Rambo 3 (1988)

"Who are you."- "Your worst nightmare."

In the third part of the Rambo quadrilogy we find our hero at a Buddhist monastery living a life of peace and serenity, closed off from the outside world for several years . Once again Rambo is met by Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna) with an offer to assist him and a crew of soldiers in aiding relief in Afghanistan from a Russian dictator. Rambo denies and the colonel and his crew go into Afghanistan and are captured by the Russians and labeled as spies and held as POWS. Now in the past Rambo has been saved by the colonel numerous times, now the role is reversed, Rambo has no choice but to do what he does best... become war. He travels to Afghanistan and is aided by locals in the search and capture of his missing friend.

While "Rambo III" is the weakest of the four films it is still an outstanding action film. It is a story of two friends and the lengths they will go to save one another. The main villain is a little corny but most are in this genre. It was nice to see the roles reversed between Stallone and Crenna and the two played well together. "Rambo III" is full of outrageous stunts, explosions, and dialog. But all and all a memorable action film. I will leave "Rambo", the fourth film in the series to Andy. I cannot wait for that review either. I hope he is as impressed with it as much as I was. So on that note "Rambo III"... worth watching. 3/5 -tom

SECOND OPINION

I just finished watching "Rambo 3" for the first time ever so I thought I'd pop on here give a couple of brief thoughts. For me, this was the most enjoyable Rambo film yet. Sure, it was pretty unbelievable but no more unbelievable than any other Rambo film or Ah-nuld movie from the 80s. It had twice as much action as "Rambo: First Blood Pt. 2", it moved along at a much better pace and there were tons of really cool explosions and kills. The reversal of Trautman and Rambo's roles in this one, I thought, made things really interesting and changed the dynamic to just the right degree. 3.5/5 -andy