Rambo is offered a prison pardon in exchange for accepting a perilous mission: infiltrating Vietnam to try to find the American prisoners of war, but agreeing not to get involved in any of the action. After a disastrous parachute drop, Rambo is left stranded in the jungle to survive.

If the first chapter in the Rambo franchise was something of a New Hollywood hangover, this vigorous sequel leans harder into unabashed action spectacle. Sent back to Vietnam, Sylvester Stallone’s pneumatic mercenary sums up the wish-fulfilment fantasies of an era: “Do we get to win this time?”