From now on, the series gets really stupid. The introduction to this film in particular has been parodied dozens of times, and not without reason. John Rambo is no longer a character here, but a caricature. In the lead role, Sylvester Stallone also appears to be bored. In Tango & Cash, which was released a year later, he himself says, "Rambo is a pussy." And who knows, besides the weak financial results, there might be other reasons why the fourth one took way longer.

Anyway, at the beginning of Rambo III, our protagonist lives in a Thai monastery. He also keeps in shape by participating in stick fights. Stallone doesn't have an ounce of body fat here. He is shredded and looks like a machine. But the peaceful life doesn't stick. Rambo at first refuses a request from his former superior, Colonel Trautman, to accompany him on a mission to Afghanistan. But when Trautman is taken prisoner, that is it for Rambo's retirement.

The antagonists this time are the Russians, who still have control over Afghanistan. Rambo is supported by the mujahideen, who are presented as honorable and proud fighters for freedom. It should be clear to everyone that all of this has not aged well from today's perspective. However, I still find it fascinating to watch films like The Living Daylights or Rambo III that are set in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

In any case, the action starts in Afghanistan at some point, even if it takes quite a while. The tempo, however, is extremely slow. To make matters worse, the dialogue is all hollow and unintentionally funny. It's not all entertaining. The villains are even more faceless than in Part 2.

But now back to the positive: The action is convincing once again. At the time of its release, "Rambo III" was the most expensive film of all time, and it shows. In the finale, there are numerous bombastic explosions. Pyrotechnics are used again and again. In addition, masses of extras are employed. And the stuntmen probably had to work overtime. It's all of high quality and leaves you in the end with a good feeling from the finale of this original trilogy.

_**Rambo goes to Afghanistan to fight Russians**_

Living at a Buddhist temple in Thailand as a handy man, Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is offered a mission by Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna) to go to Afghanistan to assist Afghans against the Soviets. He goes only to rescue someone dear to him. The cast includes Sasson Gabai as Rambo’s sidekick Mousa; Spyros Fokas as wise Afghan Masoud; and Marc de Jonge as Soviet Col. Zaysen.

“Rambo III” (1988) contains what you would want from a Rambo flick: A muscular protagonist, a one-man-army scenario, a noble cause and loads of action. It also has a quality cast, fabulous locations and a good score.

Playing like a Conan the Barbarian adventure set in the modern day, it has a comic book vibe like the previous film, but not as bad. Everything works for an action/adventure flick until the last 15 minutes when it’s burdened by one too many action scenes. The strange thing about movie action is that too much of it becomes boring. That’s the case here with the final act.

Just so there’s no misunderstanding, Rambo was NOT fighting for what became the Taliban. Rambo Meets a man named Masoud, the wise leader of the Mujahadeen who are fighting the Soviets. This character was named after a notable Mujahadeen commander of the Northern Alliance, Ahmad Shah Massoud, who fought against both the Taliban & Al Qaeda. Massoud warned the Euro leaders about Bin Laden and was assassinated by Al Qaeda on September 9, 2001, two days before the September 11th Attack.

My ranking of the Rambo movies is as follows: First Blood, Rambo IV, Last Blood, Rambo III and Rambo II. Only the first two are great, but the other three have their points of interest for action/adventure fans.

The film runs 1 hour, 42 minutes, and was shot in Chiang Mai, Thailand; Arizona; and Israel.

GRADE: B-/C+

"What is it." - "Blue light" - "And what does it do?" - "It turns blue"

At least in Germany this is one of the best known movie quotes that even people know who have never seen any of the movies in this movie series. After the excellent "First Blood" (10/10) and the rather disastrous sequel "Rambo - First Blood Part 2" (4/10), we get third installment "Rambo III", in which John Rambo has retired in Thailand, living peacefully among monks. However, when his former commander gets captured and his fate is left to him, Rambo decides to get active once more. He travels to Afghanistan and is aided by Afghan Mujahideen (i.e. people engaged in Jihad) who during the time of the cold war where of course supported by the U.S. army in their fight against the invading Russians under their communist regime.

Different to the last movie, this one is really good once again, even though in general there are a few parallels to the last movie: Rambo has to meet up with his contact, find a prison camp, sneak in, and get out the prisoner, which does not work right from the beginning, so he has to return, fight some more enemies until he can safe the prisoners. However, this time it's really captivating. The plot is sound, there aren't many plot holes, the action good, and not as overdone as in Part 2 - even though it's probably more. The enemy is interesting as well, and not as stupid as in the last movie. We also get some thrilling sneak and hide scenes, and a lot clever usages of blue light :D They are also hopelessly outnumbered, take some hits. Yet the body count is probably equally high as in the predecessor, and there are a number of rather innovative killing scenes that are really fun to watch.

Plus we also get some decent tag alongs that can actually pull their weight, have more personality and that actually have some chemistry with Rambo. So to me, while it cannot get near to the first movie in any way, it is still a solid, fun to watch and also fun to re-watch typical action movie that is captivating and never boring. Even though its a 102 minutes long time really passes by - something I could not say about the second installment that over long parts was boring and where I was often looking at the blu-ray counter to see how long it would still last.

And thankfully there wasn't yet another bad attempt to copy the ingenious monologue scene from the end of the first movie. Instead we get a text card just before the credits roll in:

> "This film is dedicated to the gallant people of Afghanistan"

For today's standards this seems rather awkward, but keep remembering: It where other times back then.

The expression "flogging a dead horse" comes to mind with this unnecessary and unremarkable trequel. This time our reclusive, eponymous, hero (Sylvester Stallone) has to relocate from idyllic Thailand to war-torn Afghanistan - amidst the Soviet invasion! Why? Well his erstwhile CO "Trautman" (Richard Crenna) has managed to get himself captured whilst leading a covert operation to supply some tribal rebels. "Rambo" has to get his skates on, though, because Uncle Sam is denying all knowledge of this clandestine operation and chances are that the prisoner won't last very long under the tender mercies of "Zaysen" (Marc de Jonge - presumably, Steven Berkoff was busy?). There is plenty of traditional action, loads of pyrotechnics and firefights but the plot is predictable - almost propagandist; the dialogue really rather banal and the whole thing seems to be little more than a stop-gap enterprise to keep the franchise momentum going while Stallone and the team concoct something more substantial for the next outing. It's not unwatchable, but it's pretty forgettable afterwards.