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Missing in Action

Missing in Action

List Price: $14.95
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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Quintessensial Vietnam revenge flick...
Review: "Missing in Action" is a typical (and fairly low-budget), 1980's Hollywood view of the Vietnam War. Chuck Norris is in fine form as Braddock, the troubled tough guy who needs to exact revenge for all Vietnam POWs and MIAs.

Like John Rambo, Braddock does things his way, and with no apologies. Braddock is indestructible, able to withstand anything the enemy can dish out, and still throw back a tough guy stare. He is also incapable of being wrong, and his view of the conflict is superior to all others. When Braddock gives his evidence to the world, all Americans who were affected by the conflict are prepared to jump up and cheer.

Little or no hard evidence exists that our missing men were still alive as POWs by the 1980's, but that made no difference to those who wanted to believe they were. Like conspiracy theories about flying saucers and government cover-ups, the plight of the Vietnam MIA is part of our national fabric and mindset.

Were our men still prisoners? Could they be rescued, despite the weak political will in America? Could a lone wolf hero or special forces strike team save the day and find the prisoners? Most of all, were the men still alive? It was the not knowing that created the psychological crisis in the American mind. In short, there was no closure, only more and more speculation.

Closure was the purpose (or at least, the result), of this type of 1980's film. Movies like "Missing In Action" were a sort of collective, national therapy, allowing us to see the war as we wish we could, find our missing men, and win at least one decisive victory against the VC, all proving that we Americans were not only brave and tough, but winners.

Co-star Lenore Kasdorf starred in many soap operas, and she proves this by being only barely believable as Braddock's love interest. M. Emmet Walsh is great as Braddock's old war buddy, although it seems pretty silly for him to be running around on a covert mission while wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

The film itself is rather bland, low budget, and predictable. There are some good moments, and the movie is worth watching by fans of Norris or 80's Vietnam / action movies. However, there are far better Vietnam War movies and 80's action movies out there.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good commando action.
Review: "Missing in Action" is the originator of all 80's military action movies. Chuck Norris, as burned-out Vietnam vet James Braddock, lives a tormented life knowing there are American troops still being held captive in Vietnam. Somehow he hitches a ride to Vietnam to meet with the Vietnamese General about POW's. Then he sneaks away, meets up with his old war buddy Tuck, and proceeds to equip himself and start to blow things up. Yes, it's mindless, but it's miles ahead of "Sense and Sensibility." For a full Norris experience, watch this movie, then "Missing in Action 2" and then "Delta Force." You'll be a better person afterwards.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good commando action.
Review: "Missing in Action" is the originator of all 80's military action movies. Chuck Norris, as burned-out Vietnam vet James Braddock, lives a tormented life knowing there are American troops still being held captive in Vietnam. Somehow he hitches a ride to Vietnam to meet with the Vietnamese General about POW's. Then he sneaks away, meets up with his old war buddy Tuck, and proceeds to equip himself and start to blow things up. Yes, it's mindless, but it's miles ahead of "Sense and Sensibility." For a full Norris experience, watch this movie, then "Missing in Action 2" and then "Delta Force." You'll be a better person afterwards.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A great movie , eligeble for zero star!
Review: Colonel James Braddock, a former Prisoner of War, returns to Vietnam as part of a fact finding mission concerning missing in action soldiers. When it looks like the summit will be a washout, Braddock conducts his own 'fact finding mission'. Such actions get him kicked out of Vietnam. Not in the least bit intimidated, Braddock sneaks into Thailand and, with the help of an old army buddy (the always reliable M. Emmet Walsh), prepares a hit and run rescue operation. An entertaining piece of escapist revenge fantasy. Chuck Norris's fans will certainly love it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: No action missing from this formula revenge fantasy.
Review: Colonel James Braddock, a former Prisoner of War, returns to Vietnam as part of a fact finding mission concerning missing in action soldiers. When it looks like the summit will be a washout, Braddock conducts his own 'fact finding mission'. Such actions get him kicked out of Vietnam. Not in the least bit intimidated, Braddock sneaks into Thailand and, with the help of an old army buddy (the always reliable M. Emmet Walsh), prepares a hit and run rescue operation. An entertaining piece of escapist revenge fantasy. Chuck Norris's fans will certainly love it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brilliant Braddock
Review: Excellent,entertaining action packed movie.Let's have Missing In Action 2 The Beginning next on DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: five stars for fun
Review: Highly enjoyable action flick with Norris as his Vietnam Vet hero Braddock waging his own one man war against the VC. It's not Citizen Kane but hey did ya ever see Orson Welles run around with a machine gun kickin' butt? No way. Take this for what it is and enjoy the action. Chuck as Braddock is a little more intense/dark than some of his other roles too. Good stuff.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Essential for Students of Vietnam War Film & Literature
Review: I give the movie 5 stars more for its value as a cultural artifact than for whatever merits it might possess as a film. This movie is invaluable for what it reveals about the growing acceptance, during the early 1980s, of the rightist vision of what the Vietnam War meant and what it was all about.

