YMMV / Rambo: First Blood Part II

• Awesome Music: Jerry Goldsmith, one of the best film composers of the late 20th century, turns in an incredible score (that he attributed to building his house). Special mention goes to Village Attack / Helicopter Fight, one of the defining action tracks of The '80s.
• Complete Monster: In the novelization by David Morrell: Sergeant Tay is the exceptionally cruel commander of the Vietnamese POW Camp that has haunted Rambo for years. Tay subjects hundreds of prisoners to heinous torture for years, enjoying himself by starving them; flaying them; and tying them in excruciating positions in the middle of terrible weather. Tay's favorite torment is the "slime pit", a deep hole full of worms, leeches, and other painful insects that he lowers prisoners all the way into so they are bitten and suffocated by the insects, then pulled out on the cusp of death. The one responsible for Rambo's 6 months of horrible abuse and the many scars he bears, Tay has filled an entire patch of land with the bones of the hundreds of victims who died under his abuse, and when Rambo tries to save multiple POWs from him, Tay tries to torture Rambo to death once again.
• Contested Sequel: In comparison to First Blood. Some see it as not only disservice to the original, but a mockery that took all its themes about war and traumatized veterans and replaced them with mindless action sequences for the sake of pandering to the masses. Others think it’s an Even Better Sequel, not just because of the added high octane action but also because they feel that it has themes just as powerful as its predecessor while managing to be a more entertaining movie. Still, there are those who see it like Alien and Aliens in that both are great movies in their own right and should be viewed on their own merits. About the only things fans all agree on is that the soundtrack is great, and the movie’s leaps and bounds more engaging than its successor.
• Critic-Proof: Was savaged by most critics on release (currently holding a rating of 30% on Rotten Tomatoes) and came close to sweeping the Razzie awards that year, winning 5 of them. Nevertheless, the film made $300 million worldwide, and broke multiple international box office records.
• Director Displacement: James Cameron co-wrote the script, but he didn't direct it. He later claimed that he wrote the action, while Sylvester Stallone wrote the politics.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Co telling Rambo that he's not expendable, given the title of Stallone's later action franchise.
  • Rambo beating up Sgt. Yushin, Lt. Col. Podovsky's rather large right-hand man. MAD put it best in their satire of this movie, having "Dumbo" say, "I never punched a Russian before!" and the POW saying "He's just promoting Rocky IV!"
• Moral Event Horizon: Murdock crosses it when he orders the mission aborted and convinces Erickson to threaten Colonel Trautman with a pistol if he has him press any further with his chopper.
• Most Wonderful Sound: The menacing hissing noise made by a readily armed nuclear tipped arrow.
• Narm: The final shot with Rambo walking off into the distance becomes this with Fridge Logic. Where is he going? Won't there be some paperwork involved in getting his official pardon? Is he going to have a shower and change into some clean clothes? Who knows.
• Narm Charm: The exploding arrows make no sense at all, but damned if they aren't cool.
• Sequel Displacement: An odd example, in that while the common consensus is that First Blood is a better movie, this film's general feel seem to be what people think of when they hear the term "Rambo film"; understandable, as the sequels followed this one's example.
• Signature Scene:
  • Rambo running into the prison camp with a heavy machine gun to rescue the POWs. It only lasts a minute or so, but is the most iconic moment for the character as a pop culture icon.
  • Rambo shooting up Murdock’s precious computers with an M60 and then firing the remaining rounds in the gun into the roof while screaming. Then there's Rambo grabbing the bastard, pinning him on his desk, and then slamming his knife right next to his head.
• Special Effects Failure: During the ending sequence where the damaged chopper full of POWs is coming in to land, several side-shots are shown and you can very clearly see the exhaust port of the smoke generator used to create the illusion of damage.
• Unintentional Period Piece:
  • The film showcases the resurgence of militarism and anticommunism in the early Reagan years. The Vietnam War is no longer something to be ashamed of (this was a year before Oliver Stone's Platoon) and the American soldiers are heroes and victims, not nutbags and baby killers as in The '70s. Rambo's rescue of the enslaved servicemen left behind — actually an Urban Legend that the film popularized — serves as a proxy way for America to win the war retroactively. It's been said that Rambo II was the movie America needed to watch to finally get over Vietnam.
  • The story revolves around the idea that American soldiers who fought in Vietnam are still being held prisoner by the communist government. This was a real conspiracy theory at the time reflecting the US's lack of closure with the fate of those reported missing in action, and the film helped popularize it in the public consciousness. However, the theory would lapse from popularity within ten years, and the broader issue of what happened to MIA soldiers would decline from the public consciousness (though not disappearing entirely) by the late 2000s. This was owed to a mix of warming US-Vietnam relations over the years and investigations by the American government (which included the involvement of Vietnam War veterans like John McCain) that didn't find any evidence supporting the live prisoner theory.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: During the epilogue, Rambo knees Ericson in the groin before knocking him out with his M60 due to believing he left him to die. However, as the audience, we know Ericson's hand was forced, and the look he was giving him was one of pity, not disdain. As a result, Rambo assaulting him can come across as a Kick the Dog moment due to the titular protagonist jumping to the worst possible conclusion. What makes it worse, is that the actual culprit, Lifer, receives no comeuppance for his crimes.

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