Missing in Action (1984)

“The misfortunes of war! ” – Col. James Braddock

Number of Times Seen – A few times (Cable in the 80’s and 14 Sep 2022)

Brief Synopsis – A former POW returns to Vietnam in order to free more missing in action soldiers who he is convinced are still being held in captivity.

My Take on it – Great concept that works better due to the fact that Chuck Norris is the lead.

The story itself is a bit too slanted and tries too hard to be popularistic, but the fight scenes work well and add to the fun of it all.

The plot has far too many holes in it to be taken seriously, but they still manage to find a way to look and feel more patriotic in all that they do.

Loved seeing M. Emmet Walsh in this film, even if it’s a bit hard to believe that this character would be in that place and in that profession.

As with most Norris action films, the story is less important than the fight scenes which he does really well in order to show his fighting prowess.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Filmed simultaneously with Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985), from June until October 1984, this was supposed to be the sequel. However when the producers realized this film was the better of the two, they simply renamed them and made the other film a prequel to this. This explains why Steve Bing receives a credit for “characters” because he wrote the screenplay for what became the prequel. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)