Missing In Action (4 Stars)

For years I've had prejudices against Chuck Norris. I've refused to watch any films he appears in. Recently I sat down and tried to work out why. I think it's because my girlfriend used to watch "Walker Texas Ranger" on television five days a week while I sat next to her feeling bored. It just wasn't my sort of television show. That was probably the fault of the series, not the fault of Chuck himself.

I decided to watch "Missing In Action" today, knowing nothing about it except that it's Chuck Norris' most popular film. He plays the part of Colonel James Braddock, an American soldier who was stranded in Vietnam. He was imprisoned in a POW camp, but escaped after seven years. Now it's 1984 and the USA is negotiating about the return of American soldiers still kept as prisoners in Vietnam, long after the war is over.

At the conference in Saigon the Vietnamese delegation strongly denies there are any American soldiers still being held in their country. Braddock doesn't believe them. In the middle of the night he sneaks into the bedroom of the General Trau, the leader of the Vietnamese delegation, and threatens to kill him if he doesn't reveal where Americans are being held. Using this information he mounts a one-man rescue mission.

The similarity with "Rambo" is obvious, except it isn't quite as over-the-top; almost but not quite. Chuck Norris is ferocious, and he'll make any patriotic American's chest swell with pride as he cuts his way through the jungle of Vietnam killing everyone in sight.

Has this film succeeded in removing my prejudices against Chuck Norris? Yes, it has. It's proved he can be a competent action hero. I shan't necessarily go out of my way to watch his other films, but I shan't avoid them either.

Success Rate:  + 13.2

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