Customer Reviews

Rambo III (Special Edition)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Rambo 3 is usually regarded as the weakest in the series. However, I love this film, simply because Stallone plays a borderline superhero better than anyone else. How many other men can combine such a powerful physical presense with so much force of character? While the real-life Stallone is certainly not as virtuous as Rambo, he is known to have incredible willpower and determination. These qualities dominate his portrayal of John Rambo.You look into this man's eyes and you simply cannot imagine him being small or petty. He is reminiscent of Harry Callahan in that regard. Whatever his limitations may be, his integrity and courage are beyond question. In addition, Stallone is so devoted to the discipline of bodybuilding that he has actually managed to create a distinctive look for this film. (As he has done on many other occassions for various movies.) Stallone is so powerfully built in Rambo 3 that he actually seems to belong in the rugged Middle Eastern desert environment.His range may be limited, as we saw in his 'comedy' films, but when he sticks to his forte, playing great heroes, Stallone is the greatest ever.
However, Rambo 3 has other good qualities besides Stallone. There are several great action sequences. The opening stick fight is brutal and effective. The helicopter attack on the Aphgan village is horrific and violent. Crenna's character seems to summon a warmth from Rambo that we do not often see. They work well together. The climactic battle is great. The villain is effective. This is a great action film. While the story may not be as interesting as the first or second entries in the series, it is outstanding in its own right. It is simply a bit more comic strip in nature. It is rather like an updated version of Captain America. This is not intended to be a realistic war movie.
The special features are also quite good. However, the movie is worth the money even if there were no extras. I wish Stallone would make more movies like this one.

It seems America needs the help of John Rambo one more time as he treks out to the rugged mountains of Afghanistan to save his friend. This movie is packed with action straight from the beginning until the end!

Starting off in the Orient where Rambo seeks to find inner peace by living with Buddhist monks and making some extra money by stick fighting locals. All is well until old pal, Col. Trautman and his CIA friend show up to persuade John to help them funnel arms to the Afghan freedom fighters, (who at the time were fighting the Red army). Rambo quickly declines the offer (Even after seeing some persuading pictures of maimed Afghan children) claiming his war is over.

Dissapointed, Col. Trautman leaves on a solo mission with a convoy of Afghan and American fighters to end up being caught by a ruthless Russian commander who tortures him, and Afghan men and women prisoners day and night.

Rambo learns of the news and now is forced to back to the war he didn't want to fight to save his friend. Along the way, he makes Afghan friends and saves the day by almost single handedly taking out a whole Russian battalion including Spetnaz commandos.

The story is straight out of a comic book, but this movie was made to please one market. Die-Hard Action fans like me who just love to see a one man army take on overwhelming odds, kick enormous butt, and live to tell about it.

On a Sidenote:

In the end of the movie, a message gives thanks to: "The Gallant People of Afghanistan." Which is the least the makers of this film could do since during the whole movie, Rambo is depicted as the man who turned the tide. Anyone who doesn't know yet, the Afghan/Russian war was solely fought with Afghan blood, but with our gold.

In ways Afghans and Rambo are alike. Both were given covert help by the CIA, both were lied to, and both were left to die. Now again USA is helping Afghan freedom fighters to topple the evil Taleban and Al Qaeda, but this time they want in the action.

Rumours of Rambo IV are everywhere and there are claims that Stallone is writing a screenplay as we speak. If it's true, let's hope this trilogy wraps up with a bang!

John Rambo is once again caught up in the world of War and death as he comes out of 'retirement' to rescue his long time friend Colonel Trautmen from the Russians in Afghanistan.

This explosive action movie brings back Sylvester Stallone as the grunting, no-smiles, super buff, near indestructible, one-man army guy, John Rambo. With a vast array of weaponry (some I'm sure he pulls out of nowhere), helicopter gunships, tanks, his trustee Rambo bowie knife, and funny one liners, he will win this war, even if he has to kill everyone to prove it. This is great for a high-action, no brainer night of fun with the mates. RECOMMENDED!!!

