Rambo III

Messianic marine mumbler ditches existential monk masonry to rescue his vaguely camp superior from a Hind piloting Russian general, currently Rommeling his way across Afghanistan.

Rambo III raises a vague subtext about Americans making right on proxy wars (most obviously John's de-facto birthplace: Vietnam) by involving themselves with the underdogs resisting techno-might invasion - it's only really flirted with at best though. John allies himself to the local Mujahideen with a charming Pakistani guide and a capering child-soldier in tow. After an apocalyptically disastrous first rescue attempt, Rambo mutilates and scorches his skinny body back to health, locking his mind into a histrionic kill mode. Ally abandoning one-man army thuds follow including some pornographic objectification of a gadget-strewn stab-knife that coloured the BBFC worried.

Despite the bizarrely earnest (and now ironic) set-up, for most of its running time, Rambo III only really collapses when Stallone attempts Schwarzenegger style levity. Stallone's less cartoonish, brutalised frame and darker internalised demeanor are much better suited to the silent pitiless killing machine seen in Rambo - the fourth entry in the series. Increasingly absurd but unsatisfying third act confrontations finally hit peak with a speeding chicken duel between a flying annihilation wasp and a zippy Rambo piloted tank. Naturally Rambo shrugs off the mega-ton wreckage.