Rambo III (1988)

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

John Rambo's former Vietnam Colonel, Samuel Trautman, has been assigned to lead a mission to help the Mujahedeen rebels who are fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.When the mission goes belly up and Trautman is kidnapped and tortured by Russian Colonel Zaysen, Rambo launches a rescue effort and allies himself with the Mujahedeen rebels and gets their help in trying to rescue Trautman.......The third Rambo film was a notorious flop at the time of its release, and for a short while, was the most expensive film ever made. It's not a bad film by any means. Silly, but certainly not bad.The real reason I believe as to why the film failed, was because audiences were becoming a little tired of the muscle bound one man armies against the world. After all, Die Hard showed that an action star can be an everyday, vulnerable person, as did Lethal Weapon.So the days of the greased up, muscular soldier with the magical gun that hold infinite bullets, were numbered.Schwarzenegger had the right idea, and branched out into other genres (but still kept his trademark puns), and it appeared that Stallone was always one step behind him (his foray into comedy, Judge Dredd etc). So Rambo III was the start of a downward spiral in Stallone's career (box office wise) that would last for five years.So Rambo III is pretty much the same as part II, but this time everything is bigger, from Stallones muscles, the knife, and the set pieces. The makers must have thought that this was a license to print money, hence it being the most expensive film produced at the time.There is a lot of humour, Schwarzenegger type one liners that are scattered across the script, but it falls flat, not just by Stallone's delivery, but for the fact that the makers have now turned a tortured character into a comic book character.Still, there's action aplenty, the film looks beautiful, and Stallone's hair is beyond wonderful.

At this point in his life, John Rambo (Stallone, of course) just wants to be left alone. He lives and works at a monastery in Thailand, and he'd rather practice Buddhism than war. Though he does do some stickfighting on the side so he can win some extra cash from the locals. When his old buddy from 'Nam, Col. Trautman (Crenna) finds him and wants him to fight in Afghanistan against the evil Russian baddies, Rambo initially declines the offer. But when the head evil Russian, Col. Zaysen (de Jonge), kidnaps and tortures Trautman, Rambo snaps in to action. He goes from Buddhist monk to one-man wrecking crew at the drop of a hat, annihilating everything in his path as he helps the Afghanis - who, we must remember, were the good guys during this particular conflict. Will Rambo live to blow things up another day? John Rambo returns - again - for this third and not-quite-final installment. In 1988, the world was still in the grip of Rambo Fever, which necessitated this second sequel, and later the cartoon series, Rambo and the Forces of Freedom, and finally the toy line based on the cartoon. And speaking of one-dimensional animated characters, here Stallone looks like a human cartoon. Much like how the original Rocky (1976) was a sensitive, downbeat drama for the most part which then got distorted into something unrecognizable by the time of the countless sequels, here it's easy to forget the original First Blood (1982) and its sensitive, troubled John Rambo character. Now he's a 'roided up superhero who can essentially leap tall buildings in a single bound and if he breathes on a helicopter it blows up.Now, if you overlook the history of the Rambo series (hey, shouldn't this movie be called "First Blood III"? No movies in the series before this were called "Rambo"...but we digress) there is plenty of stupid fun to be had. There is action and adventure aplenty, and first-time director (though he'd been in the film industry for many years prior) Peter MacDonald pours it on with aplomb. Near-constant blow-ups, machine-gun shooting, knife-throws, horse chases, neck snaps, and tank and helicopter battles ensue. As exploding helicopter enthusiasts know, this has one of the best of all time. The explosions are classic 1988 explosions, and with a very big budget behind it, everything looks top-notch and they clearly didn't skimp.Of course, there is also the Prerequisite Torture - this time of Trautman - and we also get the classic "yelling while shooting a machine gun", the exploding guard tower, and the evil Russkies, among many other clichés, but they're the FUN clichés we all love and enjoy. You wouldn't even think this movie would be necessary after Rocky single-handedly conquered Russia in Rocky IV (1985), but here Stallone goes again, basically winning the Cold War single-handedly - well, with Reagan of course. Clearly the Italian film industry was paying attention, as there are countless...er...TRIBUTES to this particular Rambo outing, too many to name here. But as much as we enjoyed Rom Kristoff, Brent Huff, and Reb Brown, among others, following in his footsteps, there is without a doubt only one John Rambo.Sure, Stallone doesn't clearly delineate his words, and his excessive slurring causes you to need to put the subtitles on, but not to worry. Most of the second half of the movie is without dialogue, and is essentially 45 minutes of crud blowing up. Its nearest rival in that department is our beloved Commander (1988) - and, truth be told, Commander is probably more enjoyable and a better movie all around, and it was all done on a far lower budget. But who needs words when Stallone's mullet and almost 100-percent-of-the-running-time shirtlessness do the talking? Seeing as how he co-wrote the movie, and was juicing to a ridiculous degree, we felt it was pretty 'vein' of him. But it's all part of the fun, we suppose. Because it was the wonderful 80's, things were just bigger back then - bigger hair, bigger cell phones, bigger houses, etc. In the ever-escalating world of Rambo sequels, it means bigger knives, bigger machine guns, and far more lethal bows-and-arrows.Of course it's stupid, but it's ENJOYABLY stupid. You root for Rambo to blow the bad guys to smithereens, and you have a good time doing it. As we've mentioned before, characters like Rambo - and, by extension, movies like this - stand as a bulwark against our wussy, overly-PC society. If we stop watching them, we'll all slide even further down the PC slope into oblivion. For that reason alone, Rambo III is worth seeing, if not owning.

