Tweet
Released by: MGM
Released on: June 5, 2012.
Director: Joseph Zito
Cast: Chuck Norris, M. Emmet Walsh, James Hong
Year: 1984
The Movie:
In this Cannon Films classic from 1984, directed by the great Joseph Zito (he of Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter and Red Scorpion, among others), was the first of two collaborations between the director and leading man Chuck Norris - the pair would team up a year later for Invasion U.S.A.. Made in the same decade as more serious Vietnam fare as Oliver Stone's Platoon, the film finds Norris starring as Colonel James Braddock, a veteran who was held in the jungles of Vietnam for seven years as a prisoner of war. He escaped and made it safely back to American soil, but now, years later, word gets out that there are more American P.O.W.'s still being held illegally.
Braddock is selected to accompany an American government convoy to Ho Chi Minh where a group of Vietnamese military bigwigs lead by General Trau (James Hong), turn the tables on him and state in front of the media that Braddock was actually imprisoned for war crimes. None too happy about this bold faced lie, Braddock, with a bit of help from ladyfriend Ann Fitzgerald (Lenore Kasdorf), sneaks into Trau's sleeping quarters later that night and at knifepoint forces him to disclose the location of the American prisoners. That morning, he's kicked out of the country but he heads to Thailand where his old war pal, Jack 'Tuck' Tucker (M. Emmet Walsh), screws around with hookers and owns a fast boat. He talks him into taking him up the river back into the 'Nam to free the American's, and once they've armed themselves to the teeth, that's exactly what they do.
Marketed with an awesome one sheet featuring a tough looking Chuck Norris brandishing a massive machine gun in front of an image of American P.O.W.'s being loaded into a helicopter behind him, the tagline 'THE WAR'S NOT OVER UNTIL THE LAST MAN COMES HOME!' screaming out from behind him, Missing In Action is… awesome. It really is. It's completely unbelievable, full of bad stereotypes, horrible comic relief and gratuitous violence but it's still awesome almost thirty years since it first hit theaters. Like a lot of the Cannon Films action movie output of the era it's a very pro-American film, the kind of movie where the good guys are not only unstoppable but also strong in character. Norris embodies this well here - he doesn't take any crap from General Trau and his commie red bastard buddies and he's not there to make nice. He's there only to save 'our boys' and get them home by any means necessary, diplomacy be damned.
The movie takes a bit of time with the set up, but not to its detriment. Once Braddock and Tuck hit the river, Apocalypse Now style, the action comes quickly and frequently and is often quite violent, ensuring that the film easily earns its R-rating. Shot pretty much entirely in The Philippines as a geographical stand-in for Vietnam, the movie makes great use of its jungle scenery and is well shot and features some pretty great stunt and action choreography. Again, realism is not a concern here, so try not to be too concerned when Tuck's assistant man's the machine gun to fire for what seems like an eternity at an oncoming VC patrol boat without landing a single shot, but there are all sorts of great shoot outs, chase scenes and explosions here - certainly enough to keep action fans satiated. There are some discrepancies in tone and plot throughout, but we need not concern ourselves with such minor issues when Chuck and Emmet are on hand to kick as much ass as they do here.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Missing In Action looks good on Blu-ray courtesy of MGM's AVC encoded 1080p high definition 1.85.1 widescreen transfer. Some scenes look a little dirtier than others and some scenes look a bit grainier than others but overall the image is pretty strong. Close ups show nice detail but even medium and long distance shots show considerably more texture and detail than was ever evident in the standard definition presentations we've had in the past. The colors look nice, especially in the jungle, while black levels stay strong and stable throughout. There's no evidence of noise reduction or heavy filtering nor is there any obvious edge enhancement or compression issues.
The DTS-HD Mono track, in English, is also fine. Dialogue is always clean and audible and there are no issues with hiss, distortion, or level jumps. The gun shots sound nice and punchy, explosions have a good amount of boom behind them for an older mono mix, and all in all the movie sounds just fine. An optional French track is provided in DTS-HD Mono as well, with subtitles provided in French and Spanish and closed captioning offered up in English.
The only extra, aside from menus and chapter selection, is the film's theatrical trailer.
The Final Word:
One of Chuck Norris' finest efforts with the Cannon Films group, Missing In Action is just as awesome now as it was in the eighties, maybe even more so now that it's available in a pretty solid Blu-ray presentation. This release is currently a Wal-Mart exclusive.