I thought Rambo II was better than Rambo I, and I didn't think the writers/directers, etc. could top Rambo II. Rambo III is different because the war is in Afghanistan against the Russians instead of Vietnam. Still, it was terrific. John Rambo's character is even more mature, yet still hasn't come "full circle" as his former commanding officer tells him. This one has lots of action, enough fighting to keep guys interested and enough relational themes to keep gals happy -- not to mention that Sly actually looks even better in Rambo III than in Rambo II. I didn't think that was possible. Ladies, if you like Stallone and haven't seen this one, your life is about to get better! Order it today! Keep a drool bag handy.

Having been betrayed by his government a couple of times too often, John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) needed a better motive to leap back into action for "Rambo III." This is provided when Colonel Samuel Trautman (Richard Crenna) goes off to Afghanistan to help the Mujahedeen rebels fight the Soviet invaders only to be captured by Colonel Zaysen (Marc de Jonge). Rambo, who had refused to go with Trautman because he is in Thailand becoming a Buddhist, now heads for Afghanistan on an unauthorized rescue mission.

"Rambo III" has the formula down, which is a way of saying the plot is totally predictable and an excuse for a whole lot of explosions. Rambo is the most buffed up Buddhist the world has ever seen and I have a minor theory that he has the whole Sampson thing going with his hair getting longer in each movie. This 1988 film was not only the most expensive film ever made when it was released (a whopping $63 million in those pre-"Titanic" days), but made it into the "Guiness Book of World Records" as the most violent film ever made with a grand total of 221 acts of violence and over 108 deaths (it must be the former number that is important because a whole lot of nukes go off at the end of "Dr. Strangelove" and the entire planet exploded at the end of "Beneath the Planet of the Apes").

Once again, the political dimensions of a "Rambo" film came into play, with the series shifting to Afghanistan, which was being called the Soviet Union's Vietnam, a metaphor that actually turned out to be more than wishful thinking. True, the Mujahedeen of yesterday became the Taliban down the road, but I still remember when the American public applauded the idea that the Shah of Iran had been deposed and replaced by the Ayatollah Khomeni. But in 1988 "Rambo III" was considered an exercise in freedom fighting and the Soviet Union was still the Evil Empire.

The obvious analog to "Rambo III" is "Rocky IV," in which Stallone continues to explore American-Soviet relationships. However, today "Rambo III" has been stripped of its politics and reduced to a non-stop action film. If there was some creativity to go along with the violence, as in the forest sequence in the original "First Blood," then this film would be able to rise about the level of cartoon violence, but that is not the case.

Whatever credibility Rambo once had in First Blood is totally gone in this film which is more like Cold War propaganda than anything else, which is probably why they chopped First Blood off the title and we're simply left with the Rambo bit. As a character he's a bit more talkative but still has the...(read more) same sadness in his eyes. And Stallone is absolutely HUGE. Yes, he's always been big but his figure in Rambo III is probably the biggest I've seen him. He could probably rip Arnie's head off.

Since walking off into the sunset in Part II, Rambo is now living in a monastery in Thailand and has found inner peace. But he still takes time out to batter people with sticks in cage fights to raise money for the Buddists. But the no-good Red Ruskie Soviets are causing havoc in Afghanistan and one particular Colonel is taking great pleasure in massacring whole villages.

Colonel Trautman and Robert Griggs (the ever-brilliant Kurtwood Smith) try to convince Rambo to come help them sort the Ruskies out. But Rambo is having done of it. He's done killing! He wants to raise a family.

So Trautman is left to go it alone and is captured. Griggs delivers this bad news to Rambo who makes up his mind to go on another killing spree. Which is entirely okay as long as he only kills the Ruskies right?

Once in Afghanistan, Rambo teams up the Muhujideen, learns of their many woes and agrees to fight the Ruskies with all his might. Even though he was going to do that anyway, but it's nice to have friends.

