is doing time for the mayhem he unleashed back then. The ex-Green Beret is working in a prison quarry when his old commander, Col. Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna), shows up with a mission. Long after the end of UsefulNotes/{{the Vietnam War}}, rumors have surfaced that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War_POW/MIA_issue American prisoners of war remain in Vietnamese custody]]. As one of only three men qualified for the job, Rambo is to sneak into a prison camp to record evidence of [=POWs=]. If he succeeds, he may receive a Presidential pardon. Rambo reluctantly accepts and is flown to Thailand to meet mission commander Marshall Murdock (Charles Napier), who warns Rambo not to engage the Vietnamese Army. Outfitted with the latest in technology, Rambo is flown to Vietnam to perform a parachute jump into enemy territory.

* KickTheDog: Murdock apparently didn't feel like he was rubbing enough salt into Rambo and Trautman's wounds, because when Trautman continues to insist on finding those lost [=POWs=] after Rambo escapes the prison camp, he quickly finds himself under arrest on Murdock's orders and confined to the base.

* BittersweetEnding: Rambo succeeds in rescuing the [=POWs=], but was betrayed by Murdock in the process. After getting his revenge on Murdock, Rambo tells Trautman what he wants is for his country to love its soldiers as much as they love it.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rambo_first_blood_part_ii_6026.jpg]]

!!This film provides examples of:

* LockAndLoadMontage: Rambo prepping up to kick Viet Cong ass is ''the'' definitive version of this trope in action.

* OneManArmy: After [[Film/FirstBlood a whole film]] of Rambo trying to fend off the local police without killing anyone, we see how deadly Rambo truly is when he's put back on the battlefield and no longer has to hold back. The result: Rambo fights tons of Viet Cong and Soviet troops by himself ''and wins'', singlehandedly inspiring many action heroes like him.

A year has passed since the events of ''Film/FirstBlood'', and John Rambo (Creator/SylvesterStallone) is doing time for the mayhem he unleashed back then. The ex-Green Beret is working in a prison quarry when his old commander, Col. Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna), shows up with a mission. Long after the end of UsefulNotes/{{the Vietnam War}}, rumors have surfaced that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War_POW/MIA_issue American prisoners of war remain in Vietnamese custody]]. As one of only three men qualified for the job, Rambo is to sneak into a prison camp to record evidence of [=POWs=]. If he succeeds, he may receive a Presidential pardon. Rambo reluctantly accepts and is flown to Thailand to meet mission commander Marshall Murdock (Charles Napier), who warns Rambo not to engage the Viet Cong. Outfitted with the latest in technology, Rambo is flown to Vietnam to perform a parachute jump into enemy territory.

''Rambo: First Blood Part II'' is not only the most famous of the ''Rambo'' movies, but also the purest definition of an ActionizedSequel. The previous film's anti-war message is discarded in favor of the action-packed story of a hardened soldier returning to save those left behind, with gunfights and explosions aplenty when he's not putting his survival skills to well-worn use. [[CriticalDissonance Savaged by critics upon release]], it nevertheless became the second highest-grossing film of 1985 and by far the most successful film in the series. It has inspired countless imitators, including films and video games (such as ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'' and ''VideoGame/IkariWarriors''). It would be followed up three years later by ''Film/RamboIII'', which would cement Rambo's status as a OneManArmy.

* MissingBackblast: Rambo destroys the enemy Mi-24 Hind by firing an an M72 LAW from the cockpit of his own helicopter, which was full of American prisoners of war he was evacuating. In real life, firing the LAW would probably have injured or killed most or all of the people behind him.

* WhamLine: An InUniverse example. When one of the [=POWs=] asks Rambo what year it is, he answers, "1985." The look on the POW's face says it all.

* HonorBeforeReason: Rambo only planned to rescue one [=POW=] to use as evidence that American [=POWs=] remain in Vietnam, before he was [[BetrayalByInaction betrayed by Murdock]] and captured by the Soviets. Following his escape [[spoiler:and Co's death]], Rambo decides to rescue ''[[NoOneGetsLeftBehind all of them]]''--a daunting task for a special forces team, let alone a single Green Beret--so they ''all'' have a chance to return home. Being a OneManArmy, of course, Rambo succeeds.

