Angered by a Vietnamese General's claims that there are no prisoners-of-war in his country, an American soldier goes on a rogue mission to rescue the missing-in-action US troops that he suspects are still held in Vietnam in this Chuck Norris action thriller. The film benefits from a rousing music score by Jay Chattaway and a delightful supporting turn from a moody M. Emmet Walsh who accompanies Norris on his mission. There are solid action sequences too, though much of it is shooting and explosions rather than hand-to-hand combat, and they are surprisingly few and far between with most of the excitement saved until the end. The plot is also a tad half-baked. James Hong is perfectly charismatic as the Vietnamese General, but his motives for lying to the US about the POWs are never made clear. By lying about their existence, the Vietnamese are not able to use the MIA soldiers for bargaining purposes, and if they are lying to cover up the fact that they took so many Americans prisoners, it would make more sense to execute them rather than keep them alive in camps. Even if the finer details do not quite add up though, Norris is saddled with an interesting enough character to keep things plodding along, and the film suffices quite well as a story of a man reluctantly returning to Vietnam to settle unfinished business that he would really rather forget.

A long time ago, I saw an essay in a book of film criticism entitled, "How Hollywood Won the War in Vietnam." I started to buy the book, but to my regret I did not, and so I never got to read the essay. However, I think I am safe in saying that "Missing in Action" was one of the movies the essay would have discussed, along with "Rambo II."People who worry about words will quibble as to whether we "lost" the Vietnam War. Well, we did not lose it in the sense that we were not conquered by the Viet Cong, but we lost in the sense that we failed in our mission, that we gave up, pulled out, and let the Viet Cong take control of the entire country. And that made us feel bad.But it is Hollywood's job to create a better world than the one we actually have to live in. Now, Hollywood could not make a movie showing us conquering the Viet Cong and making the country safe for democracy, because the direct contradiction to reality would have been too stark. Instead, it made a movie in which an individual soldier, Colonel James Braddock, along with a few associates, goes back to Vietnam and succeeds in freeing some American soldiers still being held in a prisoner-of-war camp.The Vietnamese government categorically denies having these prisoners, but to what end is a mystery. We simply have to assume that they just enjoy making these American prisoners of war miserable, or that they know that we know they have the prisoners, and that they just enjoy frustrating American efforts to get them back. In either event, they are mean and spiteful.But what is important is that they give Braddock a mission that he can carry out. The first part of Braddock's mission is to appear at a diplomatic function and display his contempt, as when he refuses to shake hands with a Vietnamese general. This ostensibly is directed toward the general, but it is really a put-down of American politicians who think that diplomacy is the way to get things done.The second part of his mission is to personally kill the general and a high-ranking officer who is shown through a flashback to be cruel and evil. This allows him some personal revenge before he sets out to kill a bunch of generic bad guys.The third part of his mission is to sneak into the jungle and free the American prisoners. Braddock and his few associates kill over ten times their number in doing so, proving that the American soldier is a vastly superior to his Vietnamese counterpart. You see, it was embarrassing that the world's greatest superpower was unable to defeat such a puny country. This movie essentially declares that it must have been a bunch of spineless politicians back home that caused America to lose the war, probably the same sort that are busy being polite at diplomatic functions, because it is clear that men like Braddock would have won the war given the chance to do so.This movie allows us some imaginary revenge against an enemy that humiliated us, and that makes us feel good. Of course, we would have felt a whole lot better if the movie had actually been entertaining instead of dull and plodding.

Colonel James Braddock is an American officer who was a POW for 7 years in Vietnam. Braddock has returned to Vietnam with a purpose and a mission, to find and rescue interned American POW's which the Vietnamese government denies exists. Braddock will find the truth even if it costs him his freedom and his life.A simply action film that has charm to it. Not the best acted or the best story I've ever seen, simplistic and perhaps clichéd in many aspects but its an enjoyable film. If your nostalgic about 80's films and action films with an simplistic story but a film that holds charm. The acting is sub par, the story clichéd, the direction semi mediocre, but where this film gets its charm is in Chuck Norris and the action itself. A good portion of this film attempts to imitate, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and even its producers have admitted this, but as i said their is a certain charm to this film that will grow on the viewer with repeated viewings. Though first time viewers may find this film cheesy, older generation film goers may watch with a glint of nostalgia and fin themselves enjoying the film.

Chuck's first main franchise and one of his classic actioners. Only two years after the release of 'First Blood' you can see where this idea main have spawned from eh. In fact a script by James Cameron intended for the Rambo franchise was the inspiration for this very film so there. But since then this film itself has been copied many times, the ever popular one man army with a big gun.The mission, Chuck only just got back from Nam where he was held prisoner by some nasty Vietnamese. Once back in the States he realises there are still US POW's MIA back in Nam, so what does he do?. Well he packs up and goes back into the danger zone to find them of course. Isn't there a chance he might get killed or recaptured you say? pfft! Chuck Norris laughs in the face of danger, he tweaks the nipples of fear, he curses politely at those who stand against him.So I'll leave the extremely obvious Rambo similarities aside and just give my views on the action. Well it takes time to get there that's for damn sure, a long time. There is much build up and deliberation as Chuck works out what he's gonna do and how he will do it. Takes him ages to find his old army buddy for a start, not sure why that guy was such a big secret with the locals but there you go.Once we do hit the action its...well OK I guess. Dare I say its identical to 'Delta Force' in the sense that you never see any blood, violence, squib hits (not many) etc...I've mentioned before how Chuck's films tend to be like A-Team episodes haven't I, well its deja vu again. Now I'm not saying its bad because its not, its reasonable fun watching Norris run around gunning men down, but its hella tame.What I love about this film is the horrendous editing and feeble accuracy by everyone involved shooting a gun. So many times you get a shot of someone firing a machine gun (bad guys), just standing there and firing continuously at an enemy yet they never hit a thing!. You don't see any bullet hits, no sound of bullet hits, no ricochets nothing, they just stand there firing blankly and never running out of ammo, its quite amusing. All the while the other person is doing the exact same thing haha both firing continuously at each other yet nothing is happening around them, doesn't matter how close they are or how well hidden they are, classic.It really is a low rent Rambo, gotta say it, Rambo minus any blood, violence and real tension. Norris just waltzes in and terminates everyone without even bothering to aim much, whilst the enemy couldn't hit a barn door right in front of their face, glorious!. Bottom line that's what you watch it for, the classic hokey action which so many films homage and have spoofed ('Hot Shots 2').Chuck wins the day, was it ever in question? no, he doesn't even get a scratch bless him. The explosions are grand, chop-socky fighting and the action sequences are as corny as a corn on the cob...but its still fun to watch I can't deny. The minute I saw Chuck rise from beneath the murky river waters brandishing his huge M60 machine gun clad in those classic army fatigues with head band...I knew it had all been worth while.7/10