On M List of Movie Reviews

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Missing in Action (1984)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 7/25

7/25: If I'm forced to say quickly the most popular film of Chuck Norris' career, it's Missing in Action.

That's why there were two sequels, enabling him to become a mainstream action star during the mid 80's. However, Missing in Action isn't the first of its kind when it comes to rescuing American POWs in Vietnam. That would be Uncommon Valor. Then, Missing in Action 2: The Beginning came out.

A couple of months later, Rambo: First Blood Part II made history and, as a result, vanquished the first three into oblivion forever. As a matter of fact, James Cameron had written a treatment in 1983, and it floated around Hollywood for a while, hence the similarities.

The story is good. It has a deliberate pace, preferring to show the hows. Hence, if anybody has a negative opinion of the film, this will be why. For me, it's rather the lack of follow-through. For example, a knife is about to be thrown at the bad guy, and the next shot I see is him dead with it in the chest, but there's no middle. That happens a lot throughout. The most prominent is when M. Emmet Walsh was on the raft shooting at the incoming boat and, all of a sudden, was gone.

Despite speaking so little, Chuck Norris acts well and doesn't let his wooden personality to become a liability, preferring to do the physical stuff instead. Additionally, he has a lot of good action scenes, especially when on the stealth mission to force General Tran to divulge critical information, and shows his character is a normal human being instead of an invincible superhero like John Rambo. The ending is dramatic when Braddock arrived in Saigon with the rescued POWs and tried to enter the conference room to prove the politicians wrong.

All in all, Missing in Action is the poor man's Rambo: First Blood Part II, but it's actually not that bad.

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