Braddock: Missing in Action III

Plot synopsis:
Colonel James Braddock (Chuck Norris), Vietnam veteran, had believed his Asian wife Lin Tan Cang (Miki Kim) to be dead since the war ended in 1975, but he hears from a missionary, Reverend Polanski (Yehuda Efroni), that Lin is not only alive, but that she and Braddock have a 12-year-old son named Van Tan Cang (Roland Harrah III).
At first, Braddock does not believe it, but when cold-blooded CIA boss Littlejohn (Jack Rader) tells Braddock to disregard that information, that's when Braddock knows it's true. Braddock heads back into Vietnam through Parachute deployment and with the help of an Australian C-47 pilot. After parachute descent, Braddock outruns Vietnamese Navy Patrol Boats with a Jet-Powered speedboat.
Reverend Polanski leads Braddock to Lin and Van. Attempting to flee the country, Braddock, Lin, and Van are captured by the soldiers of the sadistic Vietnamse General Quoc (Aki Aleong). Quoc kills Lin on the spot, and has his soldiers take Braddock and Van to a compound to be tortured.
Later, Braddock overpowers his guards, frees Van, and heads for the mission that is run by Polanski. Quoc anticipates the move and takes all the mission children into captivity, along with Van and Polanski, and Braddock sets out to free them all from Quoc by going to his weapons cache that he had hidden a few days prior. He equips himself with a modified Heckler & Koch G3 battle rifle with an underslung 6-shot rotary grenade launcher and attachments including a spring-loaded bayonet. He raids the camp killing the guards and loading up one of the trucks with all the children including his son, Van and the Reverend. Soon after escaping they are followed and attacked by a Vietnamese-captured US UH-1 Huey.
After they escape Braddock takes the children on foot and find a Vietnamese airstrip. Braddock silently takes out the guards and hijacks a C-47 Dakota plane. The plane is then assaulted by Vietnamese guards causing fuel to leak out of the plane, eventually crashing just outside the Cambodian-Thailand border. Braddock then raids the border station where Thai and US troops are watching on the other side, cheering Braddock on. When Braddock kills all the opposing troops more pour in. Braddock is injured by a grenade. When General Quoc then flies in on a Vietnamese Mil-24 Hind gunship thinking he has Braddock all to himself, two US helicopters on the side of the Thai border confront Quoc's gunship. Taunting each other to cross, Braddock and his son Van fire at Quoc's ship, hitting the pilot. The gunship crashes, killing Quoc. The US troops pour over the border and bridge and help the wounded Braddock and the children.

Tags: cult, murder

Review:
That's gotta count for something in these days of throw-away relationships.The final action scene is a touching "bonding" moment as father and son together take down the bad guy!
Rounding out my Chuck Norris Triple Feature DVD, we have "Braddock: Missing in Action III," undoubtedly the best in the series and probably the only 80s action movie to come anywhere near "Commando" in terms of awesomeness.
Here Chuck discovers that his wife and son are still alive under Communist rule in Vietnam, but the CIA is wary of letting him go there, most likely because the last time they asked him to accompany them there, he almost restarted the war.
Chuck of course scoffs at this and leaves anyway ("Don't step on any toes, Braddock." "I don't step on toes, Little John--I STEP ON NECKS.") For some reason, upon his return to Saigon, it turns out the Vietnamese military generals still want him dead for his war crimes.
It has three times as much action as the previous installments and some convincing scenes of total chaos, as well as Chuck doing somersaults through windows even though there are doors available, all combining for a hearty 10/10.
This is a routine actioner with Karate star Chuck Norris as the Vietnam veteran resulting to be one of the best roles he'd made to date , as he's fine as tough, cold , obstinate Colonel Braddock .
It's a predictable, xenophobic , shallow and brainless film though will appeal to Chuck Norris enthusiasts because of it contains some excellent action sequences ( when Braddock shoots with his machine gun , several explosions or scenes of motorboat and helicopters ) .
The film is the best of the trilogy , the first entry deals with Braddock who schemes to free some American soldiers still held prisoners in a far prison camp into Vietnam .
The motion picture is produced in average budget by Cannon films ( Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus ) and professionally directed by Aaron Norris , Chuck's brother .
