Average Rating: 4.6/10
Reviews Counted: 28
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 18
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Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 2
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The third entry in the ultra-macho Rambo action movie series finds muscle-bound warrior John Rambo (co-writer and star Sylvester Stallone) refusing a request from his former Vietnam superior, Green Beret Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna). Trautman is to lead a mission to aid the mujahedeen rebels fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but the Buddhist Rambo turns his friend down. When the mission goes awry and Trautman is subsequently captured and tortured within a prison fortress, Rambo
R, 1 hr. 42 min.
Jun 1, 1988 Wide
Nov 23, 2004
Live Home Video
All Critics (28) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (11) | Rotten (18) | DVD (24)
Always at ground zero in the chaos is Rambo -- gloriously, inhumanly impervious to fear and danger -- whose character is inhabited by Stallone with messianic intensity.
Mr. Stallone has by now made Rambo parody-proof, since the character is every bit as laughable as he is grandiose; that's part of the fun.
Rambo may, in fact, have outlived his usefulness. His moment may have passed.
Stallone scripts the wall-to-wall explosions too haphazardly and unimaginatively.
Engages the plight of the Mujahideen with a humanizing, doc-like approach (fascinating to witness, all these years later, when the ally/enemy tables have turned so drastically).
Lacking the overall mojo of the first two
...an entertaining, sporadically electrifying piece of work that makes up in thrills what it lacks in relevance.
Strays slightly from the formula and therefore loses some of its mindless fun credentials.
A mindless and uninspired effort.
It's a very bad film, but now has an interesting element when viewed in retrospect -- Rambo goes to Afghanistan to fight with the Mujaheddin against the Soviets.
Saturday Morning Picture Club stuff, only dearer.
Real-life events have rendered this third Rambo adventure the most dated of the series. Still, though, it remains an exciting piece of hardcore action.
At least it helped inspire "Hot Shots Part Deux"
It's just the same crap.
Not any worse than the second, but I still say this series should have ended with the first.
Forget it, still another example of an unnecessary sequel.
More of the same...but boy it's cool!
Rambo III is a change of pace for the character of John Rambo. Instead of taking the fight in an urban environment or the jungles of Vietnam, Rambo brings his fight to the deserts of Afghanistan. As his former C.O Col Trautman gets captured by Russian forces fighting clans in Afghnistan. Rambo stops at nothing to save
May 9, 2011
Super Reviewer
I really don't understand the hatred and/or backlash for this at all. This is a sequel that wasn't just a carbon copy of the other two, it really had its own formula that for the most part works really well. Taking the story and characters to Afghanistan really changed the scope of the series. Instead of being a
May 9, 2010Super Reviewer
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