Braddock: Missing in Action III (1988)

Not a bad film for a shoot-'em-up. Suffers from the usual thin plot and lack of character development, but overall an entertaining movie. I would've liked to see more interaction between Braddock and his son; it would've given the story a little more depth to have the two talk a little more than they do. I mean, the boy has just seen his mother gunned down in front of him - it's hard to believe he would come to accept his father so quickly even given the circumstances. Of course, action is what this film is all about and, in that respect, it works!

Fmovies: This movie was an explosive mix of drama and action. Chuck is at his finest here, as he is in almost all his flicks, and he chews up some more anti-American slime in this seasoned classic. I just wish we could all be as heroic as Chuck is. Bravo!

This movie is the epitome of back-to-Vietnam, one-man-army action. The amount of explosions, grenade-launching and Vietnamese soldiers being mowed down towards the end is insane.

Braddock: Missing In Action III takes a little time to get going after an amazing beginning, but once it does it doesn't let up. Braddock kicks, shoots and grenade-launches his way to freedom. Braddock is free to do what Braddock does. In the last 45 minutes of the movie, Braddock is on a rampage, smashing anyone that gets in his way.

Missing In Action III marks the final film in this trilogy and is probably hailed as the 'best of the bunch' with shocking plot points, great action, explosions, grenade-launching, multiple people mowed down by Chuck, a great intro, and a greater last-45 minutes.

The Verdict: 8 / 10 - A Classic!

Braddock: Missing in Action III fmovies. In the wake of "Rambo 3" and a bunch of police action thrillers with Vietnam War veterans or references and homages to the war as well as the recent hits of Oliver Stone and Stanley Kubrick, "Braddock: Missing In Action 3" doesn't have a shot in accomplishing anything original since similar material has already been done way too many times before during the second half of the 1980's. However, Chuck Norris' starring role as the Vietnam War veteran who goes on another deadly mission to rescue more POW's prevents this film from being a complete downer but doesn't prevent it from becoming too routine.

Vietnam war vet ( Chuck Norris ) and previous POW goes back to Vietnam when is reported that a son was born . As Braddock returns looking for his disappeared wife and kid after downfall Saigon . When Braddock arrives is pursued by a Vietnam general ( Aki Aelong ). Then he schemes to free some children held prisoners in a far prison camp into Vietnam . As long as he's there , stubborn Braddock decides to head Thailand , being pursued by the former officer . The two-fisted Nam vet Colonel Braddock tries continuously to free the kids held captives and suffers various tortures in charge of the evil ruler . Braddock hunks his way through the jungle to save the waif children . He flees along with the kids and harassing his enemies pursuers , escaping the innumerable risks and dangers .

From the beginning to the end the comic-book action-packed , transparent gore , and extreme violence is continued and it's fast movement ; for that reason the picture is pretty amusing though contains some perfunctory scenes . This is a routine actioner with Karate star Chuck Norris as the Vietnam veteran resulting to be one of the best roles he'd made to date , as he's fine as tough, cold , obstinate Colonel Braddock . It's a predictable, xenophobic , shallow and brainless film though will appeal to Chuck Norris enthusiasts because of it contains some excellent action sequences ( when Braddock shoots with his machine gun , several explosions or scenes of motorboat and helicopters ) . In the ink of ¨ Uncommon courage ¨( by Ted Kotcheff ) and ¨ RamboII ¨( George Pan Cosmatos ) with Norris attempting to imitate Silvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarnezzegger like one army man . The film is the best of the trilogy , the first entry deals with Braddock who schemes to free some American soldiers still held prisoners in a far prison camp into Vietnam . The second part ( directed by Lance Hool , the first's producer ) concerns about tortures and Braddock's suffering in prisoner camp . In the three movies there are some nasty , ominous villains well played by Asian players : James Hong , Soon Teck Oh, and Aki Aelong who bear offensive racial stereotypes . Appropriate musical score by Jay Chattaway and adequate cinematography by cameraman Joao Fernandez , both of whom worked in the trilogy . The motion picture is produced in average budget by Cannon films ( Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus ) and professionally directed by Aaron Norris , Chuck's brother . It's a movie for frantic action lovers and warlike genre buffs. Rating : Acceptable, passable and entertaining but violent . Although the movie has some aspects a little tough to take , this moving film still has its fine moments getting a bemusing atmosphere with agreeable results , furthermore grossed lot of money at the box office along with the previous entries .

Rounding out my Chuck Norris Triple Feature DVD, we have "Braddock: Missing in Action III," undoubtedly the best in the series and probably the only 80s action movie to come anywhere near "Commando" in terms of awesomeness. Here Chuck discovers that his wife and son are still alive under Communist rule in Vietnam, but the CIA is wary of letting him go there, most likely because the last time they asked him to accompany them there, he almost restarted the war. Chuck of course scoffs at this and leaves anyway ("Don't step on any toes, Braddock." "I don't step on toes, Little John--I STEP ON NECKS.") For some reason, upon his return to Saigon, it turns out the Vietnamese military generals still want him dead for his war crimes. The same war crimes that had him imprisoned in a POW camp for 10 years! They just cannot let this go! By the series timeline, this means that the Vietnamese government has been holding a grudge against this one particular guy for almost 20 years (what did he do, exactly? Raze a village?).

Once a Colonel Quoc gets wind of Chuck's presence, he ambushes Chuck, shoots his wife, and attempts to torture him and his son. Chuck escapes. This angers Quoc so much that he decides to kidnap about 40 random children out of spite. He takes the kids to a base and locks them up for God knows what purpose, and one of his soldiers attempts to rape an 8-year-old girl. Fortunately, Chuck ambushes him and implants a bomb in his stomach and his entire body explodes right in front of the girl. Hats off to Chuck for saving her from a traumatizing experience. Then he completely wipes out the base in about fifteen minutes, and packs all the kids into a truck for a quick getaway while being pursued by a helicopter. Here is the movie's only true dip in logic, as the helicopter fires rockets at them and Chuck drives the truck through enormous flames multiple times and the kids inside are somehow not roasted alive. But that detail is a small price to pay for the levels of excitement throughout the movie. It has three times as much action as the previous installments and some convincing scenes of total chaos, as well as Chuck doing somersaults through windows even though there are doors available, all combining for a hearty 10/10. See it.