Although the movie has some aspects a little tough to take , this moving film still has its fine moments getting a bemusing atmosphere with agreeable results , furthermore grossed lot of money at the box office along with the previous entries ..
I have trouble believing that Braddock killing easily a hundred Vietnamese would not cause an international incident and possibly re-launch the war.But anyway welcome to the carefree, action- friendly fantasy land that is Missing In Action.Braddock: Missing In Action III takes a little time to get going after an amazing beginning ,but once it does it doesn't let up.Braddock kicks,shoots and grenade-launches his way to freedom.Braddock is free to do what Braddock does.
Missing In Action III marks the final film in this trilogy and is probably hailed as the 'best of the bunch' with shocking plot points, great action, explosions, grenade-launching, multiple people mowed down by Chuck, great intro, and a greater last-45 minutes.The Verdict: 8 / 10 - A Classic!.
In the wake of "Rambo 3" and a bunch of police action thrillers with Vietnam War veterans or references and homages to the war as well as the recent hits of Oliver Stone and Stanley Kubrick, "Braddock: Missing In Action 3" doesn't have a shot in accomplishing anything original since similar material has already been done way too many times before during the second half of the 1980's.
However, Chuck Norris' starring role as the Vietnam War veteran who goes on another deadly mission to rescue more POW's prevents this film from being a complete downer but doesn't prevent it from becoming too routine..
It's got enough bloody squib action, various objects exploding into huge fireballs, and striking Philippines scenery to make it a pretty good time for fans of the genre.Chuck Norris once again essays the role of former Vietnam war P.o.W. James Braddock, who during the fall of Saigon tries to escape with his Vietnamese born wife Lin Tan Cang (Miki Kim).
It was maybe because the story was a scrambled mess of incoherency and a story that just wanted too much but delivered too little.The story is about the end of the Vietnam War and all of Saigon is in turmoil, and as Colonel James Braddock's Vietnamese wife makes a run for the American embassy, her purse and passport is stolen.
Although it was also very predictable, to be honest.And seeing Chuck Norris lead a group of mixed American and Vietnamese children around the jungle, running from a mad Vietnamese officer hellbent on killing every last one of them, was just a bit too trivial and wore thin quite fast.Part one of the "Missing in Action" movies was adequate, and part two was actually good, but part three is a losing battle that Braddock should never have been involved in.
Chuck Norris returns to Vietnam to rescue his wife (presumed dead and son (he didn't know he had).
I step on necks." Chuck Norris is at it again as Col. James Braddock heading into enemy territory; Communist Vietnam to rescue to his once-thought dead Vietnamese wife and his unknown son.
Chuck Norris still show his character, "less talk, more fight" but his John Braddock's role should had more feeling with his son.
This movie has similar plot to the first Missing in Action, except the people who receive help by Braddock was now the American orphan children.
Chuck Norris returns again as Col.James Braddock in a sequel which basically contradicted the one before it, in this one he finds out his wife and child are alive and so he goes to Vietnam and rescues a bunch of Vietnam/American orphans in this tiresome sequel.
This movie is the absolute bottom of the barrel, an irresponsible vanity project that is a complete and utter waste of your time.I have no idea how Norris managed to get funding for this piece of drivel, and even less about how he managed to persuade people to let his brother direct it.To say that this film is unrealistic is to be entirely too kind.
Despite the fact that he is standing on open ground, and not moving, all the automatic fire directed at him somehow misses him and the children entirely.Another dramatic moment has Norris sneaking into a compound, and knocking out a guard by apparently kicking him in the leg.Finally, I point to an important rule in movie-going:  The quality of a film is inversely proportional to the number of helicopters which explode in it.
It must have been a very sharp nail because he carries the same pained expression throughout the entire movie .As for the rest of the movie it`s just like you`d expect with the only real surprises being that the movie is half way over before Chuck kills his first commie , but don`t worry he more than makes up for it by the end
Chuck Norris returns as Col. James Braddock the one man army who returns to Nam to find his long lost family in this mindless sequel that stands out little from the crowd of bodycount actioners of the 80's except for the fact that it's really bad.
This is the third installment of the Missing in Action series, and it doesn't disappoint.Chuck, uh, I mean Braddock goes to extricate his wife and his son that he thought were dead in Viet Nam.Golan Globus Production was like the Asylum Pictures of today, making spoofs of other hit A List movies.
