Rambo: First Blood Part II

This sequel to “First Blood” (what else?) has elicited more public commentary than any picture since “Scarface,” and as such needed to be seen. (Plus I liked “First Blood.”) It also opened in a record number of theaters (something over 2000) and has been one of the fastest earning pictures of all-time. Why? This movie really can't be examined as just a movie. It is really a sociological phenomenon. As a movie it is your basic revenge melodrama. But hook it up to the Nam... ah, there's the rub. As one reviewer (I forget who) put it: "The need to go back and win the war is so strong..." that it shows up in pictures like this one, and “Uncommon Valor,” and “Mission in Action,” and probably others that I don't know about. Stallone as Rambo says it all within the first 10 minutes, after his commanding officer Trautman (Richand Crenna) recruits him for the suicide mission: "Do we get to win this time?" That's what it's all about, isn't it? There's a gaping wound in the public psyche that is the result of the Vietnam experience.

There is the realization that we lost coupled with the nagging feeling (openly expressed by many, especially vets) that we were undone by our own commanders, who never let our forces loose to really win. This comes at an interesting time, given the recent outpouring of respect and affection for the Vietnam vets (not to mention my own recent reading on the subject). There's stuff all mixed up in there I don't even want to try to figure out, but this movie, like the others, seems to serve as some sort of public expiation. The Vietnamese are painted as evil slimy bastards, still torturing our boys after 10 years, and the politicians are painted as self serving backstabbers--this time, in the movie, the politician literally leaves our hero behind. Anyway, it's a curious thing; I wonder if the cheering in the thaeter would have been as loud if the people Rambo destroys were just some anonymous terrorists, and not the evil VC. We'll never know. In any event, the movie is a revenge melodrama, and Stallone establishes himself as today's most physical performer (I hesitate to call him an actor). Forget Chuck Norris, Eastwood, all those guys. Stallohe is a guy who is not afraid to get his hands dirty... literally.

He has an awesome physique, and the camera DOES linger over it at times, though not as much as I'd been led to expect from the reviews. Hell, if I had that body, I guess I'd want the camera to linger over me too. Phallic symbols abound: rockets, guns, arrows, planes, and that big animal knife that Rambo carries around with him and plays with (!) occasionally. The fact is, Rambo gets more like James Bond all the time, with the finale being the destuction of the enemy camp, with huge explosions. I won't bother to detail all the little lapses (more silly than stupid) that the filmmakers commit in the service of their cause; it's really not worth it. You don't go to this picture for clear thinking, you go for blood (though curiously enough, the movie, while violent, is not all that gory) (maybe it's not that curious after all).

But this is the kind of picture which can take an authentic Vietnamese actress and make her sound like a bad American actress trying to play a Vietnamese girl. For that matter, all the Vietnamese seem phony a little. It's odd: for all the obvious money that was spent on this film, there is at times a feeling of cheaoness about it. Like the Viets---they are stereotypes sure, but they're not even well-stereotyped. They are played sort of evil/farcical, running around like Vietnamese Keystone Kops. Maybe they are supposed to look second rate compared to the big bad Russians (yes there are Russians) or maybe they just didn't spend the money to get real actors, just these cardboand pop-up dolls.

But then the picture's not about people, it's about hardware, and I include Stallone in that category. They love equipment here, and they have great equipment (including one Russian chopper that makes Blue Thunder look like a Tonka Toy--I mean the thing scared me). They are also particularly fond of that "chopper flies out of the sun" shot that may have originated with “Apocalpypse.” They use it at least three times. But in any event, the picture is well photographed, and decently directed, and the action scenes are pretty good. Some of the torture scenes really made me cringe (here I mean that as a compliment). The movie does not bone you. It is relentless with gunfire and helicopters and music on the soundtrack, and it does manage to generate suspense and excitement. The thing is, this may push even Rambo a bit far into the realm of the absurd. In “First Blood” there was something chilling about the way that the pathetically outmatched police and National Guard were just sheep to Rambo's wolf. It shows how ludicrous these "guardians"actually were when confronted with a real enemy.

It was chilling because it was believable (meaning I really believe that there are men who are so deadly that they would make mincemeat out of any number of opponents who were far less well trained). But when Rambo starts acting out this same silent ghost invincible killer routine against Vietnamese regulars and Russian elite troops, it kind of strips off that last shred of believability--pushes it more towards fantasy. Like I said, more like James Bond every day. Rambo is an interesting character, in his way, but what are they gonna do with him now? An even MORE interesting character is Trautman, the Green Beret Colonel who trained Rambo originally (as he said in “First Blood,” "God didn't create Rambo, I did." Great line.) Here is a guy who has all the same skills as Rambo, yet is presented as a thinking man, a sort of civilized guy.

Yet in this movie he is done a grave injustice. He is made to back down to the politicos and his band of mercenaries. We keep waiting for the explosion we expect from him when he sees that his boy has been sold out, but it just never comes. He is supposed to be made of the same stuff as Rambo (hell, he made Rambo) and just have it under control better, but he never shows his true colors. We expect him to wipe out the assholes and help the hero, but instead he just turns away mumbling things like "bastards." I kept thinking things like "boy, if this is what Rambo can do, I can’t wait to see what his teacher can do." But it never came. Was Stallone so hungry for the attention that he couldn't give up a little bit of glory to his ally? Did he have to turn him into such a simp? Well, no matter. Maybe next time. The overall phenomenon of “Rambo” remains. How much more expiation do we need? It was said of “First Blood” that it couldn't "quite be laughed off” because in its own way it did confront a social issue (plight of Vietnam vets). “Rambo” can't quite be laughed off either, but for different reasons.