Review of Rambo: First Blood 2

Introduction

If you want an over-the-top 80`s action movie, they don`t come much better than Rambo 2.

The one-man army John Rambo is brought back into the military to search for prisoners of war left in Vietman after the war. Armed with his trusty bow and arrow, he takes on not only the Vietnamese army, but the Russians too after he is abandoned and taken prisoner.

Video

The video comes in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and is good quality throughout the movie with no dirt or grain apparent.

Whilst not as crisp as more recent movies, the image is quite sharp and colourful...which is just what you need to show off all those explosions!

Most of the effects here involve explosions, gunfire, helicopters and the numerous inventive ways that Rambo kills his enemy. This is the film with amongst other things, that HUGE knife, the bow and (explosive) arrows, leeches and Rambo hiding in the mud face. Come on, you remember it all now don`t you!

Audio

Like the others in Artisan`s Rambo Trilogy boxset, the sound comes in Dolby Digital Surround. Obviously a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix would have been preferable, but as it stands, the sound is not too bad.

There no stereo full range rear channel for the engineers to play with, but the soundstage is used well for atmospheric noises, gunfire, explosions and of course the Rambo theme tune.

Dialogue is always clear and understandable - well, if you can understand Stallone of course! This film also features the infamous "speech" at the end where Rambo speaks his mind about the US Government abandoning POWs etc.

Features

There is quite a generous feature count with a commentary track with the director, George Cosmatos, a documentary - "An American Hero`s Journey", a trivia game, the theatrical trailer, production notes and cast & crew information.

The movie is packaged in a cardbox case that contains the three Rambo films - each of which lives in a black Amaray case and has a laminated card insert showing the chapter breaks.

Conclusion

Overall, this wasn`t Oscar winning material, but it`s classic 80`s action with Rambo taking on two armies and of course coming out on top to return for the third and final Rambo film.

The plot as ever is total rubbish, but the locations are very good and the acting as good as could be expected. The enjoyment is however derived from the non-stop action, killing and destruction which Rambo is of course particularly good at. Having said that, Rambo 2 is not an especially gory movie, there`s just lots of violence.

The picture is good and the sound acceptable despite not being in 5.1, and there is a good set of extras on the disc.