Search - Rambo III on DVD

They'll Be Pulling This Title Out of Their Dustbins

Inspector Gadget | 04/07/2002

(1 out of 5 stars)

"They should have stopped the Rambo series after the first movie. The movies get worse with each subsequent release. The most ridiculous scene was when Rambo and Trautman decided to take on the entire Soviet Army by themselves. What hogwash! Apparently, only Americans can shoot straight, while the Soviets could never get in a good shot."

Greatest action star of all time at his zenith

G. Garner | vicksburg,ms | 01/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rambo 3 is usually regarded as the weakest in the series. However, I love this film, simply because Stallone plays a borderline superhero better than anyone else. How many other men can combine such a powerful physical presense with so much force of character? While the real-life Stallone is certainly not as virtuous as Rambo, he is known to have incredible willpower and determination. These qualities dominate his portrayal of John Rambo.You look into this man's eyes and you simply cannot imagine him being small or petty. He is reminiscent of Harry Callahan in that regard. Whatever his limitations may be, his integrity and courage are beyond question. In addition, Stallone is so devoted to the discipline of bodybuilding that he has actually managed to create a distinctive look for this film. (As he has done on many other occassions for various movies.) Stallone is so powerfully built in Rambo 3 that he actually seems to belong in the rugged Middle Eastern desert environment.His range may be limited, as we saw in his 'comedy' films, but when he sticks to his forte, playing great heroes, Stallone is the greatest ever.
However, Rambo 3 has other good qualities besides Stallone. There are several great action sequences. The opening stick fight is brutal and effective. The helicopter attack on the Aphgan village is horrific and violent. Crenna's character seems to summon a warmth from Rambo that we do not often see. They work well together. The climactic battle is great. The villain is effective. This is a great action film. While the story may not be as interesting as the first or second entries in the series, it is outstanding in its own right. It is simply a bit more comic strip in nature. It is rather like an updated version of Captain America. This is not intended to be a realistic war movie.
The special features are also quite good. However, the movie is worth the money even if there were no extras. I wish Stallone would make more movies like this one."

Great Movie, Horrible Edition

Richard Posner | Chicago, IL USA | 08/02/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rambo III was a great deal better than Rambo II, but of course, not as good as First Blood. It's a great action picture and you'll never see Stallone as big as he was in this movie. He had to be taking Human Growth Hormone then. In some scenes it almost looks like there's a slight deformity in his face, which as I understand it, is one possible side effect of taking HGH. I remember when I was a kid, I saw this movie in the theater many times. The ultimate edition, unfortunately, sucked. For some reason I have yet to figure out, they added subtitles in many scenes where there were none in the theatrical version. The subtitles did nothing for the story and actually ruined most of the scenes because they were really dumb. They made this version almost unwatchable for me. So you might want to consider buying the special edition instead. The movie itself still holds up well over time and aside from some cheesey dialogue, is still fun to watch. Intensity, explosions, muscles, and my favorite....Rambo's exploding arrow tips....it's all here."

Uneven, Un-PC and deeply misjudged, but still fun

Inspector Gadget | On the trail of Doctor Claw | 06/28/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Whatever credibility Rambo once had in First Blood is totally gone in this film which is more like Cold War propaganda than anything else, which is probably why they chopped First Blood off the title and we're simply left with the Rambo bit. As a character he's a bit more talkative but still has the...(read more) same sadness in his eyes. And Stallone is absolutely HUGE. Yes, he's always been big but his figure in Rambo III is probably the biggest I've seen him. He could probably rip Arnie's head off.

Since walking off into the sunset in Part II, Rambo is now living in a monastery in Thailand and has found inner peace. But he still takes time out to batter people with sticks in cage fights to raise money for the Buddists. But the no-good Red Ruskie Soviets are causing havoc in Afghanistan and one particular Colonel is taking great pleasure in massacring whole villages.

Colonel Trautman and Robert Griggs (the ever-brilliant Kurtwood Smith) try to convince Rambo to come help them sort the Ruskies out. But Rambo is having done of it. He's done killing! He wants to raise a family.

So Trautman is left to go it alone and is captured. Griggs delivers this bad news to Rambo who makes up his mind to go on another killing spree. Which is entirely okay as long as he only kills the Ruskies right?

Once in Afghanistan, Rambo teams up the Muhujideen, learns of their many woes and agrees to fight the Ruskies with all his might. Even though he was going to do that anyway, but it's nice to have friends.

The rest of the film is no more than a succession of comic-book action scenes and shoot-em-up set pieces. It's brilliantly shot, seriously, it's some of the best cinematography I've seen in an action film. I never expected Rambo III to look so good! It's a shame that Peter MacDonald (who was actually the second unit director shunted into 1st place after Russell Mulcahy left) doesn't stage the action with any sense of fluency. Yes, it all looks big and bold, but it's kinda clumsy and cumbersome. At the time, it was the most expensive movie ever made (even at a mere $65 million) and while it may be grand, it sure ain't graceful.

Jerry Goldsmith's score is once again brilliant. But quite a lot of his original material was left out and old tracks from Part II spliced in. So as long as your prepared for sudden jump cuts in the music, you should really get a kick out of it.

When it originally came out, Rambo III was kinda disregarded as a totally unnecessary sequel but in recent years the film has gained a political subtext and can actually be viewed in quite a few subversive ways. While I understand that the makers wanted to give the film a serious point of view regarding the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, I feel that integrity that the film has in modern politics should be disregarded. This is a RAMBO movie for Christ sake. The logic is shoot now, ask questions never. America did do the right thing by helping the Afghans fight off the Ruskies. But they did they wrong thing leaving the country to crumble afterwards (just like Rambo does). The rest is history. But I don't think a review of Rambo III is the best place to discuss this.

It's a flawed sequel, but I like it better than Part II. There are some seriously misjudged moments but it's still a fun ride. Once the victim of the most amount of cuts forced by the tyrannical BBFC the violence in Rambo III pales in comparison to the shocking carnage of the fourth film.

Filmed in JDC-Scope, the Blu Ray features a fine 2.4:1 1080p transfer and good DTS HD sound. Extras are limited to a trivia track and an interesting documentary on the history of Afghanistan."