Review of Rambo III (1988) by The H — 20 Jun 2008

Whatever credibility Rambo once had in First Blood is totally gone in this film which is more like Cold War propaganda than anything else, which is probably why they chopped First Blood off the title and we're simply left with the Rambo bit. As a character he's a bit more talkative but still has the same sadness in his eyes. And Stallone is absolutely HUGE. Yes, he's always been big but his figure in Rambo III is probably the biggest I've seen him. He could probably rip Arnie's head off.

Since walking off into the sunset in Part II, Rambo is now living in a monastery in Thailand and has found inner peace. But he still takes time out to batter people with sticks in cage fights to raise money for the Buddists. But the no-good Red Ruskie Soviets are causing havoc in Afghanistan and one particular Colonel is taking great pleasure in massacring whole villages.

Colonel Trautman and Robert Griggs (the ever-brilliant Kurtwood Smith) try to convince Rambo to come help them sort the Ruskies out. But Rambo is having done of it. He's done killing! He wants to raise a family.

So Trautman is left to go it alone and is captured. Griggs delivers this bad news to Rambo who makes up his mind to go on another killing spree. Which is entirely okay as long as he only kills the Ruskies right?

Once in Afghanistan, Rambo teams up the Muhujideen, learns of their many woes and agrees to fight the Ruskies with all his might. Even though he was going to do that anyway, but it's nice to have friends.

The rest of the film is no more than a succession of comic-book action scenes and shoot-em-up set pieces. It's brilliantly shot, seriously, it's some of the best cinematography I've seen in an action film. I never expected Rambo III to look so good! It's a shame that Peter MacDonald (who was actually the second unit director shunted into 1st place after Russell Mulcahy left) doesn't stage the action with any sense of fluency. Yes, it all looks big and bold, but it's kinda clumsy and cumbersome. At the time, it was the most expensive movie ever made (even at a mere $65 million) and while it may be grand, it sure ain't graceful.

Jerry Goldsmith's score is once again brilliant. But quite a lot of his original material was left out and old tracks from Part II spliced in. So as long as your prepared for sudden jump cuts in the music, you should really get a kick out of it.

When it originally came out, Rambo III was kinda disregarded as a totally unnecessary sequel but in recent years the film has gained a political subtext and can actually be viewed in quite a few subversive ways. While I understand that the makers wanted to give the film a serious point of view regarding the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, I feel that integrity that the film has in modern politics should be disregarded. This is a RAMBO movie for Christ sake. The logic is shoot now, ask questions never. America did do the right thing by helping the Afghans fight off the Ruskies. But they did they wrong thing leaving the country to crumble afterwards (just like Rambo does). The rest is history. But I don't think a review of Rambo III is the best place to discuss this.

It's a flawed sequel, but I like it better than Part II. There are some seriously misjudged moments but it's still a fun ride. I'm not sure a fourth is necessary since Jerry Goldsmith and Richard Crenna have since died, but I can't judge until I see it, huh.