Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985)
A prisoner too strong to hold. A soldier too dangerous to let go.
Alright, so I get some pretty weird reasons that I watch specific movies sometimes - I think we can all agree on that. I was a little disappointed when what I had hoped would show up in the mail didn’t earlier this week, but that’s okay. I’m working - yeah, I’m one of those lucky jack-wagon’s that’s still reporting to duty on a daily basis to grind those gears at their day job whilst the rest of the population seems to lose it’s mind - and that St. Elmo’s fire song comes on my listening device, and as I’m listening to it all of a sudden I have some flashback action. Straight up thrown back in time and remembering that good old Chuck Norris movie The Delta Force - because one way or another, that theme is in the song or inspired from the song unless it’s one of those fortuitous events of spontaneous simultaneous creations. Either way, it got the movie stuck in my head - and then I find out that I either misplaced my DVD copies of Delta Force or don’t own them (preposterous!) - so I figured I’d do Missing in Action instead, but realized I already have. Tonight, we get to check out the sequel prequel to Missing in Action because it’s part of the three-pack I own, it’s time for The Beginning.
This movie has an action loaded back half, and a generic prison exploitation style front half. What’s this mean for plot? A lot of stuff that happens because it works for the movie they want to make, that’s what. An American rescue chopper ends up getting shot down in Vietnam during the war and it’s crew (and the folks it went to pick up) all end up as Prisoners of War in a shady POW camp that doesn’t like to acknowledge the Geneva convention. For whatever reason, the head warden - if you will - has it out for the main character and takes every step possible to make an attempt to get him to break entirely. This is not always logical, this does not lead to logical situations, but it does make for a satisfying ending - and that’s the thing about this movie. There’s a lot of part’s I’d call bare-bones, like the plot, but the movie on a whole ends up being rather enjoyable despite the shortcomings - although perhaps not as much as it’s predecessor.
Flow is slow at the start, largely on account of the prison movie that takes up most the movie. People suffering bad conditions with a jerk generic evil warden calling the shots until the final culmination of events that turns it into the action movie you wanted. This isn’t to say things don’t happen - heck, some of it even comes around at the end in a satisfying throwback way - but if you are explicitly coming here for some gung hu pyrotechnics and spin kicks you might find the prison locking down your enthusiasm. Psychological torture on this day, talking on that day, Chuck Norris beating a rat to death with his face when it happens to have the misfortune of being locked in a burlap sack with it. Things do happen - but it’s largely the semi-depressive POW stock of any Vietnam-era movie that’s potentially only made sadder by the fact that some of it could have if not did happen. Still, it uses the time to set up dynamics, toy slightly with the sense of hope for the prisoners - and then give us a multi-phase bombastic action ender with more grenades than burgers at a fast food joint.
As you might have guessed, I like the ending. There’s something that I forget that I miss about older action movies when surrounded by the new stuff or even just immersing myself in the pool of other genres available, and it never fails that when I hop back over I remember what it was. Yeah, it’s over the top and sometimes stupid, and they always find a spot for a one liner - but it’s just that clean sense of fantasy too it that I love. Silly moments like the main being able to sneak up on guards after putting on and readying their flamethrower without them noticing, or the fact that he ends up using practically nothing but grenades the entire end of the movie when he apparently only stole one gun and magazine but a near unlimited supply of pocket-bombs. You get these nice wide shots as things explode and light off in the most enjoyable practical fashion - much to the questionable safety of the actors and stunt folks at times - and you never have a hard time of following whats going on. Rarely does it or the actions on screen during the action segments feel completely realistic - and sometimes that’s really what you want out of it.
Hi ho, Hi ho.
That said, there’s also quite a bit of cheapness about the movie in most regards. Yes, I mentioned the plot has a lot of “conveniences” already - but complete to moments where it would appear that film was too expensive in the production’s taste to re-shoot scenes when an extra guard happens to absolutely bite it and faceplant on the left side of the screen while rushing prisoners around. It’s hilarious when you notice it - but not exactly what I think was meant to happen. Despite my love of Chuck Norris and his movies, I’m also not going to say that the acting in this movie is exactly academy award level either - although with the rather bare plot I wouldn’t imagine there’s a lot to work with here anyways. The actors do what they can with it, with varying degrees of how good it comes off - but don’t expect much from the extras, and expect plenty of hamming it up from the villains and at times overacting from the good guys.
Thankfully, that same feeling of cheapness might help out when it comes to the action. The few fist fights we get are shot well enough, lacking the over-intensive cuts of some of the modern cinema, even if at times they do make some rather unnecessary ones. The fact that you can get a nice somewhat close-in 2 man wide shot during the final fight and hold it there for a decent length exchange of blows is great, and speaks well of both the actors and stunt folks who may have been getting filmed during it. And in regards to that thought about safety earlier - the fact that it looks like it could be questionable alone makes it more thrilling to watch, even if they (hopefully) were all as safe as conventions at the time would allow.
The music here does a good job in volume where needed. If things are welling up - be it acts of heroism, stubbornness, or just general action - the music does a good job following suit. I won’t say that it necessarily sticks around with me long afterwards - it’s not like the theme chunks that got me watching this movie tonight in the first place - but the largely orchestral score still does a fine job of fitting in without being obnoxious. Balance in general is well done, and plenty of background and filler sounds populate the movie to make it feel lively. Admittedly, there’s a lot of that old-school sound design in here, so weapons might not sound as punchy as they would, or perhaps a punch might sound a bit exaggerated - but as far as the spirit of the film it all ends up rather satisfying to me for the most part.
If Chuck Norris doesn’t get to be a Jedi after I remind people how much he rocks the look in the next Star Wars movie, I’m gonna be miffed.
So yes, it’s not the best acted, or the best plot, or the best movie in it’s own franchise - but I had enough fun watching it. Sitting here watching an old Chuck Norris flick might actually have been just what this week needed in fact, as despite my mood being fine before hand, I find myself feeling a bit rejuvinated by the powers of nostalgia, when I’d catch one of these things and puzzle over in my head how much Norris looked like my dad to me - and perhaps the movie quality doesn’t hold up quite as well as the nostalgia does - although surprisingly looked good for watching a DVD on a 2k monitor - but in the end, it delivered what I had wanted without any major issues, and provided some (rather unintentional) laughs at the same time. I wasn’t able to find it on digital anywhere, so perhaps I can’t recommend it really as a buy - but if you find the DVD’s floating about I’d expect they’d be cheap enough and in a bundle of other Norris movies that’d easily make it a pick up in my book - but I also highly enjoy me some 80’s style action.