80's Month Day 25: Missing in Action 2: The Beginning

 Missing in Action 2: The Beginning is the 1985 follow up film to 1984's Missing in Action. This a prequel to the events in the 1984 film and, while this one didn't quite make the cut on my "10 Chuck Norris Movies Everyone Should See" list (which you can check out here), it is a solid action flick.
Interestingly, just like another 80's POW action movie (Rambo: First Blood Part II), this one isn't as good of a film as it's predecessor but does provide a bit more action.

In this one, Colonel James Braddock (played by Chuck Norris) is being held in a North Vietnamese POW camp. The camp is being run by a man named Colonel Yin (played by Soon-Teck Oh), who forces his prisoners to grow opium for a French drug runner. Throughout the film Yin is constantly torturing and toying with the POWs in hopes of getting Braddock to admit to list of war crimes. Braddock always refuses until one day a fellow POW comes down with malaria, and Braddock agrees to trade an admission of guilt for the necessary medicine. However, Yin tricks Braddock and instead gives the sick POW a lethal dose of opium. The enraged James Braddock promptly escapes, steals a bunch of weapons, and starts killing Vietnamese soldiers left and right while freeing fellow prisoners along the way. Eventually, It all comes down to Braddock versus Yin. They decide on hand to hand combat and, of course, Braddock beats him pretty convincingly. Then, with Yin down and unable to continue the fight, Braddock leaves and blows up the building.

It's an entertaining and enjoyable movie, especially for Chuck Norris fans. Is it one of the best action movies of the 1980's? Probably not, but I say it's worth checking out if you've never seen it.
I give it a 3.5 out of 5.


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