Missing in Action

It's not surprising to learn that Chuck Norris made this series as a tribute to his brother who had been killed in Vietnam. He really gave all that he had to these films. It may be manipulative but damn is it ever satisfying. The villains are the kind of loathsome scum whom you JUST CAN'T WAIT to see messed up in a variety of ways. And the good guys are fleshed out enough as characters that you do feel bad for them, and want to see them get their revenge.

As one can guess, this is a prequel to the original "Missing in Action" film of 1984. It shows how Chucks' colonel character, James Braddock, was shot down and captured during the war, and the tortures that he and his men are obliged to endure for the next several years, even after the war has basically ended. The sadistic colonel in charge of his work camp, Colonel Yin (Soon-Tek Oh) acts like a dictator, and just when you think you can't hate this guy any more, he ups the stakes yet again.

With Lance Hool taking the directors' reins, this proves to be a high old time for the action junkie, underscored by the genuine poignancy to be found in stories about prisoners of war. This is exciting much of the time, with kick ass battle footage, lots of explosions, lots of gunfire, and some breathtaking scenery. Chuck is a formidable hero as always, and Oh is a deliciously evil bad guy. Lending strong support are Cosie Costa, Joe Michael Terry, and especially John Wesley as the ailing Franklin. Steven Williams is good in an initially unlikable part as a captain eager to cooperate with his captors in exchange for better treatment. It's also cool to see hulking screen heavy Professor Toru Tanaka and "Ninja III: The Domination" villain David Chung as two of the guards.

All in all, this is solid entertainment, complete with a high body count and never ever boring.

Eight out of 10.

Missing in Action 2 (1985)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Prequel to the first film has Col. James Braddock (Chuck Norris) and his men thrown into a POW camp where they are constantly abused and tortured. Soon Braddock finally realizes that their only chance for survival is by escaping. I've read at a couple sites that the first two films in the series were shot at the same time and that originally this prequel was meant to be the first in the series but the producer's film that the other film, the eventually part one, was better so this one here was released second and as a prequel. The first film was a laughably bad action film but this one here tries to play itself more straight and it works in some ways. I'm really not sure if the series would have been better had this one been released first but it does contain more human drama than the first film. This film has "B" movie written all over it due to the poor performances and lackluster direction but it still manages to be entertaining due to some nice action and a fun ending. Soon-Tek Oh plays the bad guy in the film and actually steals the movie. This isn't an all out action film like the first movie but I enjoyed it just the same.

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

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.

This feels like real movie. Not like cheap Rambo rip-off like first one. To be honest this have some First Blood feeling in it but it is not such rip-off as first one. Now we have real characters. Chuck Norris feels like acting and story makes sense. You sense danger unlike first one.

This happens before first movie and things happening in this movie are mentioned in first one. You are not spoiled if you have seen first one. Unless you count spoiling problem all prequels have. If I have understood correctly this was shot before first one or at same time. It makes little sense that this was released later than first one since this happens before and is much better movie.

I prefer prison camp part at beginning over action part at the end. This would have been better with less action but this is action movie and Chuck Norris movie so action has to be there.