Missing in Action 2: The Beginning

• Directed by Lance Hool
• March 1, 1985

An American colonel and his men face a cruel Vietnamese commander as they plot their escape from his POW camp.

I have my issues with Missing in Action 2: The Beginning. By itself it is an entertaining example of how the legacy of Vietnam had a hold on American cinema in the ‘80s. As a movie with a theatrical predecessor (even if it was filmed first), it has a very poor connection in style and other areas.

The first being Colonel Yin. In Missing in Action there was General Yinh played by Ernie Ortega who was Braddock’s (Chuck Norris) tormentor. Here there is Colonel Yin (Soon-Tek Oh). Same guy spelled differently? Maybe but the actors have no physical resemblance. Plus the great Soon-Tek Oh gives a distinctly different performance.

Soon-Tek Oh has a strong fanbase but was never somebody so huge he could not have been contracted for both films. It would have made an obvious connection in a day before marathoning or streaming was a thing. This was to be the story of why the two are enemies. Then again his fate is solidly decided by the credits. So who exactly was that guy in the first movie?

If you’re expecting something mindlessly heavy on action, you might be a little disappointed. There is action at the end but more of what hits screen is mostly scenes of the torture and hell that Braddock and his compatriots are put through with scenes of jerk wad Captain David Nester (Stephen Williams) telling him to just give up or give in. Vin is trying to get Braddock to sign a paper admitting to war crimes and Braddock refuses because he knows that it’s essentially a death sentence despite the better treatment Nester is getting for doing it.

As with most villains in movies of the 80s, our Colonel Vin is corrupt and sells drugs. He has some flunkies with one who conveniently brings a helicopter that the Americans are more than capable of flying to run opium. So not only is this re-fighting Vietnam but making a strike in the name of America’s war on drugs.

This is very much a Chuck Norris vehicle. It’s built around his screen persona at the time mixed with that sense of American invulnerability that was growing under Reagan. He’s a forthright patriot who cares about others with an unbreakable spirit. He is the best of the best and dishes out justice to the bad guys. 

Those involved Missing in Action 2: The Beginning were going for something meatier than manly mindless action. If anything, this was to Chuck Norris’s The Bridge on the River Kwai. It just never gets to the level of being a Chuck Norris equivalent in quality. Much of the movie is Braddock dealing with torture of himself or someone else and looking steely eyed and Vin with a smug look that says “You idiot” in an attempt to build up the hatred between the two. The psychological torture is good but the main elements of physical torture border on laughable. The rats look like some better Halloween decorations. Far too rubbery.

At around 90 minutes it never gets too harrowing or horrifying. Often it pays superficial tribute to what POWs could experience. I think it needed to do better in that department. Once they break free though and it becomes an escape attempt, it gets really good. Plenty of explosions and gunfire to keep the viewer hooked.

Because there are so few overt connections to the first film, this practically stands on its own. Braddock is the only connecting thread. No inclusion of Tuck which would have explained their friendship and why he put himself in harm’s way in the first. If no one else was available then some footage from the first of Norris-as-Braddock in the present was warranted. Something to loop/link the narratives.

Missing in Action 2: The Beginning is not one of his better efforts at the time. It reaches beyond its grasp but is largely saved by the mere presence of Chuck Norris and Soon-Tek Oh. It just so poorly matches up with the first.