Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) - 23 mistakes

Factual error: When Rambo plays possum then suddenly takes out the Russian officer's Hind Helicopter he uses an M72A2 light anti-tank weapon (LAW). When fired, the M72A2 has a back blast that can kill out to 100 feet, which means he would have either blown up his own helicopter or killed all the MIA's he had rescued...

Revealing: In a scene towards the end, we see a crowd of Vietnamese on a riverbank firing their machine guns into the trees...one soldier clearly walks directly in front of another soldier who continues firing away without hitting him.

Continuity: When Rambo fires the rocket launcher at the Russian Hind helicopter, he is clearly seen aiming a LAW rocket launcher. The LAW is fired by pressing a lever on the top. But when Rambo fires, a quick edit from a previous shot (on the patrol boat) shows him pulling a trigger from the Russian RPG launcher he used to dispatch the Vietnamese patrolboat earlier in the film. The film returns to show him holding the LAW rocket launcher again.

Factual error: The Russian Hind helicopter is in fact a French-built Aerospatiale Super Puma with attached wings.

Continuity: When Rambo has rescued his first POW and running to escape to meet his check point, he is followed by the Vietnamese soldiers who chase him knee deep through a muddy swamp. The film scene then shows Rambo, seconds later, still running with the POW, but then returns to the Vietnamese soldiers who now have wet but very clean trousers.

Continuity: In the end of the film after Rambo blows up the Russian helicopter, there is a hole in the front window that Rambo shoots the rocket out of. In the next few scenes we see Rambo's helicopter and the hole in the window is gone, then it's back again, then it's gone, then it's back again when he lands.

Continuity: When the Russian is shooting from the helicopter at Rambo in the water, the rocket pods are missing from the helicopter, but after Rambo gets in the helicopter and takes over, they are back.

Character mistake: In the showdown scene between the Vietnamese officer and Rambo, the Vietnamese officer empties an entire round at Rambo from only about 20 metres away but only manages to hit the ground around Rambo's feet. What was he doing, aiming at his feet? He deserved to get blown up to bits for that effort.

Factual error: Near the beginning of the film, the airplane that will fly Rambo into the jungle is being refueled and prepared for takeoff. Ericson shines his flashlight into one of the jet exhaust ports to inspect it, an impossible task since the jet engines have already been started. Not even Rambo would be able to stand behind a jet exhaust without getting blown over or burnt to a crisp.

Factual error: The big red "trigger" switch that Rambo uses to fire the rockets on the Huey is the radio/intercom switch.

Revealing: When the Hind helicopter first appears you can see that the rocket tubes are empty, yet Rambo later fires several rockets from them.

Revealing: While Rambo is flying the helicopter with the POW's you can clearly see the smoke shooting from a small metal thing below the gun.

Continuity: After Rambo lands with the POW's and Ericson says "Glad you made it", Ericson has his hands on his hips. In the next shot his hands are on his side and back to his hips in the 3rd shot.

Continuity: When Rambo leaves the village after blowing stuff up with the explosive arrows, he has about 15-20 arrows in his quiver, but when he kills the Vietnamese soldier, he only has one.

Continuity: When Rambo is shooting the trucks on the bridge with explosive arrows, he only shoots the first and third trucks, yet in the next shot, all three are engulfed in flames. He never shot the middle truck and there wasn't enough time for the fire to spread.

Other: During a scene shot on the bridge, you see two vehicles pull up - later you see that another vehicle has arrived with reinforcements in an aerial shot. At this time, you see a man firing a automatic weapon, and then one of his fellow soldiers crossing directly into his line of fire, but the man is not hit.

Continuity: During the helicopter chase scene, the mini-gun and the manual m-60 on Rambo's chopper change sides.

Continuity: When Rambo is attacking the POW camp, the gating gun on his helicopter is firing (spinning) in one shot, not in the next, then back and forth, yet it never stops making firing sounds or killing people.

Continuity: When Rambo is introduced to Murdoch, Murdoch asks for a drink and the man gets 1 from the drink machine, no other can drops down and no other shelves are full. Yet he brings 2 cans over.

Factual error: When the close up of the engine for the plane to drop Rambo off is shown starting up, in the next shot a voice can be heard saying "APU start". The APU starts the engine, so the engine couldn't have been started first.