MOVIE REVIEWS

_**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+

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.