I'm back! Happy new year, it has been a while since I made any edits and, over five months since my last PE Proposal back in August of 2023, so this is also my first proposal of the new year as well, so yay! Zaysen's proposal in 2019 was poorly made and possibly plagiarized, and it lacked a heinous standard section, so I'm redoing it. Plus, Zaysen's apparently been the point of contention for some, as he had a removal made back in September, which initially succeeded, but was later removed due to misinformation (Also he was removed on the other site but was later put back thanks to new information).
This is my eleventh PE Proposal overall, with currently eight active at the moment. I got permission to redo this from Jester of chaos so a massive thank you to him from yours truly.
Edit: I made this proposal unaware that another had been made but not put up 2 hours before, this time another one is currently in blog posts but not active, and was made three hours before this one, and will put the proposal box at nine active proposals once it is put up, and mine the tenth. The Pro-Wrestler deleted it at my request, so thanks again.
What is the work?[]
Rambo III is the third installment in the Rambo film series that has Sylvester Stallone as the title character, as well as the last film of the original trilogy back in the 1980s, before it got two more sequels decades later (Rambo in 2008, which for some unknown reason is simply titled Rambo as opposed to Rambo 4 or Rambo: Insert Subtitle or something like that, and then it was followed by Rambo: Last Blood in 2019). It began with First Blood back in 1982 (Which is considered the best film in the series for many, myself included), but it was originally a book by David Morrell, (Which admittedly I haven't read yet but am interested in reading it at some point so as to familiarize myself with the Rambo character and lore and understand the novel and the first film's themes a bit better), I have mixed feelings to say the least about the film series, since the first was an interesting character study that was less action heavy then the sequels and more of a bleak psychological thriller and more of a story, as it was making a statement against society's neglect of veterans returning home, it is one of my favorite movies ever, and it deserved Oscar nominations particularly for Stallone's performance, and for Richard Crenna and Brian Dennehy as well, and the soundtrack was also award worthy, especially since it has one of the best end credits songs ever.
The sequels are still entertaining movies for the most part, but nowhere near as powerful or as compelling as the first movie, the second film is the best of the sequels, but still just an above average action movie at best, the third film, which what we're on, is an okay film, but not fantastic and still the worst of the trilogy, the fourth film I am wishy-washy about as it just didn't feel the same without Richard Crenna, though there are some things I appreciated about it, and then there is Last Blood, which, while not necessarily one of the worst movies ever made, is still easily the worst in the series, and is still a pretty sub-par at best movie. Whatever, that's my viewpoint on the series, feel free to agree or disagree at your leisure, not that any of it is relevant to this, just expressing my thoughts and opinions.
Who is Colonel Alexei Zaysen? What has he done?[]
Colonel Alexei Zaysen is third installments big bad, as well as the concluding villain for the original trilogy, and is easily the most evil character from the trilogy, and possibly the series as a whole, though that is somewhat debatable considering Major Tint from the fourth film exists, but I'll get into that more soon, but for now, we're here to talk about Zaysen. The first time we here about Zaysen, is when Colonel Samuel Trautman and Robert Griggs come to ask John Rambo for his help in assisting the Mujahideen Rebels of Afghanistan push back the Soviet Union trying to conquer their nation. Their invasion of Afghanistan has killed over 2 millions Afghans, with Zaysen being one of the key perpetrators of said invasion, and being noted by Griggs as being "exceptionally brutal" even by the standards of the Soviets, they show Rambo Pictures of Zaysen's atrocities, which include hospitalized children, and note how he has used tactics such as chemical warfare, starvation, and cutting of medical supplies to crush the Afghans. Rambo seems moved by the pictures, but still says no as he doesn't want to fight anymore and wants to move on with his life, Trautman gives Rambo a speech and then he and Griggs leave.
Zaysen, himself makes his first appearance in a helicopter when he shoots and kills a few soldiers accompanying Trautman on his way to Afghanistan, then captures Trautman and takes him to his prison camp where he tortures and interrogates Trautman for information on stinger missiles, and he also tortures other prisoners using various brutal methods such as electricity, fire, beatings, bone-breakings, rope yankings, etc etc. Griggs informs Rambo of Trautman's capture by the soviets, and that the US government is not going to do anything to get him back, so Rambo agrees to go to Afghanistan to rescue Trautman, but is warned by Griggs that if he is captured, the US government will disavow Rambo, to he says that he is used to it, and heads off to Pakistan to meet some allies of Griggs, who then take him to a Mujahideen village, where Rambo tells them of his mission, and they relay Zaysen's villainy to Rambo, which includes disguising mines as toys so children will be blown up, (And indeed we see children who have been maimed and hospitalized as a result of said toy mines, plus the toy mines themselves afterwards) all the villages Zaysen and his troops have slaughtered, how they rape Afghan women, and they had countless pregnant women have their stomachs gutted open and their infants thrown into fire, etc etc.
