Rambo III

• Directed by Peter MacDonald
• May 25, 1988 (US)

Rambo must rescue Col. Trautman from a Soviet Army colonel while helping a local band of friendly mujahideen fight Russian forces trying to destroy their village.

…Or…

Having won the war in Vietnam after restarting hostilities and retired comfortably to a Buddhist monastery, Rambo is once again called back into action. This time he must defeat the Russians in Afghanistan along with the friendly and very democratic mujahedin.

In light of roughly 35 or so years of history between the release of this and now it’s easy to mock many elements in Rambo III. Time and tide has a way of doing that. But given the political climate of the time it wasn’t so silly. The enemy of our enemy was our friend then. Anywho…

What sets this apart from the last one or even the first one is that Trautman (Richard Crenna) gets in on the action rather than staying behind and trying to hold back (one of) the aggressor(s) from Rambo. It becomes more of a buddy action film than a solo Rambo movie. But that’s towards the tail end with Trautman spending much of the movie as a prisoner of Soviet forces while uttering menacing lines about Rambo. 

Trautman finds himself in that particular predicament after he and Clarence Boddicker playing Robert Griggs (Kurtwood Smith) try to recruit Rambo for a mission into Afghanistan. Rambo for his part would rather stick fight and work on a monastery in Bangkok.

Troutman gets caught, and with the aid of Kurtwood Smith, Rambo goes unofficially into Afghanistan rather easily. Like a casual jaunt to the store. But with more sand and perspiration. And once again Rambo faces off against a crazy Soviet officer who is evil to be evil seeking to stop the decadent West. The usual Soviet stuff.

But this does not stop our PTSD suffering from yet awesome Rambo from making pals. While Rambo is a soldier at heart, he’s also a pretty good guy who can bond with anybody by embracing their culture. He does just that by playing some weird game with a goat carcass in Afghanistan. I have no idea if it’s a real game or not but if you forget that they’re playing with a goat carcass it actually becomes kind of cute in the movie. Weird but cute. 

This is just a big and dumb yet very fun. With a smattering of guns and a helicopter and a tank as well as a trusted friend by his side, Rambo is able to take on the might of the Soviet military in a small area of Afghanistan and not only get out alive but handily defeat them to the point he can simply casually walk away from it all. 

This is one of those things that is a very good look into the mind and attitude of the United States during this particular slice of history. It’s the summation of the psychology of us as a nation and the attitude of how not only how democracy would defeat communism, but that one man could make a difference against impossible odds.

The film makes some token commentary about Vietnam along with heavy doses of framing the Afghan people as being tormented by the Soviets. They’re just a bunch of innocent and peaceful people who if they were just left alone would kumbaya with the world and embrace democracy. There is absolutely nothing subtle about how they handle any of it.

When you think about the events of the story they make no sense, but this is an action film propelled by testosterone and exciting stunts. It gets the adrenaline pumping. You can’t quite duplicate on a computer a fire ball. You can come close, but there’s something about it that a computer just can’t quite get that makes a real one so much better. Anybody who reads my blog with any regularity knows I love practical effects. There’s a time and place for CGI but not so much for action scenes. 

As a story there is nothing that differentiates it too much from a dozen or so other action films from the time. Other than Sylvester Stallone of course. And really that’s what sells it-Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo. A man with an unfailing moral compass and is of indomitable will who is a one-man army. And because of Stallone that gets sold to the audience easily making this whole ludicrous exercise go down smooth. And enjoyable. So very enjoyable.

Rambo III is good. Not great, but good. Much like its predecessor it dives headfirst into many of the action excesses that were hallmarks of the era. And those excesses were what made these movies special and, in some cases, superior to any action film you get today. They entertained and by the end no matter how dumb you may have thought it was you enjoyed yourself because you saw a lot of cool stuff in a fun movie. 

What strikes me is you don’t really need to have seen the first or second film to enjoy this movie. It’s a sequel but not a sequel whose plot is directly tied to understanding anything that came before. You get a recap of any past events that are necessary for discussion, but even if you never got them you would not be lost. It is a story unto itself. A definite lost art in movies. This is just another chapter in Rambo’s story and not part of an interconnected narrative.

Rambo III is a very entertaining movie in and of itself as well as a nice cap to the original trilogy. It has as many dumb explosions and great action scenes as any of the others. If you’re a fan of action movies you will certainly love this.