Rambo III Review (1988)

A worthy sequel

Rambo III is something that I have a lot to say about. Let me start by having a good old moan about the title. Why is it Rambo III? We didn't have a Rambo II, did we? Am I missing something? Lets check, we had "First Blood" then came "Rambo: First Blood Part II" and now we are on "Rambo III" so what the hell happened to Rambo II? Ah well I guess its lost forever. Onto the review.

Rambo III opens with John Rambo living out a life of loneliness and violence in a unspecified Asian country when his old commanding officer Colonel Trautman (played again by Richard Crenna and for the last time) pays him a visit. I like how John has this time tried to at least better his life, he isn't all about war this time, he isn't trying to get back into the war fighting business. Rambo is helping monks build their new monastery and even when Trautman comes to Rambo in an attempt to get him to help fight in Afghanistan, he doesn't want to be part of this business anymore, "I put in my time" and "My war is over" are some of the most powerful lines in this film. Rambo is a changed man. I like that.
From the moment this film starts the script is so much better than the film that preceded it. We again get depth with Rambo, and his attempt to, as Trautman put it "Come full circle" and even though we all know Rambo will eventually end up putting on his bandanna and firing a machine gun, its nice to show that the writers and director understand Rambo and know that he wouldn't want to fight anymore.

Back in the action

Trautman of course goes to Afghanistan on his own and is captured by the Soviets that are over there. This situation instead forces Rambo to go behind enemy lines to save the only man he has ever been able to call a friend.
We then move on to Trautman being interrogated by the Soviets and its awesome to see Trautman actually being part of the action for once. Rambo journeys across the deserts of Afghan with his adviser before slowly slinking into enemy territory in his hunt for Colonel Trautman. With Rambo being spotted by enemy militia and helicopters, its not long before things start to go wrong and a simple rescue attempt turns into an all out war with the Soviets.

Trautman and Rambo in action

What I really like about this third instalment is that it takes its time. We open with a great fight scene with John stick fighting with a native before we take the slow approach of having John carefully plan his attacks and rescue with the local rebels. Rambo doesn't go into all out war straight away and he is actually quite methodical in terms of the way he goes about things. The director of this film Peter Macdonald understood that it was the slow burn of "First Blood" that made it so good once the action actually got going, we spend time with our hero before all the bloodshed begins. However I am not going to act as though this movie is anything more than another mindless action flick because it isn't, and all you have to do is watch the films climax to understand that. For whatever reason though, I do really enjoy Rambo III, it has more depth than the second one, we get a more legitimate reason for Rambo actually going back to war this time and overall we actually do come full circle, as Trautman suggests to Rambo in the opening.
I also really enjoyed the acting in this film, Stallone gives a great performance as Rambo that although not on par with his "First Blood" performance is actually rather good. Richard Crenna turns in another credible job as the always lovable Colonel Trautman and its sad to see that this is his last performance in the role even though we still have another movie in this franchise to get through.

The absurd end sequence

My final comments on this film is that although still not as good as the original film, this one is miles ahead of "First Blood: Part II" in almost every way. This time we feel as though Rambo should be going back to fight, and the story is actually more of a sequel to "First Blood" with Trautman saving Rambo in the first part, Rambo repays the favour by saving his old mentor. A lot of comments on this film focus on the anti-communism themes, with the Russians again being portrayed as the big bad, however I don't think it is as noticeable as some people like to point out, and like Stallone's other film in which anti-communism is a theme (Rocky IV) it just adds to the nostalgia each time you sit down and watch it. I might not love Rambo III but I find it hard not to recommend it, simply because it is also a rather good action film itself despite the over the top climax. Well that's 3 down and now onto the reboot/sequel/why is it called Rambo again?