Braddock: Missing in Action III

• Directed by Norris’ brother, Aaron Norris
• January 22, 1988

Braddock learns that his presumed dead wife is alive and he has a 12-year-old son trapped in Vietnam.

The Refighting Vietnam genre that birthed the Missing in Action series gave way to/was paired with a brief genre where cinema dealt with the personal legacy of Vietnam where characters confronted trying to build a kind of life during the conflict. Such is the basis for Braddock: Missing in Action III where Col. Braddock (Chuck Norris) learns his previously unmentioned wife is alive.

I’m all confused on where this film fits in with the whole fictional timeline. Not that the first two were strong with continuity but I was left with a distinct impression that Braddock escaped from confinement by the Vietnamese after the end of the war and official declarations were made of all prisoners being returned. Here he’s involved in the fall of Saigon and I would presume that would mean he’s no longer in the field fighting to get forgotten about after hostilities ended.

The story involves Braddock going back to save his wife Lin Tan Cang (Miki Kim) who he thought was dead but was instead accidentally left behind during the evacuation. First he’s told by a missionary named Reverend Polanski (Yehuda Efroni) and then warned away by CIA Agent Littlejohn (Jack Rader) because the CIA would take interest in such things. You could create head canon over Braddock creating another international incident like most likely occurred after Missing in Action. That though sounds more like a State Department concern than one of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Needless to say, Braddock returns to Vietnam. This time it’s not over POWs but for his missing wife and son (Roland Harrah III) and then for the children of American soldiers. This is built on a bit of reality since GIs had fathered many children that were automatically on the bottom of the social ladder.

You could not do a Norris movie without action though I think this was uniquely set up to provide Chuck a chance to do drama over action in a situation that would offer a nice bridge from his comfort zone to something new. It never quite goes all in but tries to make this more a dramatic actioner.

General Quoc (Aki Aleong) is the evil Vietnamese leader Braddock faces this time. In an example of an accidental running (or purposeful) gag there are numerous scenes where Quoc is ordering something or waiting for something only to realize Braddock has single-handedly foiled his efforts by either killing a soldier or a hearty use of explosives after which Quoc screams “BRADDOCK!”

Aki Aleong was one of those prolific faces of the time that specialized in baddies or hardasses. He’s all sneering and condescending as he shouts at Braddock swearing to make him pay for his crimes or rages about Braddock once again getting victory over him. It never gets silly or campy demonstrating why Aleong should get mentioned along with the likes of Al Leong and Soon-Tek Oh.

When talking about Missing in Action II: The Beginning, I mentioned a lack of Tuck (M. Emmet Walsh) whose presence there would help to explain his loyalty in MIA. Fine. They left him out, but Braddock would have been ideal to bring the character back even if he was recast. Instead to once again get into Vietnam, Braddock here used an Australian pilot of unknown personal connection named Mik (Ron Barker) so Braddock could drop a boat that literally rocketed past Vietnamese patrols.

Not only must Chuck Norris-as-Braddock save a bunch of children and bring them to freedom (sonny boy included) but he must bond with the boy because mommy bites the bullet. Norris could do fatherly due to a naturally authoritative nature allowing for this to move away from action, but Canon Films/Golan-Globus clearly had other ideas that Norris was willing to go with. When not chained up, Braddock is a one-man army dishing out vengeance and justice to all evil doers.

This is not a superior effort for Norris but is an attempt at a superior effort for Norris. By that I mean, the emotional moments were superficial, and things were a little too neatly wrapped at the end. That does not mean it’s a lost cause. It entertains and serves as an adequate cap to the Missing in Action films. Norris ends the series as a father with perhaps missing pieces of his life found and having overcome largely the emotional wounds of the war and his captivity. It just does not push hard if at all to link to the predecessors.

Despite that hypothesis, the saving grace of Braddock: Missing in Action III are the action sequences. That at times deeper stuff does not land as well but you do not care because there’s plenty of explosions and bullets.