the audience applauded

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

This movie has lot more story to it than the part 1.Most of the scenes in this movie are beautiful. On the average, Golan-Globus made some of the best quality budget movies of the '80s. Many of them had compelling titles that made you want to go to the theaters and take a look regardless of the content. Chuck Norris' chronic sour expression spoils the mood of this movie. He's supposed to be the hero, so lighten up Chuck, we don't want to be depressed watching you.Soon Tak Oh was great as the villain. The inevitable duel in the end was one of the most memorable martial arts combat scene of the decade.Good movie that could have been better if Chuck wasn't so down all the time, but part 3 answers to that.

This feels like real movie. Not like cheap Rambo rip-off like first one. To be honest this have some First Blood feeling in it but it is not such rip-off as first one. Now we have real characters. Chuck Norris feels like acting and story makes sense. You sense danger unlike first one.This happens before first movie and things happening in this movie are mentioned in first one. You are not spoiled if you have seen first one. Unless you count spoiling problem all prequels have. If I have understood correctly this was shot before first one or at same time. It makes little sense that this was released later than first one since this happens before and is much better movie.I prefer prison camp part at beginning over action part at the end. This would have been better with less action but this is action movie and Chuck Norris movie so action has to be there.

This middle chapter of the James Braddock trilogy is a prequel to the original Missing In Action that traces the origin of Chuck Norris's not-quite-iconic franchise player. The film is centered around Braddock's detention at a Vietnamese prison camp with several other American POWs, who are held at the mercy of a malevolent colonel who subjects them to a variety of cruelties. Of course, Norris is never one to sit idly by while injustice is being done, and he soon navigates a daring escape, blowing tons of stuff up and gunning down dozens of bad guys in the process.Though The Beginning boasts all of the hallmarks of an enjoyable B-action flick (slow motion explosions, liberal use of machine guns, a hero seemingly impervious to damage, etc.), Missing In Action 2 spends a lot more time developing the characters and the scenario than fans of the genre may be used to. While this relegates most of the action to the third act and slows the pace a bit, the film benefits from the more immersive approach, and delving deeply into the horrors of the POW experience brings home the real-world resonance of the piece while simultaneously bolstering the pay-off when the guns n' grenades portion of the plot gets underway.The dramatic emphasis also allows the usually stone-faced Norris to showcase his acting chops a bit, and even when he's called upon to express actual emotions, he does a capable job of humanizing Braddock beyond the scope of an interchangeable action hero. I'm keenly aware that most people curious about the Missing In Action series aren't all that interested in seeing Norris cry, so I should post-script that endorsement by adding that even though this outing is a bit more serious-minded than some others you'll encounter from the era, Chuck still doles out plenty of vengeance upon his captors with flame-throwers, Uzis, explosives, and good old-fashioned karate leaps out of trees.Your basic good-vs-evil movie is only as strong as its villain, and we get a suitably malicious match for Norris in Soon-Teck Oh's Colonel Yin, who notches up serious baddie points by burning people alive, tormenting Norris with news from the home-front, and humiliating one prisoner by having the least attractive prostitutes you'll ever see strip him naked and mock his genitals. In adherence to the sort of muddled logic you only find in '80s action films, Colonel Yin is a rare breed of Vietnamese overlord who speaks perfect English and is proficient in advanced martial arts.The presence of veteran henchman Professor Toru Tanaka is a welcome addition, and always entertaining character actor Steven Williams lends his services as a conniving turncoat, who, in true Williams fashion, fights valiantly to steal the movie by taking big meaty bites out of every scene he's in.Most of the shoot 'em up aspects of the film are fairly standard, but MIA2 does boast a few truly memorable scenes during the extended prison camp segments, the most effective of which is the "rat in a bag" sequence. Though the majority of Colonel Yin's tortures aren't all that creative, when he orders his men to stuff Chuck's head and an agitated rodent into the same burlap sack, it becomes impossible not to recognize his ingenuity.Though The Beginning dramatizes the true fates of some American soldiers left behind in Vietnam, any parallels to reality are readily negated by Chuck's propensity for invincibility. He does get kicked around a bit as a prisoner, but once he assumes the mantle of heavily-armed liberator, his (we assume) highly-trained captors suddenly forget how to aim their weapons, and Norris is able to elude even the most voluminous volleys of gunfire by simply rolling out of the way. The absurd apex of Chuck's super hero capabilities arrives when he opens a hatch to free some of the prisoners, only to discover that he has been lured into a trap. Instead of POWs, the compartment is filled with a dozen enemy soldiers, who immediately open fire with their machine guns inches from our sturdy protagonist's face... and somehow miss him entirely.Of course, such silliness is to be expected from a film like Missing In Action 2, and when the result is a fun and entertaining 90 minutes, it seems beside the point to complain about the improbabilities. Judged against the other work being churned out by Norris and his contemporaries during the era, The Beginning is a surprisingly thoughtful offering that balances its heart and its gonads rather adeptly. Above average is definitely good enough in this case.

Missing in Action 2 (1985) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Prequel to the first film has Col. James Braddock (Chuck Norris) and his men thrown into a POW camp where they are constantly abused and tortured. Soon Braddock finally realizes that their only chance for survival is by escaping. I've read at a couple sites that the first two films in the series were shot at the same time and that originally this prequel was meant to be the first in the series but the producer's film that the other film, the eventually part one, was better so this one here was released second and as a prequel. The first film was a laughably bad action film but this one here tries to play itself more straight and it works in some ways. I'm really not sure if the series would have been better had this one been released first but it does contain more human drama than the first film. This film has "B" movie written all over it due to the poor performances and lackluster direction but it still manages to be entertaining due to some nice action and a fun ending. Soon-Tek Oh plays the bad guy in the film and actually steals the movie. This isn't an all out action film like the first movie but I enjoyed it just the same.