Hot Shots! Part Deux

One of the best parody films of the 80-90s. Absolute Kino from the beginning till the end.

I guess it's quite obvious that those who didn't like the first "Hot Shots" movie just shouldn't give this movie a try. But for the fans of that one, and I'm one of them, this movie promised to offer a lot more pleasure and laughter. What has always appealed to me is the fact that they try to make fun of so many other movies. This time they have re-used parts from movies like "Rambo", "Apocalypse Now", "Terminator", "The Lady and the Tramp"... Trying to find all those references is already a big part of the fun, especially when you already know most of those movies.

In "Hot Shots! Part Deux" Topper Harley has retired again, now living in a Buddhist monastery. But again he is asked by the CIA to lead a special operation into Iraq. He will lead a rescue mission who has to rescue the last rescue team, who went in to rescue the last rescue team who were sent to rescue some prisoners left behind after Desert Storm. While saving them, he will meet again with his beloved Ramada and will shoot a couple millions of Iraqui soldiers...

Even though this movie wasn't as strong as the first one, I must say that I still had a good time with it. Not every part worked very well, but scenes like the one with the chicken shot out of a bow or the 'I loved you in Wall Street' scene are just hilarious. But one of the best parts must have been the one in which they said that the critics wouldn't like it, because this was just a weak copy of the first one in order to make more money. That was so spot on that I couldn't help smiling about it.

About the acting I can be quite brief. It's completely over the top, but what else can you expect from a movie like this one? This is a parody and some normal acting would never be able to put the emphasis on the already absurd situations. It's sometimes a bit too much, but I know that it's necessary for the movie and that's why I still appreciate it.

In the end this is an absurd comedy and parody on many kinds of movies. If you like this kind of humor and know most of the other movies, then you'll probably have a great time with it. I sure liked it and that's why I give it a 7/10.

It's surprising how much fresher this movie looks and plays compared to most other spoofs of the 90's. It's a reminder (which you may need after watching films like "Dracula:Dead and Loving It") that ANY genre can work with the right amount of effort put into it. Maybe it does have a few duds here and there, but there are far more surrealistic gems along the way ("Geronimoooo!". "Geronimoooo!". "Meeeee!"). One of the best of its kind. (***)

The original HOT SHOTS was a fabulous film and was more polished and fresh than this remake. However, this is not to say this sequel is bad--it still maintains an excellent pace and will make you laugh. That's because even more than the original, the jokes come so rapid fire that if one falls flat (as many do), there is no doubt a good laugh coming only moments later.

In HOT SHOTS, the film is basically a take off on TOP GUN--with many other movie references thrown in as well. Here in PART DEUX, the story is essentially RAMBO II along with many other movie references as well. Some of the parodied films include LADY AND THE TRAMP, CASABLANCA and NO WAY OUT.

The major difference in this film is the inclusion of a new major character, Saddam Hussein! He is ridiculed repeatedly and comes off as an effeminate oaf. Late in the film, the action really heats up when the President (played wonderfully once again by Lloyd Bridges) has a final showdown with Hussein...and the film degenerates into the weirdest takeoff on TERMINATOR II that you can imagine! Overall, the plot is mostly stupid and irrelevant--which is exactly what you'd expect from such a film! This is because the plot is only an excuse for stringing together many jokes and while some of the great intellectuals out there may hate this sort of film, you can't deny that it makes you laugh...unless you LIKE Saddam Hussein! The film misses about as often as it hits, but still with so many jokes this is still a crowd pleaser. Not as good as HOT HOTS or the AIRPLANE movies, it is still well worth seeing. And, unlike many films, gets better with repeated viewing.

"Hot Shots! Part Deux" beats the odds to be pretty good, not just as spoofs go, but as spoof *sequels* go. Granted, it's not always very funny, but enough of the verbal and visual jokes work to make this solidly entertaining comedy fare, and a worthy sequel to the hilarious first movie. It goes about making fun of the corpse littered action escapism films of the 1980s, which of course were a genre just ripe for parody. Charlie Sheen returns as hero Topper Harley, now living in Thailand after getting his heart broken by Ramada (Valeria Golino). He's approached by the CIA to undertake a top secret mission in the Middle East where he must rescue the rescue team who went in to save the rescue team who tried to retrieve some hostages.

Also returning from the first film are Lloyd Bridges, who once again is an absolute riot; somehow, his idiotic character Thomas "Tug" Benson has become the President of the United States. Jerry Haleva makes an encore appearance as Saddam Hussein, and gets more to do this time, including a climactic duel with Benson. New characters include those played by lovely Brenda Bakke, Richard Crenna (who gets to poke fun at his own "Rambo" series role), Miguel Ferrer, Rowan Atkinson, Mitch Ryan, Ryan Stiles, Gregory Sierra, Andreas Katsulas, and Clyde Kusatsu. So there's a lot of familiar faces here, including some other famous faces in gag cameos. (The best one is by Sheen's dad Martin.) One of the brightest jokes is the "bloodiest movie ever" one; among the movies and shows parodied are "Basic Instinct", "No Way Out", "Lady and the Tramp", "Terminator 2: Judgment Day", and Bridges' own series 'Sea Hunt', but mostly co-writer and director Jim Abrahams, an old hand at this sort of thing, keeps his focus on skewering the mindless macho action flick.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable comedy, no matter if some of the humour is dated (such as referring to then first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton). It manages to hold up pretty well on repeat viewings.

And war is indeed fantastic.

Eight out of 10.