Rambo III is the final entry into the Rambo series of films, and in this reviewers opinion, it's the weakest. It opens up with Rambo in a Buddhist monastery, living a life of peace and tranquility, Oh wow, great way to open a lads movie, before he's tracked down by Colonol Troutman, who asks him to join him on one last mission. He refuses, but when the Colonel is captured by the Russians, Rambo gives up peace for the sake of his friend.

So why is it that Rambo 3 is the weakest of the series, when it follows the formula to a T? I mean we have Rambo, running around getting into cartoonish action scenes, which are being taken very seriously, and blowing up a heck of a lot of stuff. We have bad directing, bad acting and bad storytelling, the things that have made the series up to this point. Unfortunately what is missing is a jungle, the deserts of Russia may have made a political comment back when he film was released, but it doesn't change the fact that the deserts don't carry an ounce of the atmosphere that the jungles of Vietnam did.

As a result it makes the action scenes a little more dull, forcing you to put up with the bad acting. Stallone is somehow even worse than he was in 2, having the same drawl for a voice, but now not even having the screen presence to pull it off. Richard Crenna doesn't even come close to convincing us that he's this tortured prisoner of war, nor this determined hero, refusing to give in. Besides which the Russians who captured him were so ridiculously 2 dimensional that they were more laughable than scary.

Yes, in case you were wondering the patriotism is ever in force. Rambo does it for his friend this time, but his friend is doing it for his country. It's a little tamer this time though, because it was making a statement on Afghanistan, and recognized America's mistakes in Vietnam. However Rambo is still the lone American super soldier, so the Patriotism is still there under the surface.

Even the series infamous action seemed a little less than before. Maybe it's just my imagination, and maybe it's the new setting, but I do not recall any truly great explosions in Rambo 3, just the occasional shoot out, and very dumb finale. Still, had it been set in the jungle I would have rated it a little higher, whatever the action was like, but set in the desert and everything is just dull.

This has been my entry into the Lean-N-Mean write-off.

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD