Rambo III (1988)

 

Maybe time will tell, but to date this is probably the one Rambo-exploit that aged the poorest. This has nothing to do with the action on display mind you, more with the kind of awkward love for Afghanistan that soured pretty soon afterwards with the Taliban and all that jazz. Also, by the time this film was made, the actual Russian invasion war was pretty much done and dusted and the trope of having evil Russians as the bad guys ran its course during the 80s. 

Maybe things will once again go this route in the 21st century, who knows? 

This all aside, it is a decent action film that is at times gloriously over the top, but it is less engaging than the second installment in the franchise. Maybe because it's slower with more dialogue and less Stallone just blowing stuff up? No, that's not it, this one just has a very unremarkable bad guy and thàt often leads to less investment. 

Rambo is tracked down by Colonel Trautman in Thailand of all places where he works at a monastery and engages in stickfighting. Trautman has a mission in Afghanistan and wants Rambo to join, but he refuses, stating his war is over. So Trautman goes at it alone and of course instantly gets captured by the Russian military.

Bit weird though, having trained the best fighting man there is and then getting captured like a putz. But if not, we wouldn't have a story.

Of course, once Rambo learns of this development, he races over to Afghanistan and meets up with the mujahedin there to free not only Trautman from the clutches of the evil commander Zaysen but also the people from the yoke of the Russian army. 

Yes, one man is going to end the conflict. Because of course he is. 

To be fair, it's a nice change of pace and Rambo feels a bit more human this time around. This is not just because Stallone has some more dialogue, but also because he can interact with Richard Crenna more, who now has a much larger role than previously. There is also some room for levity here and there. Yet, all this character development makes this film feel somewhat padded and fairly slow in places. It doesn't really work all that well with the idea of John Rambo being a one-man-army. 

Two parts do stick out though. The opening stick fight is incredibly well choreographed and shot and is brutal as fudge. Then the film slows down quite a bit, but we get an immensely over the top carnagefest with the final battle, that is so filled with explosions and pretty much two men holding their own against an entire army, it is almost poetry. Silly poetry, absolutely, but still. 

If only the film had an actor like Steven Berkoff to play the evil Russian, it would have had more impact, but alas: Marc de Jonge is much too flat and nice in composure to be considered a threat. He should have gone more insane instead of what we got. 

Definitely not the best in the series, but it's passable enough for a good time if you're into this sort of thing.