Rambo III

Rambo III (1988)

Runtime: 102 minutes

Directed by: Peter MacDonald

Starring: Sly, Richard Crenna, Marc de Jonge, Spyros Fokas, Sasson Gabai

From: Carolco

Featuring RAVE GLOW STICKS.

I might as well follow up a viewing of First Blood Part II with this motion picture... I'll revisit the 2008 Rambo soon before Last Blood comes out but for now, a movie that was out of date by the time it was released in 1988 as perestroika was a thing and suddenly the Soviet Union was more friendly with the West... amazing that in recent years Russia became our enemy again.

I will not punish this movie for that or even the more egregious sin in hindsight of the entire thing being built around Rambo (and in general, America) helping the Mujahideen in their fight against invading Soviet forces, which of course was based on real life and of course years later that really bit America in the ass. This movie really praises the Afghan people and I am sure most of them are very nice and all, but prophetic were the words spoken about how tough they are and are impossible to conquer in war... the United States found that out in the 21st century.

Anyhow, Richard Crenna (and it was nice seeing him have a more substantial role in this installment) asks Rambo to go on a secret mission with him, but he refuses... of course he does a 180 once Colonel Trautman is captured, so he teams up with the Afghan people to free him from being imprisoned by the brutal leader of a stronghold. The bad guys are stereotypical louts but aren't terribly memorable and thus come off as stereotypical. This also dives into mawkish sentimentality as a boy who is like 13 is a soldier and wants to team up with Rambo.

This is even sillier than Part II and isn't as memorable either, but I'll still say this was fine. Even with the production problems that included many of the crew getting fired (original director Russell Mulcahy one of those who got canned) I will still say that this is still fine, due to the jingoistic entertainment this provided... and oh yeah, many SOB's being killed, some in gleefully over the top ways. There were things that made me laugh, such as Rambo getting glow sticks as one of the weapons he gets to carry and not even the character seemed to know what their purpose was-they did either light up a dark area or serve as a distraction-yet I am not surprised that the series took a rest for 20 years. The budget was a then-astronomical sum of 60 million dollars and I could not imagine Rambo in the 1990's.