While Zaysen and his thugs are interrogating Trautman, his informant, the Pakistani shop assistant, who is revealed to actually be a mole, informs Zaysen of Rambo's presence in the Mujahideen village, to which Zaysen then proceeds to lead an attack squad an the village in an attempt to kill Rambo. The attack sees over a hundred men, women, children, horses, cattle, and at least one infant killed, but Rambo is able to shoot down one of the helicopters, much to Zaysen's fury, who demands to know who Rambo is. Rambo and a few of his allies proceed to sneak into Zaysen's prison camp, under the cover of darkness, they place bombs around the camp, and kill a few Russian soldiers, but while they make their escape, Hamid, a young boy accompanying Rambo, gets shot in the legs and as a result is now put out of action. But Rambo is able to continue his journey, and after some time, he sees Zaysen's troops about to torture Trautman with a flamethrower. Fortunately, Rambo is able to stop them and free his mentor, killing the Soviets about to torture him, while Trautman escapes his bindings and snaps the Pakistani informants neck.
The films goes on as usual, and Rambo is able to kill Zaysen's bigger bad boy henchmen, (Tomask, and Sergeant Kourov, the latter after a lengthy battle) they find themselves surrounded by Zaysen's army, and they decide that if they are going to die, that they can at least take as many of them with them as possible, but the Mujahideen come to the rescue. After a prolonged battle with many casualties on both sides, Rambo his able to commandeer a tank, and then puts a few bullets into Zaysen's chest, who then decides to make one last attempt to kill Rambo, knowing that he will most likely die no matter what, he decides to ram his helicopter into Rambo's tank, who proceeds to do the same. They deliberately crash into each other, and Rambo wins. Rambo and Trautman part ways with rebels with a smile on their face, as they rode off into the sunset. The end... At least for now, little did Rambo know that he would still have two more sequels and the death of his mentor and new family left to go.
Redeeming Qualities?[]
The short version? No, I could leave it there and be done but I think there are some things that could considered preventions that are worth discussing. The long version? He does have a picture of what is presumed to be his family in his office, but his relationship with them isn't expanded upon enough to be considered mitigating. It's got about as much depth as Stu Macher possibly worrying that his parents will be mad at him (I was hoping to save that mention for when I got around to rewatching the second and third films since I barely remember them but hey, oh well, hopefully I'll get there soon enough) , or Samuel Norton having a picture of a wife in his office, or Adam and his relationship with Vadoma. Plus, Zaysen himself never mentions having a family, so yeah, it's too ambiguous to be considered disqualifying. Another thing is him getting angry whenever his men are killed by Rambo, The Rambo Wiki apparently seems to think he cares about his men for this reason. I say no, I say his anger at them being killed is over the loss of valuable assets, combined with viewing their deaths as a sting on his own pride, and being appalled that one man (Rambo himself) could possibly do that, plus he never visibly mourns them, he is keyword angry over their losses, not keyword sad. He claims to be an extremist who wants peace in the region, but Trautman sees through it, Zaysen is a power-hungry megalomaniac who also wants to torture and kill people for his amusement. I think that just about covers it.
Heinous Standard[]
General Standard[]
On paper, he not only easily meets the general standard, he absolutely obliterates it. He is one of the main conspirators in an invasion that has killed over 2 million people, using various cruel methods such as chemical warfare, starvation, cutting off humanitarian aid, disguising mines as toys for children to be blown up by them, mass rapes, mass infanticides, and also runs a brutal prison camp where said prisoners are tortured and killed on a regular basis, all with the end goal of conquering Afghanistan for the USSR. While I should point out that while many of Zaysen's absolute worst crimes take place offscreen, Zaysen himself does not suffer from offscreen villainy. His attempt to forcefully annex Afghanistan to add it to the Soviet Union is what drives the plot of the third film, with his goal being explicitly stated and showcased multiple times in the film through various cruel means, we also see photographic evidence of his crimes like children being hospitalized, we also see children who have been mutilated by his toy mines, as well as the mines themselves afterwards, his war crimes are told like ghost stories with vivid details by the Mujahideen, and we see women in his camp, with dark implications of what that means which presumably back the claims of letting his troops rape women, and of course they are more or less an extension of his overall goal of conquering Afghanistan, and plus, who's to say he isn't bad enough with what he does this is onscreen, like his slaughter of the village, (which also establishes a pattern of him, leveling villages and territories in Afgahnistan) which kills over a hundred or so men, women, children, animals, and even an infant, (which itself it not only awful in its own right, but also backs up claims of him killing infants) plus, his torturing Trautman and others in completely onscreen.
