Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

John Rambo - kind of like Jason Voorhees - is one of those movie icons that everyone knows even if they've never see one of the movies he comes from. Muscular, well oiled, shirtless, headband and RPG launcher (that's rocket propelled grenade, and not role playing game by the way), with a slack jawed sleepy inflection that sounds like he has a mouth full of marbles.

Rambo III is - well, up until last year at least - the last of the Rambo series. We open in Thailand, where Rambo is attempting to find peace by living with monks in a monastery and occasionally beating the living hell out of mooks in a back room of a bar in a psudo-fight club for some quick cash. It seems that Rambo has managed to put all the war and death behind him, finally coming to terms with his place in the world.

Being a Rambo film, this last about ten minutes.

It seems that things are getting rough in Afghanistan, so the US government sends Colonel Trautman and CIA agent Griggs (Kurtwood "Bitches Leave" Smith) to get Rambo's help in saving Afghan rebels from the Russians. However, as Rambo has already done enough for king and country, he respectfully declines.

And so, Trautman goes in alone - and when something goes wrong, the good Colonel is captured by the vicious Colonel Zaysen (the late great Marc de Jonge) and the evil ruskies. Now it's up to Rambo to do what his country is unable to do, go into Afghanistan, save the one man truly considers a friend and single handedly defeat the Evil Russian Empire. Much ass kicking ensues.

More often than not, the third film of a series is the point of diminishing returns, the event horizon where the suck factor becomes a singularity so dense that no entertainment can escape it's pull. Halloween III, Jaws 3D, Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors - just to name a few. Oh, sure there are exceptions to the rule - Goldfinger and Return of the Jedi off the top of my head - but more often than not, III is a death rattle for the series

Surprisingly, this is not the case for Rambo III. The story actually flows in a natural progression from one event to another instead of just being a list of bullet points on the daily call sheet for the special effects team. The dialogue seems natural, with Stallone and Crenna very at ease with their rolls, and the drama doesn't seem forced at all. It's not a perfect script - the metaphors are heavy-handed and we get a kid sidekick for Rambo (Action Movie Rule #9: any kids along for the journey must be spunky and irksome) - but it's solid enough for what it needs to be.

The action is still over the top and cartoony - the end climax especially stretches the suspenders of disbelief - but it’s all very well done. Director Peter MacDonald has a good eye for action, shooting the action at interesting angles and actually using the space (like the cat and mouse hunt in the massive caverns) logically and to great effect. More importantly he has the good sense not to glamorize the violence too much by showing us the aftermath and consequences of war.

It's interesting the direction that Stallone takes Rambo this time. We're still not talking master thespian levels here, but Sly plays him slower and quieter, with more conviction. Rambo is more introspective this time out, a trend we'd see continue in Rambo (and to a lesser degree in Rocky Balboa) as Sly learns to use his own age to his characters benefit instead of to their detriment.

More interesting is how dated the film is - and I don't mean that in a bad way, but more how much the politics have so completely done a 180 degree turnaround. The ones we see as the good guys - the Afghan Mujaheddin - would go on to form a militant terrorist group and become real life "Bad guys" while the Russians would soften and become our allies, AKA the "Good Guys". It's an interesting perspective switch in twenty years later in this whole post World Trade Center world we now live in. And actually, the extras on the disc address this issue REALLY well - but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Is Rambo III a good movie? No, not really - but it really is some great action entertainment. There are much worse ways - MANY, in fact - to waste two hours of your life.

BREASTS ON DISPLAY: 0 (unless you count Sly's 2)
EXPLOSIONS: 141
ROUNDS FIRED: 5,201 (and 56 arrows)
PUNCHES THROWN: 38
HANDRAIL DEATHS: 1
CAR CHASES: 0
FRUIT CARTS DESTROYED: 0
NINJA? No
F BOMBS DROPPED: 2
BEST LINE: " Now you see how it is here. Somewhere in the war there's supposed to be honor. Where's the honor here? Where?"
BEST DEATH: Rambo versus the Big Russian - Rambo wraps a length of rope around Ivan's neck several times, pulls the pins on the grenades on Ivan's chest and then kicks him into sinkhole cave opening where Ivan drops for 75 feet, is strangled by the rope and THEN blows up. Talk about overkill!

THE DVD -
Of thhe three films in the set, Rambo III looks the best, presented in a really nice anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen version. There's a small amount of dirt and damage here and there, but the film looks really nice. The colors are good and the blacks look solid. There's also a B-side to the DVD with a pan-and-scan version, but have some dignity!

I should point out however, that there appears to be a mastering error - and subtitles aren’t included for the Russian dialogue. While nothing here is so complex that you cant follow it (I think "Where is Rambo! WHERE!" translates pretty easily no matter what language you speak), you should be aware of the problem. I was fine, but others may not be.

THE EXTRAS -
There are several releases of this trilogy - the one I have is the Rambo Trilogy in a keen metal box, which as I understand it the superior version.

The Rambo III disc has a commentary track by director Peter MacDonald - and of the three tracks included in this set, this one is the most flaccid. There are some interesting behind the scenes stories, but these are punctuated by long gaps of silence. We get a couple of trailers, some production notes, cast and crew notes.

The last extra on the disc is probably the most interesting in the entire set, a documentary called Afghanistan: Land in Crisis. While it doesn't focus on the making of Rambo III at all, it does give you one of the best overviews on Afghanistan and the shifting political nature of the region I have ever seen, with interviews with experts on Afghani history. The documentary is fascinating stuff and amazing relevant in today's world - a refreshing change from the usual Electronic Press Kit extras where the cast stand around and pat themselves on the back for what a great film they made.

BOTTOM LINE -
You really have to feel for poor old Sly - the man can't seem to catch a break when it comes to movies. Unless the film has Rocky or Rambo and a roman numeral somewhere in the title, it just wont fly at the box office, no matter what he does. Okay, when you do movies like the lifeless Stop or my mom will shoot or the arm wrestling magnum opus Over the Top, it gets hard to defend my position.

That said, Rambo III is a really solid chapter in the series. Good action, realistic character development and some nice directing choices make this one of the strongest entries yet.

MY OTHER RAMBO REVIEWS:
* FIRST BLOOD
* RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II
* RAMBO III



Recommended: Yes

Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older