Sylvester Stallone Admits Rambo 3 Released At The Most Inconvenient Time For One Major Reason

Sylvester Stallone looks back on the controversial release of Rambo III, sharing his thoughts on why the release timeline was particularly unfortunate. Released in 1988 and directed by Peter MacDonald, the action-packed sequel featured Stallone back as one-man army John Rambo, this time facing off against Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

Rambo 3 was met with backlash upon its release due to its portrayal of the Soviet-Afghan War, and Stallone now tells GQ that timing was what really hurt the film. As the actor explains, the sequel hit theaters right as tensions with Russia were thawing, complicating the film’s political subject matter. Check out Stallone’s comment below:

It was very, very dangerous. Very boiling hot. And it was really well made except from the time we were editing to the time it came out, Russia, who had been in a Cold War with us for about 40 years, decided to come over and shake hands and kiss and make up. And now everyone goes, ‘What is Stallone trying to do, start another war with Russia?’

And I mean I would come into press conferences and people would boo, like ‘What are you trying to do?’ I go, ‘Have you ever heard of the Cold War? What am I trying to do?’ So you gotta be careful if you’re dealing with topical subjects.

First Blood (1982) remains one of the most seminal works of Stallone’s career, and it earned acclaim for its portrayal of a traumatized Vietnam War veteran. 1982’s First Blood: Part II was when the franchise transitioned from being an exploration of PTSD to being more of a straight action film, and the critical response was mixed.

Rambo 3 leaned even further in this direction, but neither critics nor audiences responded particularly positively. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has only a 41% critics’ score, and the Popcornmeter score is almost just as poor at 45%.

The Rambo movie caught flack for what was seen as an overly simplistic portrayal of the Afghan-Soviet War, which took place from 1979 to 1989. Specifically, it was criticized for portraying the Afghan Mujahideen as the heroes of the conflict and the Soviets as one-note villains.

The Cold War officially ended in 1991, meaning, as Stallone explains, the third Rambo film released as peace between the U.S. and Russia was in the works. The mixed reception to the project is reflected in its box office performance. After First Blood: Part II grossed a whopping $300 million worldwide, the sequel grossed only about $188 million.

The response and disappointing commercial performance of Rambo 3 put the franchise on ice for two decades, with the fourth film not arriving until 2008. Stallone ultimately bid farewell to the character with Rambo: Last Blood in 2019. The franchise isn’t dead yet, though, as it was reported this summer that a Rambo prequel starring Noah Centineo is in the works from director Kitao Sakurai.

It remains to be seen how future projects in the franchise fare, but Stallone’s comment about the dangers of tackling topical issues suggests they may avoid exploring real-world conflicts too heavily. Rambo 3, in that way, remains a significant entry in the franchise.