Here's the well-earned Guinness Book of World Records honor that Sylvester Stallone's Rambo 3 earned in 1990. It's interesting tracking the evolution of John Rambo from 1982s First Blood to sequel Rambo: First Blood Part 2. The former is a grounded survival thriller depicting Rambo as a Vietnam vet suffering from severe PTSD who only kills one character out of self-defense. The sequel transformed Rambo into a one-man army, who wages war against Vietnamese and Russian troops while rescuing POWs. First Blood Part 2 featured a sharp increase in both action setpieces and body count, and transformed Rambo into something of a superhero; Rambo 3 would lean further into that direction.
Of course, Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger had a big feud going on during the 1980s and often tried to outdo each other in terms of body count, box-office and physique. That might explain why Rambo 3 saw Stallone bulk up in a major way, and how it became - for a short time - the most expensive movie ever made. Rambo 3 saw the titular soldier head off on a rescue mission to Afghanistan to save his friend Col. Trautman from Soviet forces. The sequel featured expensive setpieces and impressive action but suffered from a paper-thin story and a general lack of suspense or invention.
Stallone himself would later express disappointment with Rambo 3 and essentially retired from the role until finally returning 20 years later for 2008's Rambo and one last time for Rambo: Last Blood - though Stallone has a Rambo 6 concept. In addition to holding the crown for being the most expensive film ever made with an estimated production budget of $63 million, Rambo 3 received an apt Guinness Book of World Records honor in 1990. This reference book of notable world records named Rambo 3 the most violent film ever made, due to featuring the deaths of at least 108 characters, 70 explosions and 221 acts of violence.
With this Guinness Book of World Records honor, Rambo 3 unseated the likes of 1984's Red Dawn, which received the most violent film ever made tag for featuring 134 acts of violence per hour. Predictably, much of Rambo 3's action consists of gunshots or explosions, but the title soldier also uses knives, arrows and even his bare hands to take care of enemies. Arguably the most violent demise of Rambo 3 - which almost cast Marlon Brando - is Randy Raney's Sergeant Kourov, whose neck is snapped after falling into a cave, where his body then explodes due to Rambo having pulled a pin on his grenade.
The amount of violence in Rambo 3 saw Britain's BBFC cut over a minute from the theatrical version, before removing three minutes from the original VHS release. Major edits include impacts during the opening stick fight, a shot of a child playing with Rambo's knife and toning down the aforementioned Kourov demise. Guinness Book of World Records' Rambo 3 honor was apt at the time, though compared to how graphic and gory 2008's Rambo was, it seems oddly mild now.