Review of Rambo III (1988) by Donald W — 17 Mar 2008

The highest compliment I can pay "Rambo III" is to say that it's no worse than "Rambo: First Blood, Part II". In fact, it's slightly better. Rambo is now a recreational stick-fighter and the janitor of a Buddhist temple in Thailand! Upon hearing that the Soviet army in Afghanistan has captured his former commanding officer, Colonel Troutman -- the man ultimately responsible for making his life a misery -- rather than assuming the lotus position and cracking open the champagne, Rambo sets out to rescue him.

This is pretty brainless stuff, but it passes an entertaining couple of hours if you're in the right mood. The production values are reasonably high, it's far better directed than "Rambo II", the photography is surprisingly attractive, and the suspension of ones disbelief is assisted by a stirring Jerry Goldsmith score and the fact that Stallone clearly performs at least some of his own stunts. There's a classic scene where Rambo cauterizes a shrapnel wound in his side, with less fuss than most of us mortals would make over a paper-cut.

On the downside, it's nauseatingly sentimental, and there's a precocious little Afghan brat who's so irritating that I spent the entire movie imagining him in a Celebrity Deathmatch with that little bastard from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". As with other movies about Mujahideen rebels fighting with the Soviets in Afghanistan ("The Beast of War", "The Living Daylights") it hasn't aged very well, especially not the end title, which reads: "This film is dedicated to the gallant people of Afghanistan.".