- Rambo returns to the jungles of Vietnam on a mission to infiltrate an enemy base-camp and rescue the American POWs still held captive there.
- Only a few years after the all-out guerrilla war in First Blood (1982), John Rambo's former commanding officer, Colonel Sam Trautman, pulls him out of jail, only to send him back to a place he swore never to return: the impenetrable jungles of Vietnam. Entrusted with the dangerous task of collecting evidence that American POWs are still being held captive, Rambo agrees to infiltrate the unknown zone, and before long, he finds himself double-crossed, marooned behind the enemy lines. Once, John fought for his country. Now, the government has left him for dead in a Soviet-infested land. Can Rambo fulfil his suicide mission? Will he deliver his lethal justice?—Nick Riganas
- John Rambo is removed from prison by his former superior, Colonel Samuel Troutman, for a top-secret operation to bring back POW's still held in Vietnam. Rambo's assignment is to only take pictures of where the POWs are being held, but Rambo wants to get the POWs out of Vietnam. Teamed up with female Vietnamese freedom fighter Co Bao, Rambo embarks on a mission to rescue the POWs, who are being held by sadistic Vietnamese Captain Vinh and his Russian comrade, Lieutenant Colonel Padovsky. Rambo starts killing every enemy in sight while still focusing on his intentions to rescue the POWs.—Vishal
- Former Green Beret John Rambo is serving time in a federal prison. When the US military hears of American soldiers missing in action from the Vietnam war possibly still being alive and held captive, Colonel Trautman is authorized to send Rambo in to rescue them. For Rambo, this is what he would do best. If only the pencil-pushers would stop getting in his way.—Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>
- John Rambo who is now in prison after the ruckus he caused in the previous movie, is approached by his former superior, Colonel Trautman. It seems that the government's looking for American MIA's in Vietnam, that are still being held there. Now the man in charge of the mission, Murdock, tells Rambo that his job is to go in, confirm their presence by taking photographs. Rambo goes in takes the photographs, but also takes one of the prisoners with him. Rambo is then captured. Rambo's going to come after the Vietnamese and Russians, who brutalized him.—rcs0411@yahoo.com
- Set around three years after 'First Blood', Rambo is working in a labor camp prison somewhere in the USA when he gets a visit from his former commander, Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna). Trautman offers Rambo the chance to be released from prison after being convicted by a military court after the events of the first film (destruction and theft of military and private property, but not murder) and given full clemency, but on condition of taking a mission where he will infiltrate Vietnam to search for American POWs that are still rumored to be held by the Vietnamese.
Rambo travels with Trautman to Thailand and meets Marshal Murdock (Charles Napier), an American bureaucrat who is in charge of the operation and he tells Rambo that the American public is demanding knowledge about the POWs and they want a trained commando to go in and search for them. Rambo is briefed that he is only to photograph the POWs and not to rescue them, nor is he to engage any enemy soldiers due to the unstable situation between the USA and Vietnam. Rambo reluctantly agrees and he is then told that an agent of the American government will be there to receive him in the jungles of Vietnam.
Rambo parachutes into the Vietnamese jungle, but loses most of his equipment in the process and is left only with his knives, his bow, and arrows. He meets the agent, a native girl named Co-Bao (Julia Nickson) who wants to go to America, and who arranges for her and Rambo to go upstream with a group of river pirates.
Rambo comes to the camp, and in contradiction to his briefing, he finds a handful of American prisoners there and rescues one of them from a makeshift crucifixion. Later at the camp, a patrol discovers a dead sentry whom Rambo eliminated with a throwing knife. In response, a large Vietnamese patrol goes out into the jungles in search of the (unknown to them) intruder. Rambo, Co and the American POW escape with the pirates, but are attacked by a Vietnamese gunboat and are promptly betrayed by the pirates, who fear the military's reprisals should they not cooperate; Rambo sends Co and the POW to safety and manages to destroy the gunboat with an RPG and kill all the pirates.
When Rambo radios and calls for extraction, he is denied as Murdock fears what will happen to him and his party if the American public come to know about the secret operation or of that fact that POW's and MIA's thought to be dead are still being held in Vietnam. Rambo and the American POW are recaptured. Rambo's wrists are bound to an oxen yoke and he is lowered naked into a chest-deep, leech-infested cesspool (or possibly a pit dug especially for the purpose of torture). Later Rambo learns that the Soviet Army is aiding the Vietnamese and training them, and he is tortured badly by a Soviet officer, Lt. Col. Podovsky (Steven Berkoff) and his silent, robust henchman Sergeant Yushin. Rambo is ordered to contact the American military and tell them that they should not send any more commandos for rescue operations in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Co enters the camp in the guise of a prostitute and comes to the hut in which Rambo is held captive. Rambo agrees to Podovsky's condition, but instead threatens Murdock on the radio that he is "coming to get you", then escapes from captivity into a nearby jungle with Co's help. Co then tends to Rambo's wounds and begins to implore him to take her to the United States. Rambo agrees and they kiss, however they are then attacked by some Vietnamese soldiers and Co is killed. Rambo kills them all (except for their commander, who escapes, but is later killed by one of Rambo's exploding arrows) and then buries Co's body in the jungle.
Following his escape, the camp's Soviet and Vietnamese soldiers are sent to look for him. Rambo assembles his weapons, and using guerrilla warfare tactics, is able to kill a large number of enemy troops. He proceeds to a small enemy camp and destroys it and several vehicles with explosive arrows. He hijacks a UH-1N Twin Huey helicopter from the Soviets after killing Sergeant Yushin and proceeds towards the POW camp. He destroys most of the camp with the helicopter, then lands and arms himself with the M-60 machine gun that is mounted on the Huey, kills the remaining Vietnamese soldiers, and rescues all the POWs. They get to the helicopter and head towards the American camp in Thailand.
Lt. Col. Podovsky chases them in his Mil Mi-24 helicopter gunship. Although Rambo's helicopter is heavily damaged by Podovsky's helicopter, he manages to land his helicopter on a river, then fakes his death. When Podovsky comes near him and gets careless, Rambo fires a LAW 66mm rocket at Podovsky's chopper, obliterating it.
Rambo then returns to the base and shoots up Murdock's command center. He threatens Murdock with a knife, challenging him to find and rescue the remaining American POWs in Vietnam. Trautman then comforts Rambo and tries to pacify him. An angry Rambo responds that he only wants his country to love its soldiers as much as its soldiers love it. As Rambo leaves, Trautman asks him, "How will you live, John?" To which Rambo replies, "Day by day." The film credits roll as Rambo walks off into the distance while his mentor watches him.
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