1 out of 5

Director: Peter McDonald

“The most expensive film ever at the time of release,” and owner of the highest film body-count for quite some time.  Should be an indication of the direction they took for Rambo III.  Which, to be fair, is a sensible ramp up from II, which followed the same “it’s not my war” routine for its first half before inserting John J, into scenes with expendable sets and explosions from which he can leap away.  The difference, though, is that there was some semblance of character left in part II, whereas III ditches it after getting Rambo into battle in favor of one-liners and an endless battle that, admittedly, gets a little tiresome.  So J.J. is hangin’ out in a Buddhist camp, done with war, when Trautman stops by to invite him on another mystery mission.  But the war’s over for Rambo… until Trautman is kidnapped by some dastardly Russians.  Some local Afghani peoples will help Rambo stand up against the military invaders, but they need to wait for reinforcements.  Rambo, however, cannot wait, and so it’s a one man show.  Now this is all standard action movie logic, and it suffices.  Credit again to the pacing, which waits quite a while before blowing things up.  And Peter McDonald doesn’t quite have as much class as George P. did with handling part 2, but the film is done in a totally competent, followable fashion, and he handles the big budget and sets really well – the helicopter stunts and large ensemble battles are impressive, they just happen too frequently.  Because while overkill might be in Rambo’s blood, letting it rattle on so much non-stop gets boring.  Rambo’s in the jail, out of the jail, back in, back out, in a cave, out of a cave, back to the fight, and etc. and etc. and let’s ram a tank into a ‘copter.  Is it fun?  Sure.  And in a different context it’d get more of a pass.  But as an addition to the character and world of Rambo, the jokes and lack of anger at ‘the man’ just don’t match, so the rating is meant to reflect how it sits in the series.