The third instalment in the Rambo film franchise, Rambo III has the raw energy & unflinching brutality of its predecessors and is a typical example of 1980s action cinema but unlike the last two chapters, it's also grated with lots of cheese which turns it campy at times but then again, it makes up for that drawback with its impressive action set pieces.Rambo III finds the Vietnam-war veteran residing in Thailand when he's approached by his former commanding officer who asks for his assistance in delivering supplies to anti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan. Tired of fighting, Rambo refuses the offer but when he's captured by the Soviet forces, Rambo goes on a solo mission to rescue him from his captors.Directed by Peter MacDonald & co-written by Sylvester Stallone, Rambo III lies very much on the same scale as First Blood Part II for it puts Rambo against the same enemy, only in a different setting. Once again, it's the action elements that keeps the momentum going even if those sequences can be predicted from afar, plus the character of Rambo remains inert to vulnerability.The film ups the ante on body counts & explosions, a welcome aspect, but its violence isn't affecting on an emotional scale. The desert locations & set pieces provide a little authentic feel to its setting, its 101 minutes of runtime is felt at times, and as far as performances go, Stallone dons the Rambo suit as per expectations but it's also good to see Richard Crenna getting more screen time than before.On an overall scale, Rambo III is another fine entry in the Rambo saga that further solidifies the legacy of its titular character, features a few cool moments of action over the course of its runtime but just like the last one, it's no match to First Blood. Surfacing at the time when Cold War themed action was becoming a thing of the past, Rambo III somehow manages to be an enjoyable ride, thanks to Stallone's screen persona & good dose of warfare.

Sylvester Stallone returns once again to one of his most iconic roles, playing Vietnam Veteran John Rambo, who this time goes to Afghanistan amidst the Soviet Invasion to rescue his Vietnam commander officer, Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna), from being held hostage by the evil Colonel Zaysen (Marc de Jonge).Stallone as Rambo continues to prove he is a force to be reckoned with, wiping away enemy combatants left and right as he displays his very formidable set of fighting and survival skills. It was satisfying seeing him deal with the arrogant and sinister Marc de Jonge and his merciless army, especially when you see the Afghan citizens in peril. Him teaming up with the Afghan rebels and the determined Afghan boy served as a good plot element to the story.Filmed in a fast pace with plenty of action and tension, it is one of Stallone's most intense performances, showing him the will to fight for good and to protect those he trusts and the innocent that are in peril. Despite some of the cheesy acting, it's a very good action sequel for some edge-of-your-seat excitement.Grade B