The rest of the film is no more than a succession of comic-book action scenes and shoot-em-up set pieces. It's brilliantly shot, seriously, it's some of the best cinematography I've seen in an action film. I never expected Rambo III to look so good! It's a shame that Peter MacDonald (who was actually the second unit director shunted into 1st place after Russell Mulcahy left) doesn't stage the action with any sense of fluency. Yes, it all looks big and bold, but it's kinda clumsy and cumbersome. At the time, it was the most expensive movie ever made (even at a mere $65 million) and while it may be grand, it sure ain't graceful.

Jerry Goldsmith's score is once again brilliant. But quite a lot of his original material was left out and old tracks from Part II spliced in. So as long as your prepared for sudden jump cuts in the music, you should really get a kick out of it.

When it originally came out, Rambo III was kinda disregarded as a totally unnecessary sequel but in recent years the film has gained a political subtext and can actually be viewed in quite a few subversive ways. While I understand that the makers wanted to give the film a serious point of view regarding the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, I feel that integrity that the film has in modern politics should be disregarded. This is a RAMBO movie for Christ sake. The logic is shoot now, ask questions never. America did do the right thing by helping the Afghans fight off the Ruskies. But they did they wrong thing leaving the country to crumble afterwards (just like Rambo does). The rest is history. But I don't think a review of Rambo III is the best place to discuss this.

It's a flawed sequel, but I like it better than Part II. There are some seriously misjudged moments but it's still a fun ride. Once the victim of the most amount of cuts forced by the tyrannical BBFC the violence in Rambo III pales in comparison to the shocking carnage of the fourth film.

Filmed in JDC-Scope, the Blu Ray features a fine 2.4:1 1080p transfer and good DTS HD sound. Extras are limited to a trivia track and an interesting documentary on the history of Afghanistan.

While I'm not a big fan of the two sequels to "First Blood," I do believe that "Rambo III" is a better film than "Rambo: First Blood Part II." I do not criticize it for its historical awkwardness-one must judge the movie from when it was made and not by all of the things that have happened since that time. Simply put, in the last film Rambo fought the country of Vietnam and the Russians. In this film, he takes on the Russians in Afghanistan. The action is better in this film than the previous one and I was more entertained. Aside from the action aspects, however, the dialogue is even more pathetic than the second one. This is, of course, with the exception of the monologue one of the Afghanistan rebels makes. But the dialogue has been minimized in this film to a ridiculous level-there is hardly any talking at all. That's okay, however. All I really wanted to see was Rambo and that big knife anyhow.

I was also interested in the final stage of character development the writers tried to pull off in the first couple of minutes. Trautman tries to convince Rambo that he is nothing more than a fighting machine-a killer. One would think, or hope, that John's mentor would have higher hopes for him. Instead, he reduces Rambo to nothing more than a killing machine. Sure, he's a character that overcomes oppression to bring brutal justice to thousands. But he is still nothing more than a killing machine.

This movie serves as an excellent coda for argueably the most well known action series of all time. In its day, it was the most expensive movie ever made(1988). You can see every bit of the cost on the screen. An excellent overall stimulant for the senses. Although not an Oscar contender, this movie entertains as well as informs about the war in Afghanistan.

First of all this movie is not pro-Taliban or pro-Al Qaeda
many people on here hate on this movie because Rambo joins the "Taliban"... This is very laughable because those people were Mujahadeens if you didnt know there are 3 different ethnic groups in Afghanistan Tajiks(Who were in the movie) Hazaras(Mongoloid people) and Pashtoons(Talibans) these people in here assume that just because u are an afghan trying to defend ur country against the russians you are a "terrorist" or "taliban" its also funny because this movie was set in the 1980's Taliban wasnt even formed until the 1990's. JUST SHOWS HOW STUPID SOME PEOPLE ARE. AND HOW IGNORANT! SHAME ON YOU!

this movie is awesome. it has non stop action from start to finish.
Rambo fans will not be disapointed. Rambo is a true man of honor and integrity.