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Rambo III

Rambo III

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: This Time It's For A Friend
Review: "What do you say John?"
"*u*k'em." - Rambo tells Colonel Trautman how he feels about the Russian Army, & terrorism in general in "Rambo III"

The first was in defense. The second was for redemption. And "Rambo III" is about the honor of loyalty toward friends & mentors.

A decent final entry in the "Rambo" Trilogy, but, its funny how things change over the years. Look upon this action film as just that and you shouldn't have any problems.

After Rambo declines an offer to help his former CO, Colonel Sam Trautman, in a mission to help middle-eastern "rebels" in their fight against the Russian Army, the Vietnam Vet. is forced back into action after Trautman is captured by Russian forces.

"Rambo III" is easily the weakest of the three films. The dialogue is stilted. The scene where Trautman explains to Rambo that he will always be a warrior is a howl (especially the reference to the sculpture and the artist). There is a bit of goofy one-line humor from Rambo that doesn't really work (lines like "I fired a few shots." are like lead bombs). The cave sequence had a been there done that feel. "Rambo III" was released for the Memorial Day weekend of 1988 & by this time the industry had been saturated with films inspired by or similar to the first 2 "Rambo" films.

The S.E. DVD is worth a look at for the interesting featurettes, including "A Land In Crisis". Trailers and the usual special edition items are also included.

As for "Rambo IV"? It would be interesting to see Rambo go back and kick a.s.s. against his former muslim buddies, but, don't hold your breath. Stallone is creeping up there in age and in this post 9/11 atmosphere any film that could offend any Muslim, putting them in a bad light (like as if they don't deserve it) has a snowballs chance in hell of getting made into a feature. Just ask Bruce Willis where "Die Hard IV" is.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: GARBAGE..
Review: "FIRST BLOOD", based on David Morrell's book, is already a classic, well conducted and convinvent. But after that, the John Rambo character acquired a life of his own in the hands of Hollywood, and the sequels RAmbo II and III sucks, showing Stallone at the lowest level of interpretation an acting and screenplay of his career. Avoid it!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: "USA! USA! USA!" - (c) Homer Simpson
Review: A very interesting movie about the true American patriot who helps to good Taliban people (also known as Al Queda people at the head with Osama Bin Laden) to fight against bad Russian barbarians. Just imagine that terrible things could happen today if Russians would defeated these peaceful Afgan people in 80's... However the history was gracious. So, bad Russianswere banished from Afghanistan, and good Taliban people were fully allowed to do that they were wanted to do. They got the money, they go the power and they got the time to prepare their plans. Should we say "thanks" to CIA and personally to Rambo for all that they did to Taliban, for all that they did to Al Queda, and for all that they did to USA??? Do you really think so?.. I didn't set any inverted commas in my review above. Hope you will be able to do this yourself, use your brain when you read my review above. Be like a human but not just like Homer Simpson. USA??? USA??? USA?..

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Perfectly illustrates the shortsightedness of the right
Review: As pure mindless cheese, the movie is good. As an illustration of how stupid and consistently WRONG the Neoconservative movement is, this film is a bona-fide classic. Hey, I have an idea for a movie! In Rambo IV, our hero, with the help of his "great friends" the Saudis and the Pakistanis, liberates the country of Iraq from the evil clutches of Saddam Hussein, then single handidly defeats the insurgency and gives the Iraqis a Jeffersonian democracy. We can watch that movie 15 years from now and see how it turns out.

Being wrong and stupid is one thing. Continuing to be wrong and stupid is unforgivable.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Best of it kind !
Review: Best of it kind in the weard fealds of propaganda warfear . I think it is " out of stock " for the next few years .
Pure , pure " freadom fighters " whom we trained and supported ... watching the blue sky ... waiting for freadom ...
TODAY : same " freadom fighters " whom we trained and supported... watching the amty blue sky on the place , were WTC use to stay , including the souls of thouthands of innocent people .
The best example of government using Holliwood in brainwashing sistem .

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: No thanks from the women of Afghanistan
Review: Big disappointment after the great Rambo ll. No thanks from the women of Afghanistan to Rambo for helping the Taliban take over! I was especially disappointed by the scene where Rambo gave the necklace to the little Al Quaeda kid. He got it from the dying Vietnamese female soldier in the previous movie, after he promised he'd never forget her! After she had saved his life helping free the American POWs! How soon he forgot! There are many reasons to hate "Rambo lll" but I think this one is the most memorable for me. Shortly after this movie was filmed, the Soviet Union retreated and Afghanistan fell to the same jihadists our troops are fighting there now. Afghan women have been liberated by the American troops after Rambo helped enslave them! Ironic, isn't it? I only wish Rambo would go back in a new movie and help revenge us for 9-11.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The worst
Review: Don't get me wrong, I like bad movies. I watch all the Freedy Krugers, and Dumb and Dumber, Ace Venturas, Tromas, ect. But this one is awful. The worst! Especially to see it now! You expect to see Bin Laden show up to shake Rambo's hand. Now that we know that Rambo and Trautman put el Quaida and the Taliban in power, I generally root for the Russians! Yes, it's that BAD! And the worse part is, it's true, America did do this, and now our guys are back there fighting the same evil that faced the Russian boys. Will Rambo go back?

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Revisionist Historians Beware
Review: First up, this is not a very good movie. However, those who apply current context to the politics of the film (as most reviewers seem to be doing) are missing the point. Back when this film was made, America (the CIA) was sponsoring the Taliban resistance to the Soviet occupation. They didn't care that the Taliban were bloodthirsty troglodytes. It only mattered that they were contributing to the military-industrial collapse of the Soviet Union (and thus winning the Cold War). Atrocities be damned, this was one for the Gipper. In a perfect world there would be a Rambo equivalent in Russian cinema who goes to Iraq to help the insurgency battle the American infadels.

At any rate, in context the film is only marginally successful. It is well made and features several tense action sequences. The dialog is (and was at the time) Reagan-era tripe. If you check your brain at the door you might find this a reasonable 100 minute diversion.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Trilogy We Should Be Ashamed Of
Review: Guilty pleasure. Two words that describe the Rambo trilogy. Who can't enjoy Sylvester Stallone's gigantic larger-than-life Vietnam veteran. He destroys everything and sight and can survive through huge battles. If you're sick of the same old Van Damme or Seagal movies, watch this one. Rambo travels to Afghanistan and saves a ton of people. Too bad Stallone isn't around anymore making movies like this.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: This time Rambo goes to the Soviet Union's "Vietnam"
Review: 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.


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