Rambo III (1988)

I love this movie so much

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Yours truly is a prototypic male specimen, meaning that I like: cold beers, beautiful women and 80s action flicks starring Sylvester Stallone! Perhaps together with the equally extreme "Cobra", "Rambo III" represents Sly's peak in terms of grotesque and excessively violent cinema, and therefore I'm simply loving it! "First Blood" was a very good film overall, "Rambo II" was a logical and almost textbook sequel, but "Rambo III" is just a completely derailed and over-the-top feast of firepower and explosions! No wonder it was once even included in the Guinness Book of World Records for contemporary being the most violent film ever made, since this film features a body count of literally hundreds of people and single-handedly gives a whole new meaning to terms like "Cannon Fodder" or "Collateral Damage". No matter how hard John Rambo tries to leave his military past behind, it always catches up with him. Once again, he initially refuses to be part of a top-secret mission, and yet once again he's mentally forced go in alone afterwards? when he learns that his friend and mentor Trautman is held captive by evil Russians. Although admittedly nobody could be blamed at the time of its release, "Rambo III" is quite ironic to watch nowadays. In 1988, during the last waves of the Cold War, the Russians were still the preferred choice as enemies, and in this particular case Rambo even allies with Afghan rebels against them. It's rather funny how the script depicts the Afghans as pitiable but courageous people who have been forced to fight wars ever since their existence, notably because the US invaded Afghanistan themselves two decades later! These days, you won't often encounter an American film that is dedicated to the "gallant people of Afghanistan" anymore.

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.

Legendary second unit director Peter MacDonald took over directing "Rambo III" after Stallone fired "Highlander" helmer Russell Mulcahy over creative differences. Although it didn't coin the bucks that "Rambo II" earned, "Rambo III" is a spectacular, action-packed adventure saga that deploys Stallone to great effect. Stallone was in top shape with opposing pectoral scares and looking like an Apache on the war path with his headband and long hair. The exciting but outlandish screenplay credited to Stallone and Sheldon Lettich breaks down into six essential sections: (1) Rambo's savage stick fight in Thailand and his meeting at the monastery with Colonel Trautman, (2) Trautman's capture by the Soviets, (3) Rambo's horseback ride into Afghanistan and his reception by the Mujahedeen, (4) Rambo's nocturnal raid on the Soviet fortress, (5) Rambo's tense rescue of Trautman against overwhelming odds, and (6) Rambo's fight battle with the Soviet commander flying a heavily armed helicopter. MacDonald doesn't let the pace slacken for a moment after Rambo leads his raid on the Soviet fortress. As usual, the camaraderie between Stallone and co-star Richard Crenna is flavorful. The gorgeous scenic beauty of Israel and Arizona is an added asset as is Jerry Goldsmith's atmospheric orchestral score.Disillusioned Vietnam veteran John Jay Rambo's close friend and former commanding officer Colonel Samuel Trautman (Richard Crenna of "Wait Until Dark") fails to convince Rambo to accompany him into Afghanistan on a secret mission to aid Mujahedeen freedom fighters battling invading Soviet troops. Trautman's mission involves finding a way to smuggle Stinger missiles into a remote province of Afghanistan that the Soviets have sealed shut. Predictably, no sooner has Trautman embarked on his mission than the Soviets not only surprise him but also take him prisoner. Unofficially, Embassy Field Officer Robert Griggs (Kurtwood Smith of "RoboCop") promises to arm Rambo with weapons, but our pugnacious hero must effect Trautman's rescue without U.S. manpower. Meantime, Soviet Colonel Zaysen (Marc de Jonge) has no luck interrogating Trautman about the weapons that he believes Trautman has smuggled into the country. Initially, when Rambo shows up in Afghanistan, the local fighters dismiss him with contempt as a 'tourist' with little combat experience. Rambo remains mum about his skills, and he is taken into the interior on horseback Afghani resistance leader Masoud (Spiros Focás of "Rocco and His Brothers") to see Mousa Gani. Eventually, he links up with Gani, but the Mujahedeen refuse to aid him for his night-time incursion into the prison to rescue Trautman."Rambo III" ranks as a slam-bang, action-oriented, shoot'em up.

Sexagenarian Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna) leads a mission into Afghanistan to help rebels fighting the Russians. He's captured and, naturally, Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) must come to the rescue. The least of the Rambo movies by a wide margin. It doesn't even feel like a natural progression from the first two movies. John Rambo's character is especially 'off' in this one. He's more talkative and sociable than in the last two movies. He even makes jokes. The dynamic with Trautman is also off. In the other movies, Trautman was a father figure. Here he's more of a buddy. Despite my problems with how the parts are written, both actors do fine with what they're given.The pacing is poor and the script seems entirely too invested in getting us to care about the Afghan rebels and their fight against the evil Soviets. Aside from making the whole thing feel dated (even more so than the second Rambo movie in my opinion), it's like they forgot what people watch a Rambo movie for. If they had trimmed a lot of this stuff in the first half, the movie would have flowed better and that could have made for a more effective actioner. A lot of the dialogue is pretty corny, too. The best part of the movie is the cinematography from John Stanier, which is far better than you would expect for a movie such as this. Watchable for fans of the first two movies but nothing special.