After the success of the 1991 comedy spoof Hot Shot which carried on in the same vein as such movies as the Airplane and Nake Gun movies, Pat Proft along with Jim Abrahams attempted to replicate the same winning formula that helped them score the same box office bonanza. So along came Hot Shots Part Deux, which one might be so cynical as to say was just another attempt to ride the coattails of it's predecessors popularity. After all, raking $181 million on what was a a $26 million budget, you don't have to be an economist to know that it had turned in a nice profit. Two years later, we see Topper Harley now living in a Buddhist monastery and eking out a modest living in Thailand is approached by Col Denton Walters (Richard Crenna) and CIA representative Michelle Huddleston (Brenda Bakke) who want him to be a part of a mission in Iraq. The purpose of which is to bring back the men, who went in to to bring back the men who went in to assassinate Saddam Hussein. Topper refuses but when Denton and his soldiers are captured in the midst of their mission, our hero springs in to action to lead the troops who are now being sent to bring back the me previously sent to to bring back the mean who went in to bring the men. Are you following this now? That pretty much sums things up and while no where near as funny as the first outing, failing to deliver the same ratio of gags that hit the right mark there's still some fun to be had from Hot Shots Part Deux. While it's a wry and presumably affectionate parody of the Rambo movies (as opposed to the first which spoofed Top Gun) it also lampoons No Way Out, Home Alone, Apocalypse Now, Star Wars, Basic Instinct and Terminator 2 to name but a few. Opening with a on screen literary narration, which leads in to frankly clownishly surreal, yet uneven opening which sees Saddam Hussein cosily preparing himself for bed as a U.S. task force is meanwhile infiltrating his heavily guarded palace. A scene involving him undressing for to where we see him removing his shirt to See bra-lines where a brassiere was once worn summing up the offbeat tone that Pat Proft and Director and co- writer Jim Abrahams are aiming for. While it's no where near as funny as the first outing, it partially does what it sets out to do, and it's great to have seen the late Richard Crenna wonderfully sending up his own character, Col. Trautman from what was then the iconic action trilogy. Charlie Sheen does an efficient job of playing things straight as should it be while clearly playing the right note of absurdity, as the comedic tone should allow. As for the rest of the cast which includes Miguel Ferrer who sadly passed away fairly recently, Valeria Golino, Ryan Stiles (who incidentally would go on to have a recurring role alongside Charlie Sheen in hit sitcom Two and a Half Men) and Rowan Atkinson more than adequately hold up their end. The best laughs come however from Llyod Bridges, who frankly I think the film might have benefited from more of his presence. Overall the film just doesn't have quite the same level of overall freshness in it's creativity with some set- pieces and gags being trite. However as you would come to expect from Jim Abrahams who also helmed the first movie as well as Airplane and The Naked Gun trilogy he manages to keep things running at a well oiled pace and adeptly shooting it's elaborately comical set-pieces. Flawed but an over-all noble effort which not hitting the heights of it's prequel it's worth a look if given the opportunity. Just don't expect to be rolling on the floor in tears of laughter with the same frequency as it's prequel.

This is comedy at about the level it should be at. It's not everything to simply come up with a spoof concept, and throw in remote drone jokes in the film for about 1 1/2 hours, those jokes need to actually be FUNNY, and this here supplies funny moments throughout. It's inspired, it's got rhythm, and the surrealistic humor makes sense, rather than just being absurd notions with no real spirit like most such spoofs do.It's better than the first one, and if not for a subpar final act, the whole film stands well together and sustains a good level in the spoofing job.A good comedy. Worth one's time, if that person wants to merely laugh a bit for 1hr30. 6.5/10.

