Missing in Action

Chuck Norris’s first movie released by Cannon Films pushed his career in a completely unexpected direction. Suddenly, the C-list tough guy became a box-office star and, furthermore, the personification of conservative Republican values reflecting the political atmosphere of Reagan’s America. Cannon Films obviously launched the Missing in Action franchise to piggy-back on the success of the first Rambo flick, but the Stallone franchise was surprisingly surpassed when it came to the shift brought about by Rambo II. It is possible that Missing in Action also drew inspiration from the relatively successful Uncommon Valor released a year earlier, which was the first film to address the issue of American prisoners of war held in Vietnamese camps long after the war ended. On the ideological level, however, Missing in Action differs significantly from both of the aforementioned films. Though it is often overlooked, at its core Rambo II redresses the American defeat in Vietnam, but it does so in spite of the interests of politicians and commanders, just as the protagonists of Uncommon Valor act on their own despite the interests of politicians. Conversely Chuck’s hero does not stand in opposition to the official structures of the US. In Missing in Action, the liars are exclusively the Vietnamese leaders, who use the foreign liberal media for propaganda purposes. As a radical Republican, Chuck did not question his government’s line in the slightest. Accordingly, the film is a one-sided agit-prop pamphlet, which, in contrast to the escalating drama of Uncommon Valor and the superb action of Rambo II, offers only a second-rate action spectacle without any bold staging or choreography. (03.09.2015)