Angered by a Vietnamese General's claims that there are no prisoners-of-war in his country, an American soldier goes on a rogue mission to rescue the missing-in-action US troops that he suspects are still held in Vietnam in this Chuck Norris action thriller. The film benefits from a rousing music score by Jay Chattaway and a delightful supporting turn from a moody M. Emmet Walsh who accompanies Norris on his mission. There are solid action sequences too, though much of it is shooting and explosions rather than hand-to-hand combat, and they are surprisingly few and far between with most of the excitement saved until the end. The plot is also a tad half-baked. James Hong is perfectly charismatic as the Vietnamese General, but his motives for lying to the US about the POWs are never made clear. By lying about their existence, the Vietnamese are not able to use the MIA soldiers for bargaining purposes, and if they are lying to cover up the fact that they took so many Americans prisoners, it would make more sense to execute them rather than keep them alive in camps. Even if the finer details do not quite add up though, Norris is saddled with an interesting enough character to keep things plodding along, and the film suffices quite well as a story of a man reluctantly returning to Vietnam to settle unfinished business that he would really rather forget.
Review of Missing in Action