Also Golan-Globus' quality started to go up around the mid '80s, and in its wake, this turned out to be a high quality action movie.Chuck Norris never looked better as Col. Braddock, and his actions ranks up there with other A list movies.
The story here concerns our unflappable all American hero, Colonel James Braddock who returns to Vietnam yet again (damn, they must be sick of him by now!) this time to rescue his wife who he previously believed to have been killed way back during the fall of Saigon.
Fear not, for not to let a pesky mere army put a damper on his plans, our man Braddock is soon running around with a handy arsenal and saving a whole mission full of children as he attempts to get them across the border into Thailand.OK, so this is far fetched beyond belief as were its predecessors in fact, but if you can manage to suspend your disbelief and go with the flow, you will likely thoroughly enjoy this feel good action acting..
Colonel James Braddock (Chuck Norris) is one of the last at the embassy.
Similarities are Missing In Action in name, Chuck Norris, character name and movies happen in Vietnam.
Until we get drama part and from that we get to series of boring action scenes with Chuck Norris not feeling like acting.
Chuck Norris returns in Vietnam in search of his wife, whom he considered dead, and of his son.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsThe final part of the messily sequenced MIA films,with the sequel inadvertently being the original and the first film following on,is the biggest disappointment out the lot of them.Chuck's collaborations with brother Aaron are of mixed fate.They have made great films together,such as Sidekicks and Delta Force 2,but have also made complete crap like The Hitman,Hellbound and now this sorry junk.And sorry is the word for it.A pointless,poorly acted,poorly plotted ,unexciting,meandering,brain-dead waste of time that will have your bum aching after just half an hour.Dire.*.
Braddock: Missing in Action III (1988) ** (out of 4) To say this Cannon film was just a tad bit far-fetched would be like saying Chuck Norris was overlooked for a Best Actor Oscar-nomination.
Col. James Braddock (Norris) learns that the wife he thought died during the fall of Saigon is actually alive and he has a 12-year-old son that he never knew about.
It turns out the Vietnamese government doesn't like their people who worked for the Americans so the two are deep in enemy territory so Braddock must sneak back in and try to rescue them but he's got the sadistic Gen. Quoc (Aki Aleong) waiting for him.
The next sequence has Braddock learning the secret of his wife and son, being warned not to go by the CIA and the next thing we know he's in Vietnam and all of this happens in the matter of minutes.
And one part really makes me choke (a rare commodity in stupid B-movie action flicks!), when Chuck's wife excuses herself by saying "I'm sorry I'm not pretty for you anymore...".
Wipe away those tears and try not to blub America, Chuck Norris is back to kill all those horrible Vietnamese Communists who survived the war and this time, he's doing it for the children, those lovable little tikes that can't fight back.
Braddock: Missing In Action III is another spin on the Rambo 2 formula, with our titular hero travelling to the Orient to find his Asian wife, who he presumed killed when America pulled out of Vietnam.
Sure, your scarf wearing hipster friends may think that Chuck Norris is only good for those 'hilarious' facts that have been going around, but what those guys often overlook is just how riotously entertaining these old movies are.
This time he's found out (conveniently by some creepy reverend who just happens to be in the US from Nam for what seems like five minutes) that his wife is still alive and well (sorta) back in Nam. Old Chuck thought she had died during the fall of Saigon.
Chuck escapes after some mild torture, gets his MASSIVE assault rifle, heads back to the enemy base, saves a whole tonne of other kids recently imprisoned and coolly dispatched all the bad guys in a super-duper array of slow motion bullet hits and explosions.Its a serious film but at the same time its also a cheesy action flick.
The final part of Chuck Norris' no-brainer Vietnam trilogy is a loud, explosive and action-packed adventure yarn to be embraced by genre fans.
Possibly due to the fact that it was made three years after the second movie and this time it's directed by Aaron Norris.
this film is cheesy and not going to win awards but its fun to watch and fans of chuck Norris will love it.
It is beyond my imagination how anyone with the slightest idea what a good movie is can enjoy this.Chuck returns to Vietnam to rescue his long lost wife and son.
