Missing in Action 2: The Beginning

Prequel to Chuck Norris' quite successful first film in the "Missing in Action" franchise. The prequel tells the story of how Norris' Colonel Braddock was captured and held prisoner by the NVA during the Vietnam War. The film is a fairly standard POW war film story, complete with an evil camp commandant, cruel torture, and daring escapes. Norris has always been limited in his acting ability, but this film wisely did not ask much of our hero in that department. Unfortunately the film also did not ask Chuck show off his martial arts skills much either, with the exception being a final confrontation with venerable character actor Soon-Tek Oh as the evil Colonel Yin. Chuck takes some beat downs from Professor Toru Tanaka and has some nasty torture scenes, particularly one involving rats, throughout the film as the NVA try to get him to confess to war crimes, but why have a karate champ in your film if you're not going to let him fight? The film's production company realized this was a weak film and had already filmed a sequel back-to-back with this one. Producers made the wise choice to release what was originally filmed as a sequel ("Missing in Action" where Chuck goes back to Vietnam to rescue POWs) as the first of the franchise and then released this weaker film later as a prequel. In the plus column for this film, it does feature music by Max Max composer Brian May. Also, as clichéd of a POW story as it is, it's a pretty sturdy one that's hard to resist for fans of this war film sub-genre.

Prequel to Missing in Action covers Braddock's years as a POW and his eventual escape. This one was filmed back-to-back with the other movie and was intended to be released first. But they realized the first movie was better, so they moved it from part 2 to 1. Which is funny as today there are many fans who claim part 2 is the better movie. I'm not one of them but they're out there. Don't get me wrong, it's a decent war movie and I like it. It's not action-heavy, though it never drags and the action does pick up towards the end. It's more of a drama for the first hour or so. Chuck is his usual stoic self. Soon-Tek Oh is a suitably despicable villain. Steven Williams plays the POW who betrays the others. Christopher Cary has a brief but enjoyable role as an Australian photographer who tries to help the POWs. The continuity doesn't line up with the previous movie (or the third), but I doubt most viewers will care. If you like Chuck Norris' Cannon movies, you will probably like this one.

The picture focuses Colonel Braddock (Chuck Norris) aboard a helicopter which is down . He is imprisoned , along with various Vietnam soldiers (Steven Williams , John Wesley..), by a hideous and sadist POW camp chief warden (Soon-Teck-Oh) and underlings (professor Tanaka..) . The tough Braddock continuously attempts to free the prisoners held captives and they receive numerous tortures and sufferings in charge of the concentration camp wardens and their evil ruler .

The screenplay of the movie is plain and simple . It's a predictable routine and formula actioner film . It's all obvious , unconvincing and overblown . However if you appealed the first part , you'll probably love this picture . It deals upon horrible conditions of prisoners and grueling efforts of the meager band of captives to survive , confronting starvation , mistreats , rampage and continuous violence by hitting , punches , lashes , knocks and incredible tortures . Storyline is a bit ridiculous , embarrassing and shallow , it concerns on prisoners trying to escape and subsequent revenge executed by Braddock as a headstrong and reckless Colonel . In the wake of : ¨Uncommon valor¨ (directed by Ted Kocheff) and ¨Rambo II¨ (by George Pan Cosmatos) and Norris imitating to Silvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger as one army man , shooting and killing numerous enemies

The film results to be the second installment from a trilogy , concerning the first ¨Missing in action¨ (made by Joseph Zito) on Braddock accused of war crimes by a Vietnam general and he then escapes to free inmates ; this second part (directed by Lance Hool , the first one 's producer) about tortures and Braddock suffering in a prisoner camp , and the third part (directed by Aaron Norris , Chuck's brother , who in 'Missing in action 1' was the stunt coordinator) upon looking for his wife after downfall Saigon . Filmed back to back with Missing in action (1984) , this picture was supposed to be released first . However , when ¨Cannon¨ realized the second film was the better of the two , they released it first and re-titled this movie as a prequel . The three films contain ominous and villain enemies played by oriental actors (James Hong , Soon Teck Oh , Aki Aelong) with offensive racial stereotypes . Nice support cast formed by Steven Williams (TV L.A. Heat) and Professor Tanaka (a wrestler who possessed incredible strength) who was arguably the successor to Harald Sakata (Golfinger) as the archetypal Asian henchman . Appropriate musical score by Jay Chattaway and adequate as well as atmospheric cinematography by cameraman Joao Fernandez , filmed on location in Philippines . The motion picture was middlingly directed by Lance Hool , also producer . Rating : Average but entertaining . The motion picture will appeal to Chuck Norris fans .

Cannon productions backs another American colonel James Braddock film to the surprising hit that was the 1984 Chuck Norris starring post-Vietnam action-flick "Missing In Action". This sequel 'The Beginning' is a prequel to the original and from the trivia on this site it explains that it was actually made before Joseph Zito's film which was shot back to back with number two. I guessed they liked Zito's effort more, and you can see why. But this spirited entry is not a complete lost.

This very low-cost, raw looking sequel (prequel) seems to primarily parade around its many fragmented set-pieces of brutally unpleasant torture and demoralizing spirit-breaking with little in a way of story to back it all up. Due to this it could lull and get fairly repetitive making it feel longer than it is, but it gets you emotionally invested and few and far between are some effective moments like a rat in a bag sequence. After a slowly lean get-up amongst the stinking hot jungle setting and POW camp (which for most part is completely dreary), it finally breaks the shackles in the last half-hour or so with blistering action (even if some of it is poorly conceived) complete with explosions and Norris suitably paying back some of his own medicine in what is a fittingly tough and cheering confrontation (due to what has gone before it) with the sadistically malevolent Colonel Yin performed with smarting glee by Soon Tek-oh. Norris looking quite weathered and bruised goes about things in a steely and scrappy manner until the rage he kept inside finally breaks out after the constant torment to get him to confess to the unheralded crimes. The acting is inconsistent, but the cast features the likes of Steven Williams (probably best known for his part as X in the 'X-Files' series), John Wesley and Professor Toru Tanaka. Lance Hool's direction is fundamentally gritty, but authentic in style. Adding to the drama is Brian May's bombastic score with a somber touch at times within its cues.

Although I've seen this feature quite a few times, it's not as entertaining as the first film, but Cannon's cheap-jack b-grade fodder still packs grit and brute force.

The Last part of the movie was a classic to remember. Braddock(Norris) and Yen(Teck-Oh) going add it in a showdown to the finish. Braddock whack Yen like a dirty rag on the floor. I give that fight scene a 10 from a scale of 1 to 10.

David