Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
American servicemen are still being held captive in Vietnam and it's up to one man to bring them home in this blistering, fast-paced action/adventure starring martial arts superstar Chuck Norris. Following a daring escape from a Vietnamese POW camp, Special Forces Colonel James Braddock (Norris) is on a mission to locate and save remaining MIAs.
Missing in Action is a lean, no-frills 1984 Chuck Norris vehicle that delivers exactly what it promises: jungle combat, one-man heroics, and POW rescue wish-fulfillment. The plot is wafer-thin and nakedly derivative of First Blood/Rambo, offering little beyond its patriotic revenge fantasy premise. Norris's acting is functional at best — stoic to the point of woodenness — and the supporting cast is forgettable. Cinematography is competent but unremarkable B-movie work, shot efficiently in the Philippines with little visual distinction. Novelty is minimal; it's an openly formulaic cash-in on the POW-rescue trend of the era. The ending earns a slight bump — the triumphant liberation of the POWs delivers the crowd-pleasing payoff the film is engineered for, and executes it with reasonable energy.