If this movie is a simplistic presentation of good Americans versus evil Vietnamese Communists, then it can be seen as a reaction to the equally simplistic presentations (in movies like "Hearts and Minds") of evil Americans versus good Vietnamese Communists, that dominated pop culture in the late 1960s and early 70s.

"Missing in Action" articulates--admittedly in somewhat crude terms--the resentment felt toward the political establishment on the part of all of the vets who did not join the Vietnam Veterans Against the War protests and denounce Nixon; the guys who remained quietly proud of having served, the guys who secretly rooted for Tricky Dick when he bombed VC sanctuaries in Cambodia, the guys who were vilified by campus smarties for being dumb blue-collar jerks stupid enough to participate in the "immoral and imperialist war." We forget that these guys constituted the majority of Vietnam vets--only a relatively small handful (out of 3 million who served) came home and protested or joined revolutionary leftist movements.

The most revealing scene in the film takes place when Braddock (Norris) engages in a very heated exchange with a DRV officer in regards to the question of war crimes and atrocities. Whose were more brutal and frequent? The answer to this question seems, for those on either side of the argument, to lead to the answer to the bigger question of whether or not the war was an immoral, illegal invasion of a sovereign nation or a morally justified attempt to prevent a sovereign government from being overrun by state-supported terrorists. You can see, in this scene, what frustrated the right wing so much--the American public's credulous acceptance of Communist propaganda about American atrocities while the leftists back home poo-pooed any reasonable attempt to discuss North Vietnamese/VC atrocities.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A good Chuck Norris-film!
Review: I saw this film just some days ago. Norris is James "Jim" Braddock, a washed-up-old(38 years)-has-been-war hero. He believes there are still American soldiers in Vietnam. He goes there and kills an evil general. Then he looks up his old friend Tuck in a hooker's house in Bangkok to help him get back to Vietnam and rescue his fellow Americans. What I like about this movie is the scene where a man hides in Chuck's locker and gets thrown out of a window, just before Chuck is being attacked by bad guys with rocket launchers. There is also a car chase before Chuck sets off to the deep woods. A man with an axe attacks him on a boat, Chuck sends him to heaven with a quick remark. So far the movies quite good, but the fighting in the jungle is too short. It should have been longer. The film also ends too quickly.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A good Chuck Norris-film!
Review: I saw this film just some days ago. Norris is James "Jim" Braddock, a washed-up-old(38 years)-has-been-war hero. He believes there are still American soldiers in Vietnam. He goes there and kills an evil general. Then he looks up his old friend Tuck in a hooker's house in Bangkok to help him get back to Vietnam and rescue his fellow Americans. What I like about this movie is the scene where a man hides in Chuck's locker and gets thrown out of a window, just before Chuck is being attacked by bad guys with rocket launchers. There is also a car chase before Chuck sets off to the deep woods. A man with an axe attacks him on a boat, Chuck sends him to heaven with a quick remark. So far the movies quite good, but the fighting in the jungle is too short. It should have been longer. The film also ends too quickly.


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