RAMBO III - will they EVER get it right?

[Spymaster]

This is one of those things that really irks me: RAMBO III and its Russian/English subtitles.

When RAMBO III was released in theatres in 1988 (and later released on VHS video) there were only a handful of Russian lines that were translated on-screen into English. These are (after doing a very quick check):

At 1 hr 4 mins:
"The troops are ready, Sir"
"Go after them immediately"

At 1 hr 10 mins
"Search the area"
"Yes Sir, understood"
"No sign of him, Sir"
"Keep searching for the American. I must refuel".

Obviously there were other captions such as "Peshawar, Pakistan - Near the Afghan border" at 17 mins but the above are the ONLY on-screen translations.

The only DVD version that ever represented these captions properly was the very first edition, released by Artisan in 1998.



When the title was re-issued by Artisan (with DTS sound) the reviews I read indicated that these captions were completely missed off so I avoided it because, minor though it may be, the film was not presented properly.



Unfortunately it got worse. Responding to criticisms that the captions were missing, the following version (the so-called "Ultimate Edition" from Lions Gate) went in completely the wrong direction and forced brand new (player generated) captions upon us with translations of, literally, every line of Russian dialogue - including truly inept stuff that was never meant to be translated and I'm sure was only put in there so they had "something to say" such as:

"It's ok. It's ok. Come on dog. Come on dog".
"What's the difference if you smoke or not, either way we're gonna die"
"I remember in Leningrad..."
"Oh yes, yes. It goes. It goes".
"Juno do you have some bread?"
"No I don't, dinner is soon"
"Sergei...
"Where are we?"
"Did you bring the radio with you?"
"No"
"I've been here almost two months and no letters. No letters"
"Charge!"
"I heard a voice from that room, somebody's here!"



To add insult to injury, of the two passages that are SUPPOSED to be translated, the passage at 1 hr 4 mins isn't captioned at all and the passage at 1 hr 10 has a completely different translation!!!

I find this version absolutely unwatachable, despite the improved picture quality.

I was rather upset to see that the Blu-ray box set shares the same cover artwork as this ridiculous "Ultimate Edition" DVD.



Am I right is assuming that all of these ridiculous Russian/English captions are still there?

I really want this BD set but will not buy it if Rambo III is still screwed up.