Review of Rambo III (1988) by Ola G — 19 Aug 2017

Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna) visits his old friend and ally John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) in Thailand. He explains that he is putting together a mercenary team for a CIA-sponsored mission to supply anti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan. Despite being shown photos of civilians suffering at the hands of the Soviet military, Rambo refuses to join, as he is tired of fighting. Trautman proceeds anyway and is ambushed by enemy forces near the border, resulting in all of his men being killed. Trautman is captured and sent to a large mountain base to be interrogated by Soviet Colonel Zaysen (Marc de Jonge) and his henchman Sergeant Kourov (Randy Raney). Embassy official Robert Griggs (Kurtwood Smith) informs Rambo of Trautman's capture but refuses to approve a rescue mission for fear of drawing the United States into the war. Aware that Trautman will die otherwise, Rambo gets permission to undertake a solo rescue on the condition that he will be disavowed in the event of capture or death. Rambo immediately flies to Peshawar, Pakistan, where he intends to convince arms dealer Mousa Ghani (Sasson Gabai) to bring him to Khost, the town closest to the Soviet base where Trautman is held captive...

Prominent critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert (of At the Movies fame) were split on Rambo III, with Siskel awarding the film "thumbs up", and Ebert declaring "thumbs down" for those expecting more out of Rambo III. Ebert did, however, give "thumbs up" to fans, saying the film was entertaining and that it "delivers the goods". The New York Times took a dim view of the film.

With "Rambo III" Sylvester Stallone made another clear political statement against the Soviet Union by supporting the Mujahideen in their fight during the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 80s. The plot is in a way getting more and more diluted the longer we get into the Rambo series and Rambo himself is becoming more and more of a Jesus figure with long flowing hair and the abilities of a superhero. A Super-Jesus if you like. With a $58-63 million budget you´d think the result would be a bit more upscale than what we get, however I do think there are moments in "Rambo III" that was clearly more well made than "Rambo - First Blood II" despite what maybe others think. But, the fact remains that "Rambo III" is a quite ridiculous violent action-cliché just ending up as a b-movie despite whatever political agenda Stallone was pushing for.

Trivia: The 1990 Guinness World Records deemed "Rambo III" the most violent film ever made, with 221 acts of violence, at least 70 explosions, and over 108 characters killed on-screen. However, the body count of the fourth film in the series, Rambo, surpassed that record, with 236 kills.