One of the advantages of a sequel to me is that it always gives a franchise a second shot, either at continuing on or being even better than before. This is my seventh favorite film in the parody subgenere. It's also another childhood gem as I was a kid of both the 80's and 90's and I was a big fan of the action films and Rambo franchise. Having a parody based on those things to me was a dream come true.The plot line is straightforward but it's really not that important by it's nature it's a clothesline (which is true with most action films) it's what happens and what the characters do that really matters. This film was just a complete laugh fest it's literally a live action Mad Magazine cartoon, it not just parody on the Rambo franchise but a lot of other action films and some of the clichés and elements in them.Llyod Bridges is great at playing the gruff and tough president, I really like his role in this movie more because he has a lot more to do. It was just great as he was parodying on his old role from an old military TV show he use to do, the fact he did it made it all the more funny.But of course Charlie Sheen is great as well, this is one of my favorite roles from him, it's just funny seeing him play the action protagonist archetype Topper whom is tough but he's a real duffus as he seems to be a bit unsmooth in his field of expertise.There are just a lot of visual and verbal jokes, as well as some reference in jokes as well, just like the amount of ammo discharged in a shootout the jokes just come really fast and rarely run out. I won't give too much away so I'll just say a few of them.I really like the kickboxing match scene which was a reference joke to both the arnise match scene in "Rambo 3" as well as the final match from the film "Kickboxer". It was just funny seeing as both were practically missing each other and instead of beating each other up they were beating up the audience unintentionally. Either they had poor martial arts training or both of them are just have bad aim.The sword fight between Sadam and Topper along with the President was fun and funny, which was a parody on the Robin Hood film with Errol Flinn but also "Star Wars". Boy just like the film franchise jokes on it just never get old, let alone the fact it's almost referenced in most to every parody I know.But of course my absolute favorite scene and one of my favorite shootouts of all time is the big shootout. I was both excited and laughing my ass off as we see Topper is just mowing down bad guys everywhere and we see a body count counter that is just continually counting down even when Topper isn't killing the amount displayed and all of the baddies are just piling up like junk heaps as their going down like flies. The whole shoot out plays out like a live action video game kinda like "Operation Wolf" or "Contra" with the constant action and scoring going on. Though what makes this even funnier are what each graphical message says which cracks me up; the writer was clearly a fan of Paul Verhoven films.If your a fan of the action film genre or the Rambo franchise, or even a fan of the parody subgenere in general and feel like a laugh this film is one you can't miss with.Rating: 4 stars

The first "Hot Shots", whilst not exactly bowling the critics over, remains a popular addition to the spoof genre. But despite having seen the original many times, the sequel had largely passed me by. I guess I wasn't that bothered by it - how many spoof sequels can you think of that match the original - but thankfully, I shouldn't have been that worried. By switching its focus from mocking "Top Gun" to the likes of "Rambo", "Robocop" and "Commando", the film retains its delightfully silly outlook on things but still goes for the jugular against a soft target.Rock God from Mars Charlie Sheen returns as Topper Harley who has now left the military and is living a simpler life in a Tibetan monastery after having his heart broken by his former squeeze Ramada (Valeria Golino). But Topper is soon back in action after President Tug Benson (Lloyd Bridges) sends Colonel Walters (Richard Crenna) and CIA agent Michelle Huddlestone (Brenda Bakke) to get Topper leading a rescue mission in Iraq to free the guys who were sent to free the guys who were sent to free hostages from the first Gulf War. But as before, there is a saboteur in the side and soon, Topper must seriously rack up the body count in order to get the job done."Hot Shots: Part Deux" is not a film to take seriously - this is as stupid a film as I can recall. Like the first, it crams every scene with sight gags, one liners and slapstick and also like the first, a fair number do raise a smile if few out-and-out laughs. It isn't anything like as funny as its spiritual predecessors like "Airplane!" or "The Naked Gun", despite the director being one of the three responsible for them. However, it is funnier than modern spoofs like "Scary Movie" or "Meet The Spartans" but to be frank, I find the BBC News channel funnier than those films. Sheen is surprisingly funny as Topper, aping Sly Stallone perfectly despite launching a chicken from a longbow with intent, and so is Crenna who is basically playing his "Rambo" character for laughs instead. The rest of the cast do OK, mainly following Bridges lead but he does provide another link to the earlier, better movies. It's as if the film makers were pleading for legitimacy, saying that this is a proper spoof even if there is no Leslie Nielsen in it.I understand that "Rambo"-style films aren't exactly hard to spoof but "Hot Shots: Part Deux" does a decent job of bringing them down a peg or two. It isn't a laugh-a-minute mickey-take but it does make you smile and remind you how utterly stupid most action movies from that era actually are. Even compared to the first "Hot Shots!", it holds up pretty well but I couldn't escape the sense that they were trying a bit too hard. What made the likes of "Airplane!" so special was the screenplay which was simply hilarious on its own. There was no need for special effects besides the crude aeroplane model being buffeted by lightning - the lines and performances were enough. Here, the gags are almost drowned out by the explosions and fire fights - each scene simply takes its cue from scenes in other films but replays them for laughs. Nothing wrong with that, as such, but I just preferred the earlier spoofs to these ones. And remember, it's been a long time since spoof movies enjoyed this level of success.