Scene after scene, Chuck continues to kill, kill, kill, and not in a good way like in the Rambo movies, or other good action movies like Die Hard.I also got to point out Chuck's acting, when he sees his 12 year old son for the first time, he has no emotion, when his wife dies, he doesn't even shed a tear!
Captured by Quoc, Braddock and his son are subjected to a particularly harrowing bit of combined torture before escaping the enemy stockade, soon after which Chuck's son is caught yet again, thus setting the stage for Braddock's return to free his boy and launch the explosive bloodbath implied by the MIA moniker.Though ample time is spent developing the story, this installment of the franchise packs more action into the proceedings than either of the two films before it.
My favorite turn of events revolves around a group of orphaned Amer-Asian children Norris "rescues," who, in the brief span of time they're in Braddock's presence, get imprisoned in a military installation, see dozens of their countrymen being violently slaughtered, are repeatedly shot at with machine guns, become involved in a precarious truck chase with missiles from a pursuing helicopter detonating all around them, and are forced to march miles through the Vietnamese jungles without food or water before Chuck finally loads the lot of them into a airplane...
I step on necks"), MIA3 carries a fairly serious tone throughout, and much as the previous films drove home the real-world plight of American soldiers abandoned by their country during the conflict in Vietnam, Braddock sheds a little light on the civilian casualties of that dreadful war.
Even if Chuck Norris hadn't done roughly 400 other low-budget action movies like Braddock: Missing In Action III, I'd like to think that his legacy would be secured by the not-unsubstantial merits of this outing alone..
Like the previous two Missing in Action films, average & only good for a few laughs..
Braddock: Missing in Action III starts in 1975 in Vietnam during the fall of Saigon where Colonel James Braddock (co-writer Chuck Norris) is searching for his Vietnamese wife Lin Tan Cang (Miki Kim) who works for the US embassy there, unfortunately Lin has decided to go home to pick up some stuff & on the way back to the embassy her bag is stolen with her ID in it.
The CIA won't help so Braddock decides to go in alone & rescue his wife & son but the Vietnamese authorities discover what he's doing & set out to capture & punish him for war crimes...Originally set to be directed by Joseph Zito who apparently had 'creative' & 'personal' differences with star Chuck Norris & so his brother Aaron Norris stepped up from second unit director to the main man running the show, while not particularly bad as far as second tier action films go Braddock: Missing in Action III isn't particularly good either.
Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985) starts in 1972 as Chuck Norris is captured by the enemy & he is held as a POW for ten years, that means he was in a Vitnamese prison camp in 1975 so how can he be flying around Saigon looking for his wife?
As for the film itself Braddock this time is waging war on evil Vietnamese General's to get his wife & son back, the script also throw's in a load of orphaned children just to turn up the false sentiment even more.
Again there's some fun to be had with some unintentionally funny moments, when Braddock meets his wife again for the first time she says 'I'm sorry I am not beautiful for you anymore', well Lin don't worry about it since Chuck Norris himself is hardly an oil painting.
The end as Braddock tells his son that he loves him & is proud of him is baffling since they only met each other less than a day ago & have barely spoken between Norris killing Vietnamese soldiers & blowing things up.The action scenes are pretty decent actually, from a car chase to various shoot-outs to explosions to skydiving to boat, helicopter & plane stunts to some good old fashion hand to hand combat.
Although competent the action never really excites, the film just plays out & while it's not terrible it's hard to get involved in the story.Shot in the Philippines it looks nice enough, there's plenty of Vietnamese buildings & equipment for Chuck Norris to blow up & plenty of evil soldiers for him to kill.
The acting is just bad.Braddock: Missing in Action III has some half decent action scenes & some quite funny moments as Chuck Norris tries to get emotional with the son he never knew he had but overall at over 100 minutes long I wouldn't call it anything better than a mildly entertaining time waster..
Chuck Norris made a third film in the missing in action series with each film even more preposterous than the previous one.
Here, as Braddock, he returns to Vietnam yet again to search for a wife and son he didn't know were alive.
It's probably slightly below average for a Chuck Norris film.
Return to present (circa 1988) where she tells Braddock about having to retrieve their three-year old son from her parents' house (again; to provide some continuity with biographic details given by Col. Yin in the second film).This is one trilogy I would really like to see revised, a la the 1997 STAR WARS trilogy, for the benefit of us die-hard Chuck Norris fans.