In-Story Standard[]
In the original trilogy, he annihilates the heinous standard. No one in the first film even passes the general standard, much less the increased series standard set by the sequels (and Will Teasle, the primary antagonist of the film, wouldn't qualify even if he did as he is too nuanced of a character, and Art Galt, the most evil and heinous character in the film, is just a bog-standard hate sink who's crimes mainly just amount to abuse, a very minor case of public endangerment, and attempted murder of Rambo). While the villains of the second film do at least pass the baseline, and some of them might qualify if the series stopped at the second movie, the fact that it didn't and got sequels means their chances are basically crushed. Zaysen is the primary reason why Lieutenant Colonel Podovsky isn't PE, while Podovsky does have a decent sized rapsheet, (Which includes running POW camp where Rambo himself and possibly some friends of his was/were imprisoned and tortured during the Vietnam War, and still running it in the present times, allows his Vietnamese allies to brutally torture the prisoners, using them for slave labor and occasionally crucifying them, and forcing them to live in inhumane conditions, personally interrogating Rambo through various nasty torture methods such as electricity and his cigar, threatening to cut a POW's eyeball out with a scalding hot knife, having Rambo's love interest Co Bao killed, and piloting a helicopter and attempting to personally kill Rambo the escaped POWs while also callously endangering civilians in the process), but it's pretty small compared to Zaysen and his other successors (also Marshall Murdock gets some points for enabling much of Podovsky's present day villainy so that he doesn't have to pay ransom money so as to withhold it for profit, and for purposefully abandoning Rambo and threatening to kill Trautman, but it's still not enough, and Podovsky's other allies, be they Russian or Vietnamese, are just following his orders and/or enablement). And in the third film in particular? Alls of his subordinates are just following his orders and/or assisting him.
Zaysen's true source of competition comes from the sequels, specifically the fourth films big baddie, Major Tint. I've heard people claim that Zaysen fails to Tint who has similar resources, but I wholeheartedly disagree with that statement. Sure, Tint may replicate many of Zaysen's atrocities and also of many of his own (Such as forcing villagers to walk across mine-fields, and gunning down the survivors anyway for the evulz, personally being a pedophile, threateing to cut childrens tongues, out and brainwashing children to be his mindlessly loyal soldiers, while being more onscreen and more visceral then Zaysen, whereas the latter's heinousness relies more on patterns and chill rather than pure shock and awe) but that is just how Tint stands out on his own, and Tint's atrocities were mostly local to Burma whereas Zaysen attempted to conquer a nation, making his crimes more global. Plus, Zaysen still as stuff that's unique to him, like the toy-mines thing, (A very grisly method of targeting children for terminations) he is the only Rambo villain other than his own henchmen to commit infanticide (and mass infanticide at that), uses chemical warfare, starvation, cutting off medicine to help the sick, combined with some grisly torture methods, (The worst Tint got to into torture department (not rape or threats, but straight-forward torture) was his troops hitting some mercenaries around with the butts of their rifles, and I don't even think that Tint specifically ordered that to happen so much as his guys took upon themselves to do it, but that's just my memory at least, I would have to see the film again because I'm not a hundred percent sure). Call me crazy, but I say Zaysen's war crimes are worse in scale than Tint's which are more visceral and more local, but that's just me.
Also I've heard some people claim that he fails to the Martinez Brothers, but the thing is, no he doesn't, that is a point that is just so blatantly false and wrong, Tint I can kind of understand, (but still completely disagree with) but these guys... just no. Sure, they stand out enough on their own thanks to their lower resources (at least compared to Zaysen, and Tint), the uniqueness of their crimes (human trafficking), and the fact that they have a personal animosity against Rambo (by killing his dearly beloved surrogate niece, Gabriela, and Hugo may have ambiguously even caused Rambo's death at the end depending on how you interpret the finale), but that's how they stand out on their own, their deeds do not even come close to overshadowing Zaysen's, they are PE because of those aforementioned factors, not in spite of. Their uniquely disturbing niche of crimes does not eclipse Zaysen's mass scale war crimes, the fact that they have a more personal kill (plus another kill offscreen, and maybe Rambo himself) doesn't automatically negate Zaysen's 100+ onscreen kills, or his hundreds plural to 2 million offscreen kills (Which, need I remind you once more includes men, women, children, animals, and even infants). I think that we are just about good here.
System Standard[]
While he is part of the Soviet's overall goal of conquering Afghanistan, he is the main Soviet we see onscreen, he is the one the story gives focus to, his cruelty is also explicitly stated to be exceptional even by the standards of the Soviets, and in his own words, out in Afghanistan, he has no superiors except himself. We good here too?
Final Verdict[]
I say yes to this mass-murdering warlord and torture technician, but that's just me. Thoughts?