Colonel James Braddock is an American officer who spent seven years in a North Vietnamese POW camp, then escaped 10 years ago. After the bloodiest war, Braddock accompanies a government investigation team that goes to Ho Chi Minh City to check out reports of Americans still held prisoner. Braddock gets the evidence then travels to Thailand, where he meets Tuck, an old Army buddy turned black market kingpin. Together, they launch a mission deep into the jungle to free the American POWs from General Trau. Colonel Braddock, who escaped from a POW camp after 10 years, returns to Vietnam. He attempts to track down the location of a POW camp and rescue the prisoners to prove that several MIAs are still alive and being held captive. He is prompted to attempt his mission because of Government denials about the possibilities of existing POWs. "Missing in action " is along with "Delta force " and " The Lone wolf McQuade" the most famous movie with Chuck Norris as the main hero. Unlike the other two which are not great , but solid and enjoyable action flicks this one is bad , very bad . Chuck Norris stated that he made this film as a memorial honor of his younger brother Wieland, who was killed in the Vietnam War in 1970. I feel sorry for his loss , but it's still a bad movie , despite the fact it was a big box-office hit in the 80's with two sequels and it turned Norris into a star.<br/><br/>This movie is actually the second in the series . The first two movies were made at the same time . When the producers saw the flicks , they knew that this one was obviously better. They decided to release the number 2 as number 1 . Wise decision . This one is obviously the best in the series (not that any of the movies in the series is good).<br/><br/>The basic idea for this story - ex-soldier goes on a solo mission to Vietnam to find missing American soldiers was used before in 1983 ("Uncommon valor" with Gene Hackman and Patrick Swayze) and later in 1985 ("Rambo 2" with Sylvester Stallone). Both movies are MUCH better than this one.<br/><br/>For the most part "MIA" is extremely dull. It takes long before Braddock even starts his mission. The action scenes are few and mostly very simplistic , even primitive I dare say. Director Joseph Zito has no sense of pacing or ability to create excitement. There isn't a single memorable action here. What we have here is poor and forgettable. It's like the movie makers were having a hard time making those scenes and no fun. The production values are still decent and the stunts look fine.<br/><br/>The screenplay is poor too . The characters are stereotypical and feel fake . The enemies are portrayed in very racist way , not too mention they seem terribly incompetent. Some scenes don't make sense . Chuck breaks international laws and defies logic and realism.<br/><br/>Norris has got a stone face all the time no matter what happens. Others are doing little better and the screenplay doesn't help anybody here to create an interesting character (although M. Emmet Walsh is not bad as the sleazy sidekick).<br/><br/>"MIA" has some amusing moments , but I wouldn't even recommend it as a "so bad it's good movie" . There are better more laughable and enjoyable bad action flicks out there , for example "American ninja" or "Action Jackson". This one takes itself very seriously , but it's so bad and outdated that it's pure trash , not even an entertaining trash. There are better "one-man army " movies out there.<br/><br/>I give it 2/10. Jean Claude Van Damme appears here as a truck driver, but I couldn't spot him anywhere. Maybe you will be more lucky . Yeah, I know low budget…but still good entertainment. This is the first one, not to be confused with the 2 mediocre sequels. Former Special Forces Col. James Braddock escaped from a from a Vietnamese communist POW camp. The Washington establishment want him to be part of a high ranking delegation to put the MIA issue to bed. Braddock reluctantly agrees to join the delegation and fly to Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon, where he insults various communist murderers/butchers and upsets the liberal pantywaist American delegation, except for the the sympathetic and beautiful Ann/Lenore Kadorf. Braddock then goes rogue to rescue the imprisoned American soldiers/MIAs. Much superior to the sanitized TV version, we see the beautiful Lenore in a nice nude scene. However it is the last scene which almost makes this movie a 10! Naturally it was panned by the commie/marxist/responsible conservative movie critics.
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