| Rambo III starts as U.S. army Colonel Trautman Richard Crena tracks the one man army that is John Rambo Sylvester Stallone down to Bankok in Thailand where he is living with Buddhist monks! Trautman & special ops man Griggs Kurtwood Smith ask Rombo to go into Afghanistan & help them take out an evil Russian named Zaysen Marc De Jonge , Rambo refuses their request. Trautman goes in alone but is captured by Zaysen & tortured, Griggs again turns to Rambo & informs him his friend Trautman has been captured. Rambo decides to go into Afghanistan himself, single handedly <more> rescue Trautman as well as blow lots of things up & kill a few Russians...The third Rambo film this had a few behind the scenes production problems including the original director Russell Mulcahy being fired & replaced by the original 2nd unit director Peter MacDonald, personally I think it's a terrific late 80's testosterone filled overblown big budget Hollywood action flick the likes of which we don't really see anymore. The script by star Sylvetser Stallone & Sheldon Lettich moves like an absolute rocket, it's action packed, it's incredibly violent & brutal, there's plenty of cheesy dialogue & a few amusing one liners, it's just so over-the-top & it even tries to say something poignant about war! Hell, what more do you want? I'm amazed at how low the score for this is on the IMDb as I think it provides fantastic no-brainer entertainment, it's the perfect film for a group of blokes to stick in the DVD player, gets some drinks & crisps & just sit back & enjoy, enjoy & enjoy on a Neanderthal level! The character's are alright, Rambo is totally indestructible while Zaysen is an OK villain. Those who like deep meaningful stories with complex character's & go queasy at the thought of any violent act then this is obviously not the film for you but for sheer fast moving, gun fighting, explosion destroying, helicopter crashing, tank driving, fist fighting mindless action entertainment they don't come come much better than Rambo III & it's as simple & straight forward as that.It's impossible to know just what was shot by who here but the film looks nice enough, the landscapes are a bit barren & bare at times but that's what the desert is like I suppose. The action is top notch, there's loads of explosions, things blowing up, fights, gun battles, all sorts of military weaponry & vehicles as well as a whole army of extras being killed in a variety of violent ways. Apparently the 1990 edition of the Guiness Book of Records had Rambo III listed as the most violent film ever made with 221 acts of violence & at least 108 deaths, amazing eh? To be honest it's hard to disagree as it is one very violent film & it's quite brutal as well, there's lots of gory gunshot wounds & some torture scenes as well. I must admit I didn't like the young boy being involved as much as he was or when he twirled Rambo's huge knife around in a cool almost glamorous way & at the end when he 'became' a fighter & the film almost seemed to condone this young boy fighting in a war, considering the way the world is at this moment in time it just sat uneasily with me that's all.With a budget of around the $65,000,000 mark Rambo III was the most expensive filmed ever made up to the point when it came out, it's well made with high production values & some spectacular action scenes although try to watch the DVD version as it's presented in full 2:35:1 widescreen & believe me that's the way it should be seen so you can see all of the on screen destruction. This won Stallone a Razzie award for worst actor & it was nominated for another four including worst director & worst film which is pure crap as this is a throughly entertaining flick although one must admit Stallone's performance isn't anything to shout about. I thought Kurtwood Smith was underused though.Rambo III may have a unfairly low IMDb rating but I think it's a fantastic big budget popcorn flick that moves like a rocket, has plenty of violent action & I've seen it numerous times with each time being just as enjoyable as the last. Definitely worth a watch for 80's action fans & it hands down beats any of the straight-to-video action crap the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme & Steven Seagal are churning out these days. I for one am looking forward to the fourth film in the Rambo series John Rambo 2008 which is currently in production with Stallone himself as director. <less> |
