The Last Action Heroes: Rambo: First Blood Part II

To celebrate the launch of his new book THE LAST ACTION HEROES, we’re delighted to welcome author Nick de Semlyen to present this special screening of RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II. He’ll join us for an opening conversation moderated by his Empire colleague Chris Hewitt, followed by a book signing after the film.

John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is doing hard time in jail when his former boss, Col. Troutman (Richard Crenna), offers him a deal. If Rambo travels to Vietnam to try to find the American prisoners of war, his criminal record will be expunged.

Rambo takes the reconnaissance assignment and agrees not to get involved in any of the action.

However, when his Vietnamese lover, Co Bao (Julia Nickson), is killed by American forces, Rambo forgets his promise and takes matters into his own hands.

About the book:

The Last Action Heroes is a wildly entertaining account of the golden age of the action movie charts Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s carnage-packed journey from enmity to friendship against the backdrop of Reagan’s America and the Cold War. 

Revealing fascinating untold stories of the colourful characters who ascended in their wake – high-kickers Chuck Norris and Jackie Chan, glowering tough guys Dolph Lundgren and Steven Seagal, and quipping troublemakers Jean-Claude Van Damme and Bruce Willis – it tells the story of how the era of the invincible action hero who used muscle, martial arts or the perfect weapon to save the day began to fade.

And how, when Jurassic Park trounced Schwarzenegger’s Last Action Hero in 1993, the glory days of these macho men – and the vision of masculinity they celebrated – were officially over. The book is out August 24th.