* HonorBeforeReason:
** Rather than look for his camera and the rest of his lost equipment, Rambo chooses to sneak into the prison camp to rescue a POW himself, against orders not to engage the enemy and without yet having evidence to suggest the camp is anything but empty, thus risking his life unnecessarily for something that may not even be there. Of course, his suspicion is absolutely correct, and he does make it; he just didn't expect the extraction chopper to [[BetrayalByInaction fly away without him]].
** Looking for his equipment would have been an exercise in futility that "needle-in-a-haystack" doesn't even begin to adequately describe. He cut away his packs while he was dangling from an airplane traveling ~150 knots for what was a minute or two of screen time...this equates to several miles of linear distance where it could have fallen. Add to that the fact that the terrain was a triple-canopy jungle (which means that there is a very good chance that the stuff is hanging from a tree a hundred feet off the ground), and a hundred guys who didn't even have to worry about a hostile army trying to kill them could have spent a week searching for his gear and still not found it.

* OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo: ''Rambo: First Blood Part II'', rather than ''Rambo II'' or ''First Blood Part II''.

* HonorBeforeReason: Rather than look for his camera and the rest of his lost equipment, Rambo chooses to sneak into the prison camp to rescue a POW himself, against orders not to engage the enemy and without yet having evidence to suggest the camp is anything but empty, thus risking his life unnecessarily for something that may not even be there. Of course, his suspicion is absolutely correct, and he does make it; he just didn't expect the extraction chopper to [[BetrayalByInaction fly away without him]].

Rambo is released from prison by Marshall Murdock and sent on a mission to find American [=POWs=] in Vietnam. When he does, Murdock orders that Rambo be abandoned and all evidence of the mission be destroyed. Rambo manages to escape from Vietnam, returns to Murdock's command center, destroys it with a machine gun, and threatens Murdock with a knife to get the [=POWs=] out of Vietnam. In the end, Rambo tells Trautman that he and other war veterans want their country to love them as much as they love it, and that he would gladly die for his country.

* ActionizedSequel: A rather extreme example. ''First Blood'' was a grim thriller about a war veteran victimized by the nation he once served, and had a minimal bodycount. ''Rambo: First Blood Part II'' discards that and sends Rambo back to Vietnam to kill commies by the dozen.

* BetrayalByInaction: Rambo is assigned the job of sneaking into a [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnamese camp]] and confirming whether or not Prisoners of War are present. When he finds an entire POW camp where several soldiers (including his old friend and mentor) are being held captive, he takes it upon himself to lead a revolt. However, when he and the escapees reach the chopper meant to extract them, the bureaucrat in charge of the mission orders the chopper to leave without them. The look on Rambo's face as the chopper flies away speaks volumes of the level of betrayal he felt.
* ColonelBadass: We don't see it in this film, but it's plain to see that Trautman isn't a Special Forces colonel for nothing.
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: Tay, the Vietnamese officer who killed Co. Mind you, Rambo shot him with an ''explosive-tipped'' arrow.

* EveryCarIsAPinto: In the riverboat scene, Rambo leaps off just as the two boats have a head-on collision and explode. Makes even less sense than for a car -- both because of the relatively slow speed, and because boats have their engines and fuel tanks ''in the rear''.

* HonorBeforeReason: After Rambo finds a reason to fight once more, he practically ''embodies'' this trope.

* MissingBackblast: Rambo destroys the enemy Mi-24 Hind by firing an an M72 LAW from the cockpit of his own helicopter, which was full of American prisoners of war he was evacuating. In real life, firing the LAW would probably have injured or killed most or all of the people behind him

* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Especially the point of the second movie (focusing on the plight of American [=POWs=] in Vietnam).
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Potovski is a major offender; he sounds more like a stereotypical Nazi interrogator, complete viz ze inability to pronounce a "th" sound.

* PunctuatedForEmphasis: Murdoch... '''I'M.COMING.TO.GET.YOU!!'''
** Find them - or '''I'LL.FIND.YOU.'''

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Trautman is this in spades. Compare him to WellIntentionedExtremist Murdoch.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge[=/=]{{Retirony}}: [[spoiler: Co's fate.]]
* TenMinuteRetirement: Rambo was ready to leave the POW's in part 2 behind and take Co with him to America. [[MoodWhiplash Then she gets shot.]]